Last year, Stephanie Seberson’s Washington-Hoyt Elementary School third-grade students produced a piece of recycled art, “Trashing America,” now being featured at Gallery Madera in downtown Tacoma. The flag project was also featured on the front of a mailing to announce the re-Art art show that runs through November.
“Because we became a ‘green school’ last year, my art docent parents, Paul and Megan Blanchard, and my students created a 4x5-foot American flag out of non-recycled red, white and blue trash on a plywood base, “ said Seberson. “This was to send a message that not enough is being done to figure out a way to re-cycle the garbage people throw away. I was able to grab a teachable moment when my students started noticing that the garbage they were nailing, gluing and stapling to the base had words on it like: crystal clear, organic, earth-friendly, healthy, etc. That was irony!”
Paul Blanchard made a video to accompany the art, and it features Seberson’s students sighting statistics on garbage, among others. Check the Web site at http://www.maderawoodworking.com/2008/10/re-art-08-opening-a-smash to see a photo of the flag of trash and a link to Blanchard’s video. The re-Art show people thank the school, staff, students and parents on the Web site: “We owe a ton of gratitude to Paul Blanchard, Washington-Hoyt Elementary and Stephanie Seberson and her 2008 third graders for allowing us to use ‘Trashing America’ for our publicity. It perfectly sums up everything this show is about.”