The organizations are calling on artists to help beautify Plant City one dumpster at a time.
When you think of art, your mind probably recalls classical works by Picasso, Van Gogh or Michelangelo that can be found in galleries around the world. Now, when you think of art, you also need to think of trash.
Plant City Main Street and MAKE Plant City is issuing a call for artists to paint original artwork onto a dumpster that will be on display at the Robert W. Willard Railroad Museum on Palmer Street, as part of the Trash Can-Vas Program, which was made possible by a grant from the Hillsborough County Arts Council.
Erin Hollenkamp said its electrical box wrapping campaign went so well they looked for other opportunities to enhance the downtown area with public art. “We’ll see how this program goes and if there’s a good community response hopefully we’ll expand it,” she said. “There’s a bunch of dumpsters downtown so why not add a little bit of art where we live, work and play.”
Art must cover the front and two sides of the dumpster (dimensions: front- 72” long x 50” high, side- 82” long x 76” high) and express the theme “Celebrating Florida Nature”. Organizers encourage submissions in a variety of media as long as they are two-dimensional and will withstand the elements and normal use of a dumpster.
Plant City Main Street Executive Director Dawn Hyatt is grateful for the support of local government officials. “Bill McDaniel and his team have been so great to work with, they’ve given us a new dumpster to be painted,” she said.
The selected artist will be notified on February 28, painting of the dumpster will begin March 13 and the finished project will be unveiled March 31. The winning artist or team of artists will literarily turn trash into treasure and will receive $1,000 compensation for their work.
Until February 17, submissions of dumpster art designs may be submitted online at https://bit.ly/3wvIRUq. For more information about the contest email director@plantcitymainstreet.com.
