Showing Community Pride By Painting Dumpsters

Our Take

Communities around the country have been turning to local artists to beautify one common eyesore in each city, dumpsters. A necessary part of life, dumpsters get a bad wrap because the trash thrown in them can make a mess, attract wild animals and smell. By turning the old and dirty bins into canvases for works of art, a community can show pride and still have the bins for the necessary disposal of waste. The latest town getting into the act is in New Mexico. The town of Cloudcroft has been giving local artists money for supplies and businesses have been making donations as well, to create works of art on the community bins. As many as a dozen artists have helped with the project around town. The artists in turn have been pulling inspiration from the community’s past as a logging and railway town. Ranging from mountain scenes, wildlife, and historic town buildings, each dumpster displays inspiration from the town and its surrounding area. There are 23 dumpsters in total that are receiving this unique facelift. Everyone involved was more than happy to give of their time and supplies to better the community.

Garbage dumpsters are usually an ugly part of life, but artists in one New Mexico town are trying to spruce up the place by using dumpsters as their canvass. Over the past year in Cloudcroft, dumpsters have become works of art. It’s all part of  a project called trash art. Local artists like Jerry Crump, have been putting their own personal touch onto the dumpsters all over the mountain town.

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