There you are, doing your Cordova thing: walking down the street, running your dog or heading to the store. It’s stormy out and you are getting tired of the seemingly endless days of rain and are wishing summer was here. As you look up from under your rain jacket hood, your eye is caught by a splash of unexpected color on the side of the road. You doubletake and see a colorful familiar scene – interpreted by one of our local artists. Wildflowers, sunsets, mountains, salmon and many other painted images are tucked away throughout Cordova. The murals do not cover any walls; they are the Salmon Jam painted dumpsters.
The next set of dumpsters will be painted during this year’s Salmon Jam festival on Saturday, July 13.
Interested in painting a dumpster? Contact Kara Johnson, hippychiquita@gmail.com.
The painted dumpsters are a partnership between the city of Cordova and Cordova Arts & Pageants, a collaboration that combines art, public health and function. Since 2012, the city has provided between four and five new dumpsters to be painted at the Salmon Jam festival grounds. Local artists take advantage of the large blank canvases to create cheerful murals that brighten up the corners of our town. A single artist may take on an entire dumpster or just one side; or maybe a team will tackle the challenge together. Festival goers can watch the live art and are welcome to pick up a paint brush themselves and join in.
The painted dumpsters are a partnership between the city of Cordova and Cordova Arts & Pageants, a collaboration that combines art, public health and function. Since 2012, the city has provided between four and five new dumpsters to be painted at the Salmon Jam festival grounds. Local artists take advantage of the large blank canvases to create cheerful murals that brighten up the corners of our town. A single artist may take on an entire dumpster or just one side; or maybe a team will tackle the challenge together. Festival goers can watch the live art and are welcome to pick up a paint brush themselves and join in.
This annual event gives local artists a forum to show their work and create a long-lasting piece of public art that will brighten up Cordova on those long grey day, so the next time you see a painted dumpster, smile and appreciate all the talented artists we have here. Then think about where the dumpster was painted and extend that smile to thinking about the next Salmon Jam!
Kara Johnson is a member of Cordova Arts & Pageants and coordinates the Salmon Jam Dumpster Painting.
