This is a Trash Can!

When I was in Nashville about a month ago, I stopped in my tracks while walking down the street in the 12th St. neighborhood. These amazing wire-woven trash cans lined the sidewalks. I was blown away by their beauty and the intricacy and detail of the weaving. What an amazing functional art piece!

After doing a bit of research and I have found this information via Mary Lucking about this community art project:

As part of Nashville, Tennessee’s 12South streetscape redevelopment project in Spring 1999, youth and seniors at Sevier Park Community Center created colorful patterns for four new litter receptacles. Based on African and Native American beading and weaving designs, the patterns are created by weaving colored telephone wire into the perforated metal surfaces of the new red trash cans that were ordered to be installed in the Phase I area (the blocks closest to Sevier Park) of 12South project. The patterns on the cans highlight the interaction between rules and free-form creativity in art. Each pattern has a set of rules, within which the weavers will be encouraged to follow their own visions of color, pattern, and texture. As a thank-you for their work, a celebration day was held for the kids involved in the project.

 

So awesome! It’s so great to see collaborative projects like this happening–especially ones that help beautify  a community in a number of ways.

 

 

Photos & Design © Orange Marigold