CHARLESTOWN — To help involve the community and city departments, Charlestown has put student artwork on the five garbage trucks in the city.
In 2021 when the city first put artwork on a garbage truck, it was only on two trucks. Since then, the artwork needed to be replaced and the city acquired more trucks and wanted to bring it back.
Last fall, the city put out a call to artists to update the artwork on all of the trucks and received over 100 submissions. Of all the submissions, five students were chosen.
Nada Almoswi, Corinne Ramsey, Haily Branch-Boyd, Mila Lann and Brianna Deida were all chosen to have their artwork displayed on the city’s garbage trucks. S.K. Sign & Banner in Clarksville put the artwork on the trucks.
To showcase the artwork and celebrate the artists, the city will have a Trash Truck Art Show on Saturday, April 26 from 3 to 4:30 p.m. at the Depot in the Family Activities Park, 1000 Park St., Charlestown.
“It really showcases young artists because they’re all from elementary to high school age,” said Brian Smith, Director of Communications and Multimedia for Charlestown.
After the first time they did it, Charlestown residents seemed to enjoy the artwork, Smith added. Drivers told stories about how children in neighborhoods came out and watched the trucks pick up their trash to see the art.
In Almoswi’s art, she is depicting Mayor Treva Hodges taking out the trash in front of city hall with her dog. Ramsey drew racoons playing with trash they found in trash bags. Branch-Boyd drew two super heroes taking trash out with “Here comes the trash heroes to save the day” written on it.
Lann drew two stick figures with one holding a bag and the back of the other figure with “We’ve got your back and bag!” written on it. Deida drew an astronaut in the middle of several designs that she created.
“It shows that sense of community and creativity,” Smith said. “All five of the trucks has a different piece of artwork… It shows a good sense of community pride and showcases talented artists.”