STUDENTS, ARTISTS TEAM UP TO BEAUTIFY PARK TRASH CANS

WORSLEY AND ST. NOEL CHABANEL STUDENTS TAKE PART IN TRASH CAN PAINTING PROGRAM

These barrels may look a little too good for your trash.

A project between the Town of Wasaga Beach, Ontario Parks and two Wasaga Beach elementary schools will see 30 45-gallon barrels brightly painted with themes of Wasaga Beach's history and the local environment distributed throughout Wasaga Beach Provincial Park for garbage.

On June 10, students in Grades 6 through 8 at Worsley Elementary School were putting brushes to the barrels under the watchful eyes of artists Alex Kostecka-Silva and Nancy Gareh.

The concept of having the students paint images on the barrels came from Wasaga Beach artist Shandelle McCurdie, said the town's recreation and youth co-ordinator Josh Pallas.

"She approached Ontario Parks and the town with this idea for a collaboration and got the ball rolling," he said.

Four artists — McCurdie, Kostecka-Silva, Gareh and Onai White — were selected through a requestfor-proposal process through the town's recreation department. Pallas said the themes had been predetermined, and artists that responded to the RFP were expected to provide their concepts based around those themes.

Along with the artists, more than 300 children at Worsley Elementary and

St. Noel Chabanel Catholic School in Grades 4 through 8 will take part in painting the barrels with images that "reflect significant historical and geographical images that make Wasaga Beach unique," Pallas said.

Gareh is a recent arrival to the community, from

Ian Adams/Metroland

Sudbury, and said that when she saw the town advertise for artists, the project seemed to be "a perfect fit."

"I've been working as an art educator for about 30 years," she said during a painting session with Worsley students. "I'm used to working with a lot of kids on a lot of projects, so I wasn't scared to come in and do this."

She and the other artists led the students through painting the barrels with a base colour, followed by drawing on the designs, then painting in the details.

"They are doing a fabulous job," Garah said, as a group of students blended a variety of shades of blue on one barrel. "These kids are way more talented than anybody knows, and they just execute — they're not afraid to just get in there and do it, and that sometimes makes the best paintings."

She said the kids were familiarized with the designs before they started painting. Some of her designs are related to endangered species such as the piping plovers, Monarch butterflies, and turtles, or geographic locations such as Nancy Island.

"We're really just trying to emulate those on the barrels throughout the parks," Garah said. "I think they'll bring a smile to people's faces when they see them, and maybe just give them a gentle reminder of some of our ecological and other issues that are happening in our parks."

Ontario Parks also provided students with some education around the themes, whether they be of historical, environmental or geographic significance, said Pallas.

"Anything from the (HMS) Nancy to some of the endangered species we see in Wasaga Beach, to the historical geographic significance of a 14-kilometre freshwater beach," Pallas said.

The barrels will be distributed throughout Wasaga Beach Provincial Park over the coming days.