Trash becomes art in kids’ hands

Staff photo by Nick Daggy (From left) Kate, Harry and James Clevenger explore the Recycled Sculpture exhibit on Thursday, Oct. 22, at the Fitton Center for Creative Arts in Hamilton. These works were created by area youths.

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By Eric Robinette, Staff Writer 2:30 AM Saturday, October 24, 2009

HAMILTON — One man’s trash is another’s sculpture.

That was the lesson taught by several Butler County students who, on Thursday, Oct. 22, were honored for their participation in the 23rd annual Recycled Sculpture Contest, sponsored by the Butler County Recycling and Solid Waste District, and the Butler County Commission.

Children from 11 area schools were asked to make a sculpture out of things they might otherwise throw away. Teachers from the schools chose 33 sculptures to be put on display at the Fitton Center for Creative Arts.

From those 33, six students received trophies, and three of those received savings bonds, handed out at the Fitton Center on Thursday.

The top six winners were Madelynn Ann Pitclet, a fifth-grader at Fillmore Elementary School; Karla Nunemaker, a Fillmore fourth-grader; Alexandria Adams, a fourth-grader at Morgan Elementary School; Bernadette Beacham, a fifth-grader at Cincinnati Christian; Kassey Allen, a fourth-grader at Elda Elementary, and Raegan Yarger, a fourth-grader at Ridgeway Elementary.

The three savings bond winners were Pitclet, Nunemaker and Beacham.

Pitctlet made a “Green Bird Feeding Habitat Station” largely out of old bottles. “I couldn’t believe it. I actually was very happy,” she said, pointing out that her grandfather, Larry Presley, gave her the idea when they were planning to make birdhouses.

Beacham’s “Re-Sounding Joy” used a fish pump to make objects in a metal tub clink and clank against each other. On her entry card, she wrote, “I really wanted to create a sculpture that would appeal to all of our five senses. Sight, sound, smell and touch. Oh yeah, please do not touch, but you probably want to. I wouldn’t taste it either.”

Nunemaker’s “Tornado of Consumption,” which used lots of pieces ripped out of phone books, had a conservation message. She was wearing a “Save the Planet” locket Thursday.

“We are creating an unnatural disaster, killing all of our trees and ruining our world by trash and causing a tornado of consumption,” her entry card read.

Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2836 or erobinette@coxohio.com.

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