When art instructor Kristen LeCroy sees old items tossed aside by their owners, she doesn’t always see trash. Every once in a while, she sees potential for that item to be a canvas.
Living in a county that thrives on skiing, it wasn’t hard for LeCroy to come up with her latest art class – painting old skis.
“Since this is a ski community, there’s plenty of old skis that were going to be thrown out,” LeCroy said. “I always try to use recycled materials as much as possible, just because of the whole waste factor. It not only creates a unique piece of art that is more interesting than just a piece of canvas, but it’s keeping trash out of the landfills. Also, it’s cheap. As an artist, art supplies are very expensive, so it’s an easy way to save money, repurpose something and save the environment.”
LeCroy offered the ski art class at Linwood Community Library and at the Pocahontas County Community Wellness Center.
She is considering offering another class if there is a demand.
“I still have some extra skis,” she said. “They would make neat Christmas presents, too.”
LeCroy has offered several art classes through Parks and Rec, including others that featured recycled art.
“We did a lot of art camps and the kids painted on old broken skateboard decks, so that was another fun piece,” she said. “Then I get a lot of wood from construction sites that were just going to be scrap wood and we paint on those. We might do something along those lines as well. Wood is a really good surface to use to paint on, for acrylics.”
Anyone interested in taking an art class offered by LeCroy is encouraged to watch for updates on the PocahontasCounty Parks and Recreation Facebook page (no space between Pocahontas and County) and in the community calendar on page 3 of The Pocahontas Times.
“I’ll do some sort of art class probably sometime this winter, like a series,” LeCroy said. “We just try to do one month at a time making plans for classes.”
Suzanne Stewart may be contacted at sastewart@pocahontastimes.com
