The road to Reuse, Renew, Recycle is always a good turn for the environment but often no more exciting than rinsing out the glass and plastic jars and dumping them in the blue bucket. Stomping down the cardboard boxes gives some measure of satisfaction, and a bit of exercise, but is still a solitary affair.

Leave it to Lani Carney, art teacher extraordinaire working primarily at Featherstone in Oak Bluffs, to raise the bar for all of us.

Recently, Miss Lani, as everyone refers to her, aimed her paintbrush, or rather the many, many paintbrushes of the children who attend her classes, at that most common of items: The coffee sleeve. True, coffee sleeves are useful, but who has time for aesthetics when looking for a little hand buffer during the morning pick-me-up ritual. Miss Lani and her students, that’s who.

Miss Lani has procured hundreds, by the time this goes to print perhaps thousands, of coffee sleeves from Mocha Motts and Little House Cafe. Back in her classrooms, children of all ages transform these bits of cardboard into works of art guaranteed to bring a smile to one’s face even before the caffeine kicks in.

In the true spirit of art for art’s sake, the art sleeves cost the same as the drab ones — nothing.

The idea came to Miss Lani as she was thinking about how to make art a part of everyday life. In other words, art shouldn’t be relegated to the backrooms and alleyways of our lives while work and to-do lists bully their way to the storefronts of everyone’s mind. Art should be everywhere, from hanging on the wall to insulating one’s hands.

So next time you’re out fumbling around foggy and looking for some morning caffeine relief, check out the coffee sleeve art at coffee shops around the Island. Then stand back and ride the high.

— Bill Eville