Students in Belinda Coston’s Art Class at G. W. Carver Elementary School have been participating in the Litter Art Show since 2008.

This year, students in Lesley Pittman’s fourth-grade class created a birdhouse out of plastic, cardboard and other recycled materials. The creation helped the students land the title “Best Overall Art Piece in Show.”

The Litter Art Show Program is part of Keep America Beautiful’s litter prevention and recycling education campaign. Approximately 23 art pieces were on display on the second floor of The Maria V. Howard Art Center at the Imperial Centre.

More than 200 students throughout Nash and Edgecombe Counties created litter artwork and wrote about the problems that litter causes in their communities – with an emphasis on the importance of recycling,

“This anti-litter activity is educational, it teaches students individual responsibility for improving their community environment, and it instills a sense of community pride,” said Cornelia McGee-Anthony, coordinator of Keep America Beautiful. “I am thankful for Carver’s participation and support of the Keep America Beautiful program.”

In addition to the birdhouse, students also created birds from the recycled materials. This was in an effort to reflect the program’s focus and theme: Make Trash to Treasure Animal Art.

Coston explained that she chose to work with this grade level on this recycling project.

“The students were familiar with birds because we had been working on a painting project with the Cardinal, the North Carolina state bird,” Coston said. “The students learned so much more than just using the recycled materials. The Litter Art Show is about showcasing art made from reusable materials and promoting writing at the same time.”

G. W. Carver Elementary School won “Best Overall Art Piece in the Show.” The art also was displayed at the “Happening on the Commons” in Tarboro where the school was awarded a gift card from the Edgecombe County Cultural Arts council for “Best Group project.”