October comes in like a litterbug and goes out like a flower. At least that would be my impression if I sat on the bench in Aubrey Dudden’s drawing featured in the “2022 Nebraska: Don’t Waste It!” Department of Environment and Energy (NDEE) calendar.
While a third grader in Mrs. Smith’s class at St. Agnes Academy last year, Aubrey and other local students participating in Keep Alliance Beautiful’s Black Ops program submitted artwork for the calendar contest. More than 1,000 entries from throughout Nebraska arrived in Lincoln to vie for a month and the cover. While talking to Aubrey and her parents, Ashley and Jason, they explained a congratulatory letter arrived in the mail. “We opened it and it said we were going to go to Lincoln and the State Capitol, and I was super surprised,” Aubrey said.
Calendars based on a theme or cause drawing on student art are among the most apt ways of showing the youth’s perspective to adults. This particular calendar includes public and private schools from a wide age range — kindergarten to freshman. The fact that so many entered shows significant interest in the theme: waste reduction, recycling and litter cleanup.
Green is the dominant color in Aubrey’s colored pencil and Sharpie scene — and one of three months placed on a shade of green. A three-arrow recycling symbol is in each corner. “Reduce! Reuse! Recycle!” and “Go Green!” are in the center with a purple flower and green Nebraska with a recycling symbol in the Panhandle. However, the artwork also tells a story. The “before” view of the bench at the top contains brooding clouds with litter on the seat and blowing around. The “after” shows sunshine, friendly white clouds and a flower in a now pristine park. The two panels make me wonder about the unseen hands that made the change possible. Whether trashy or clean, most of us never see the people responsible for either condition.
Considering why people should aim for her “after” vision, Aubrey commented, “If birds or animals got ahold of it (trash) they could die. You should water your plants so bees and insects could get the pollen. I like to garden. Most of the time when we have boxes (to put out for KAB curbside) I’ll undo them and put them in the recycling.”
Aubrey had hoped if selected her picture would grace May, her birthday month, though October works well too. She said both her dad and grandpa have birthdays that month. What she submitted was a second version. The first included little people with “do’s and don’ts.” The young artist drew both at school then finished at home. “I like drawing people and little portraits of things. I like working with paint and markers and kind of like colored pencils.”
A couple years ago, Aubrey entered a Box Butte Art Society show and brought home ribbons. The prize for being part of the 2022 calendar was more memorable. “I had never been there. It was pretty cool,” Aubrey said of being recognized with the other student-artists at the Nebraska Capitol Aug. 6. “My favorite part was probably meeting (Governor) Pete Ricketts and looking at the pictures on the floors and the walls.”
People inspired by the 16th annual NDEE calendar can learn about the department’s Waste Reduction and Recycling Grant Program by visiting http://dee.ne.gov.