This Sunday, students waited at the steps of Addison Gallery of American Art, before heading down to Rabbit Pond for a spirited and lively trash clean-up. The event saw participants transform debris into creative expressions, blending environmental stewardship with artistic vision.
The event saw participants transform debris into creative expressions, blending environmental stewardship with artistic vision. Carter Chen ’28 shared his experience of the event.
“It’s a very active activity being outside in the environment. You’re also contributing to improve the natural environment. Moreover, it’s always a good thing to [help the environment] every once in a while… I also like the idea that we didn’t know what we would make our sculptures out of until the very end, since we are making it out of trash we collect. It was kind of like a mystery activity for me,” said Chen.
This past Sunday, the Direct Climate Action Initiative (DCAI) and the Addison Club hosted the “Trash Into Art” event at Rabbit Pond. Gaining inspiration from Angela Parker, Educator for Academy Engagement, the clubs aimed to teach students the craft of upcycling. Annina Capaldi ’27 described the planning process.
“Originally, it was Ms. Parker who reached out to [the] Direct Climate Action Initiative, which I co-lead with Gemma [Park ’27]. [Ms. Parker] had this idea that we could collaborate with the Addison Club for a really cool project of turning trash into art. We met around the start of October, and we started talking about ways we could get trash. We proposed the idea that we could go to Rabbit Pond or just around campus. We eventually narrowed [the location] down to Rabbit Pond to pick up trash and then like turn [the trash] into art in a certain style, which I thought was really cool,” said Capaldi.
Despite the muddy conditions near the water, the students who attended were dedicated to the task. Many participants were shocked by the volume and variety of garbage they found. Alex Lin ’28 spoke about the process of collecting the litter and the challenges that came with it.
“We started picking up trash that’s around the pond, and I felt like the more we looked, the more trash was there. It was quite hard to get some of the trash that was stuck in like the thorny bushes, and it was also quite challenging to get the trash that was in the mud like the plastic bottles and cans. A water bottle was even there deep in the mud and somebody slipped and sacrificed their shoes for it,” said Lin.
Unfortunately, due to the messiness of the collected trash and the time constraints to clean the items, the final art creation could not utilize the collected trash items. However, the group improvised, creating the project using the Addison’s resources.
“We didn’t actually end up using the trash we picked up from Rabbit Pond because it’s really wet and gross, especially with the chair we pulled up. So we decided that we would use the objects thrown out by students that were a little cleaner, which we got from the Addison, because they have a place to dump [dorm student trash]. There was a lot of random stuff there, like tennis rackets, there’s some type of machine they took apart and there were all these odds and ends,” said Capaldi.
Looking ahead, students can expect more events like this, as DCAI plans to organize additional activities during the Winter term. Park appreciated the unique event, and hopes to host similar workshops in the future.
“This was one of our first events of the year, but it has stood out from previous DCAI events. We typically do trash cleanups, and in this event, I love the concept of taking that trash and repurposing it into something more personal and valuable,” said Park.
