Art at the Dump

Carol Pepper | Nov 25, 2020

If you recently had to make the trip to the Oso Waste Disposal Site, otherwise known as The Dump, then you may have noticed that there was some new colour there in these gloomy November days. A few weeks ago the crew from Central Frontenac Township erected new signage there when they were making other changes to the site. Four new pieces of artwork comprise what we are calling Art at the Dump. Many years ago some young people painted two signs that were very colourful and offered help in knowing what to recycle, but as the years went by, the paintings on the signs faded away. It was about time that these worn out paintings should be replaced by some interesting new student art. After approaching Rural Frontenac Community Services and the Township of Central Frontenac we had the beginning of a new plan for updating the signage. 

A student from G.R.E.C. was willing to help out with doing the artwork with kids, and in return she would earn a Co-op Credit.  The Child Centre was working with us to fit the painting project into the afterschool program. The idea was introduced to the kids and we got a start on some initial sketches and ideas from a couple of different age groups. By now it was late fall. We still had to make plans for materials and get the final okay from the township about the installation. We decided to wait until later in the winter before working on the paintings so that the new artwork could be completed and be ready for installation just in time for spring. In February there were conversations with Tyson Myers and Steve Gould, in the Public Works Department at Central Frontenac Township. They were very supportive of moving ahead and before long they had delivered the boards needed for the project, the paints were purchased and we were ready to get to work. Soon though it became obvious that Covid-19 was causing a lot of shutdowns and shortly after that we had no one to work with on the paintings.

From that time on, I found myself spending many hours of the day helping my grandchildren out with schoolwork as they couldn't attend school because of the virus. Soon we found ourselves studying flowers and animals and decided that we should paint them on the boards that were taking up a lot of space in my garage at that time. One day a raccoon added to our artwork by leaving behind some muddy paw prints after it checked out a bag of recycling in my woodshed. We added those footprints to the artwork. For the most part, the kids created their own drawings, and then later stenciled them onto the boards.

From the beginning, even if it was just for that short time in the early days of the project, all the children were enthusiastic about the project, and of course everyone wanted to draw the bears. 

The artists are Lily and David Wotherspoon, Juliet, Evangeline and Isabelle Michie and Tyler Drinkwalter. Here are a few comments from the kids about what was important to them:

Evie, "We want to take care of our earth".

Juliet, "I loved doing the painting."

David, " I loved painting the deer, the blue lilies, the Tiger Lilies and the Wood Lilies.

Lily, " Even though the raccoon was very naughty and killed my chickens, I loved painting it and the bears the most. And I loved seeing the art up at the dump."