Abbie Burt poses at the Mill at Crown Garden with one of the designed cans wearing a t-shirt that uses the same design as one of the cans at Haig Mill. Each location displays unique works of art that match the atmosphere.
Local nonprofit, Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful has won a national Keep America Beautiful Innovation Award for their 2020 project with local high schooler and talented artist Abbie Burt called “Art Can Inspire.” This national award is chosen for innovative programs and partnerships that help create clean, green and beautiful places in our community. This year 16 of 686 affiliates were recognized for their work.
Ms. Burt, a local Dalton High School Catamount senior, approached KDWB with her idea for her Girl Scouts Gold Award project to decrease litter and beautify her hometown. She wanted to tackle litter and create colorful and eye-catching art throughout the county at the same time by wrapping trash cans with vivid works of art to draw attention to where trash is supposed to go.
With Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful’s help she was able to get funding for the project, coordinate sites for the art cans, and assist in creating their designs. The project placed art cans at Haig Mill Park, The Mill at Crown Gardens, and Burr Performing Arts Park. Each site had its own unique themes and artistic style. Before installing the banners, volunteers completed a litter survey in each location counting up every single piece of litter in the area. A litter survey was then completed again weeks after and a 56.5 percent decrease in litter was found.
Keep America Beautiful, a community improvement nonprofit organization, congratulated Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful on their award.
Officials said, "We are proud to honor the individuals and affiliates who continually accomplish the most innovative, creative and inspirational work in their communities. In choosing recipients, several factors are taken into consideration by the judges including innovation in overall concept and in unique execution. We recognize your novel approaches to solving challenges within your community and the tenacious efforts to further our shared mission.
"This form of public art helps bring joy to the people of Whitfield when they pass by. A trash can is an unexpected place to feature public art. This is a key reason why it sparks such happiness. People like to see local talent showcased in such an unexpected place and that enthusiasm for expression will help make a big difference in the community. Dalton is a watershed which means that every piece of litter you see that doesn’t get picked up ends up as marine debris. By encouraging people to engage with the art cans, people are more likely to put trash where it goes and less likely to litter. Abbie started working on this back in November, but unfortunately due to COVID-19, experienced many setbacks and long waiting periods. Ms. Burt didn’t let that derail her though, and her tenacity saw her vision come to fruition."
After the completion of the art cans, Ms. Burt shared a few words about how she came up with this idea, why she cares, and her success, "I wanted to thank everyone in the community for their interest in my ‘Art CAN Inspire’ project and for those who have taken the time to make sure to use the decorated cans at The Mill at Crown Gardens, Burr Park, and Haig Mill to decrease litter in our community. I care tremendously about this project because I care about my community and the well-being of this world. In today’s world, people do not know what the future holds when it comes to climate change, decreasing natural resources, and the overflow of trash in the ocean/world. Even though my project will make an unnoticeable change in the world’s statistics, it will make a noticeable change in my community. Change has to start somewhere, and something is better than nothing in terms of litter prevention. My hope is that this project served God and my country because it prevents littering and teaches people about the consequences of littering."
"Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful is proud to bring a national award to Dalton with Abbie and thankful for all of their sponsors and citizens that make this community cleaner, greener and more beautiful," officials said.
You can see more of their projects or help support the nonprofit by visiting keepdaltonwhitfieldbeautiful.org.