Two Frederick students win ‘Rethink Recycling’ art competition

Two Frederick students win ‘Rethink Recycling’ art competition

BALTIMORE (Nov. 24, 2020) — Two students from Linganore High School in Frederick — Peyton Johnson and Tatum Hart— were online voters’ choices to win this year’s virtual “Rethink Recycling” student art show. Rethink Recycling challenges Maryland high school students to use recycled materials to create artistic and innovative sculptures.

The annual competition, which is normally held in person with judges at Montgomery Park Auditorium in Baltimore City, was conducted online this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Student artists around the state took photographs of the art they assembled from various recycled components and submitted them online to a virtual gallery. Winners were selected by online voting. Seventy artists participated and 350 votes were cast.

“We had a large number of student artists participate, even with the pandemic disruption, and the quality of their work was outstanding,” Environment Secretary Ben Grumbles said. “Maryland’s youthful artists inspire us all to reduce, reuse, recycle, and rethink waste so we can keep protecting the environment and fighting climate change.”

Johnson’s entry, titled “Salvarnos” (Spanish for “save us”), depicts a blue throated macaw and was crafted from discarded cans, PVC pipe, and chicken wire frame previously used in old projects.




“There are many species of macaws that are critically endangered,” Johnson wrote in her entry. “I love these birds and never want them to go extinct.”

Hart’s entry, called “Where Some Sea Waste…,” is the figure of a crab crafted from an old set of camping utensils used by her family on trips and which she found in the bottom of a recycling container scheduled for pickup.

“As I have gotten older, I have become more aware of polluted waters and dying animals. I hope to inspire others to recycle and be mindful of their environmental impact,” Hart wrote.

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