PITTSBORO - Sustainability and art combine at Central Carolina Community College's Chatham County Campus with the launch of the Sculpture in the Environment (SITE) program.

The college, artists and community residents are joining forces to create a sculpture park at the campus with site-specific works created to fit the college's environment, topography, and natural resources.

From 6 p.m.-7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 8, the public is invited to a charette, an information and discussion session, featuring suggested sculptures for the first SITE project on the campus. They will be able to speak with the designers and ask questions about the sculptures.

The event takes place in the Holmes Meeting Room of the Chatham Community Library, 197 N.C. Highway 87, on the college's Chatham Campus, in Pittsboro.

"Imagine the campus enlivened with cutting-edge art produced by local, national, and international artists, each reacting to a chosen site," said Diane Pettus, Chatham artist and a member of the community SITE Committee working with the college on the project.

SITE benefits both the community and the college, Pettus said. It spotlights Chatham County and Pittsboro, in particular, as a unique and innovative arts community, attracting people interested in the fine arts as well as in creative partnerships with sustainable technologies. It also promotes and enriches the college's sustainability and fine arts programs.

"The SITE program is well aligned with CCCC's core values of community and sustainability," said CCCC Chatham Provost Dr. Karen Allen. "We at the college are excited about the possibilities of this program to educate students in environmental design while developing collaborations with our thriving artist community."

In conjunction with the SITE program, CCCC is establishing an environmental artist-in-residence program at the Chatham Campus. Environmental sculptor Michael Roy Layne, Ph.D., is the SITE program's first artist-in-residence. He will create the first SITE sculpture, which may include elements from the suggested models, during the summer.

Layne, a Warrenton resident, is a landscape architect and community artist. He has held residence is and taught at several universities in both the United States and the United Kingdom. He has an extensive resume in environmental and community art, including recent projects in Cary, Raleigh and Chapel Hill.

The SITE project has received support from the N.C. Arts Council, an agency of the Department of Cultural Resources, and the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1965 to support the idea that a great nation deserves great art.

SITE is the second artist-in-residence program for the college. From 1974 through 1991, as a participant in the N.C. Visiting Artist Program, musicians, actors and artists shared their talents with the college and community. That program was a joint endeavor of the college, N.C. Department of Community Colleges, and the N.C. Arts Council.

For more information about the charette, contact Diane Pettus at 919-542-7014 or by email at dianedebarpettus@gmail.com. For more information about Central Carolina Community College's art or sustainability programs, visit www.cccc.edu.