Valley Independent Sentinel

Valley Students Donate Painted Oil Drums

by Aly Shea | May 23, 2010 7:00 pm

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Posted to: Ansonia, Derby, Oxford, Seymour, Shelton

Beacon Falls —

A painted praying mantis and the David Humphreys House will make their way to Iraq and Afghanistan this summer.

Students from eight Valley towns hope those images, and others of local items, will help remind local soldiers serving overseas of home.

The pictures were painted onto 30-gallon oil drums, which will be stuffed with goodies for the troops overseas.

The students hand-painted 19 drums over the past year.

Schools in Shelton, Derby, Ansonia, Seymour, Oxford, Prospect, Beacon Falls and Naugatuck, participated.

Lowe’s of Derby, the Valley Arts Council and Beacon Falls-based Oil Drum Art also painted drums.

The project is the brainchild of Oil Drum Art Founder and Owner Jack Lardis.

With the Valley Arts Council, he created a Drums for Troops program last year.

The program has local students paint oil drums with symbols of home, then fill the drums with supplies troops need in Afghanistan and Iraq, including toiletries, snacks, entertainment and letters of encouragement and thanks.

The drums will likely be shipped in mid-June, at a cost of $2,500.

From there, the drums will take about two weeks to get to Valley soldiers serving in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Lardis has been in contact with military officials who have given him names and addresses of units containing Valley soldiers, but is seeking contact information for soldiers with Valley ties.

Because the drums are going abroad, there were limits on their decoration. No controversial topics, such as political messages, were allowed.

The drums, instead were painted with images of home.

When making their drum, Ansonia High School Senior Shauna Tiano said she and her classmates focused on Connecticut symbols that could be appreciated nationwide.

The panels on Ansonia High School’s drum depict such Connecticut staples as the UConn Huskies, winter and a praying mantis, Connecticut’s state insect, as well as the David Humphreys House.

Oxford High School students, too, focused on local themes, putting an Oxford scene, including a cow, on their drum.

Students from Seymour High School used snapshots of Americana for their theme, including sunflowers, a hamburger, and vacations in the country.

All 400 students and staff from Bradley Elementary School in Derby signed the red stripes in their drum, decorated like an American flag.

Shelton High School students took on a roadtrip theme, painting license plates on their drum.

Col. John R. Whitford of the Connecticut National Guard was amazed by the quality of the students’ artwork, and their attention to detail, but mostly by the students’ generosity.

“You guys don’t know what it means to a service member to receive something from home,” Whitford said. “It lets them know that they’re still thought of by you back home, and that their efforts are not forgotten.”

Lardis said he sought out area middle and high school students in hopes of getting “artwork sophisticated enough for our troops,” though some outside organizations and younger students participated as well.

“I wanted to give the Valley the opportunity to give back to our soldiers fighting abroad,” Lardis said. “And in four months, the entire Valley has rallied around the concept. Over 150 artists painted these 19 drums, and collected shaving cream, tools, snacks, letter and drawings.”

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