The High Country Recycling (HCR) Trailer Art Project (TAP) wrapped up in September with ten horse trailers going from shabby to stunning. All but three horse trailers have been painted with colorful, distinctive murals by the community.
The Trailer Art Project was an ambitious and creative endeavor by High Country Recycling to beautify the horse trailers that serve as the recycling collection vehicles at both recycling drop-off locations on CR 241 (aka Lake DeWeese Rd.) and the Dundee Dog Park at Butler and Broadway. This project supported Custer County Recycling (CCR) through two grants to HCR from the Rawlings Foundation and Rotary International through the Wet Mountain Valley Rotary.
Joanie Liebman, Nancy Murray, Kim Faiella Townsend, and Deb Adamsāall transplanted women from the East Coastāteamed up to make it happen. Grants were secured by Liebman, paint researched by Murray, artistic direction by Townsend, and project logistics coordinated by Adams. Trailer transportation was carried out by Tim Harmon and Steve Wilkerson, the recycling staff for the Joanie Liebman Recycling Center (JLRC), with assistance from Jeff Bivins.
Eddie Crispe’s class of Future Farmers of America (FFA) students were instrumental in preparing all the trailers by sanding, repairing and painting them blue to become blank canvases for mural paintings to be done over the summer during 2nd Saturdays in Westcliffe.
The first attempt to paint two trailers outside in June under canopies rented from KLZR left everyone with a great wind story to tell and we are glad no one was seriously injured! Fortunately Hanssen Hall became the ideal location to paint murals without weather or wind concerns. A big thank you to Peter Stader who opened up the historical garage space for HCR as it made all the difference to paint the trailers safely inside.
Local groups were guided by Kim Faiella Townsend of K2 Gallery Arts. Kim is an accomplished painter. Prior to living in Westcliffe, she was the owner of SAGE Art Academy in Pueblo, a school geared towards teaching students of all ages, focusing on several programs including mural painting. Kim was the creative force as the artistic director behind the Trailer Art Project and volunteered her time and energy to each group session.
A group of grownups started the project by painting a Mondrian style mural. A trailer was at the Kids Council Family Fun Day for attendees to put their handprint on the trailer. Groups of individuals came together during the summer including Troop 114 Boy Scouts with Pack 114 Cub Scouts who painted a colorful mountain camping scene. The 4-H group painted the tree of life while a young Amish group painted two Amish quilts. Art teacher Carrie Smith brought her Bobcat art students together in class to paint an aquarium scene on the school trailer that collects cardboard.
Other recycling trailers were āmuralizedā by visiting artist Kieran Celeste who painted whimsical dragons. Local mural artists Tess Kane created outstanding murals of horses on a trailer and Molly Parkes had fun painting an Alice in Wonderland fantasy scene wrapped around a trailer.
Since we had the paint supply, we took advantage of the opportunity to beautify the recycling barrels too! They were painted by the creative talent we have in this town. Thank you to Lisa Bivins, Desi Buza, Tess Kane, Shelly Larson, Danica Lee, Molly Parkes, Emily Ramsey, Cheryl Swartz, and Kevin Kane. The Earth Sky Art Club, under the direction of Shelley Green and Sara Bertelsen, painted barrels during their summer art camp. Some of the barrels were placed on Main Street to collect aluminum over the summer. These art barrels are also available for public use to collect recycling at community events.
Many in this county may not yet recycle for whatever reason but every Custer County citizen should be concerned about our trash collection. Our county landfill has limited space and when it is full, there will be no more land available to the county for our trash. We would have to become a trash transfer station. That means the cost of handling trash and waste materials will increase substantially because they will have to be transported out of the county.
The only way to slow this down is to divert waste away from our landfill. Recycling cardboard, aluminum, mixed paper, steel cans and glass keeps all this recyclable waste out of the pits and will extend the life of the landfill. That is why it is wise to recycleānot only for the global benefit but more importantly for the local benefit of future generations in Custer County.
Recycling is available to everyone for freeāall anyone has to do is make the concerted effort to recycle what they can and keep the trash out of the landfill. The recycling trailers are conveniently located in town to make it easy for everyone to recycle. Trash doesnāt just disappear, it takes up space in the groundā¦so the more we can divert waste from the landfill by recycling, the longer we can extend the life of the Custer County landfill.
Thank you for recycling! More info can be found on the website highcountryrecycling.com and on the HCR Facebook page.
ā Press release by High Country Recycling
Cutline to featured image: Kim Faiella Townsend paints one of the recycling trailers that is used to divert waste to the landfill and help prolong the life of the local landfill.
(This article was originally published in October 2024.Ā Subscribe to the print edition of the Tribune so you never miss out on timely news that impacts you!)