Making Borger beautiful, one "Dumpster Art" at a time

BORGER, Texas (KVII) —

One city, here in the Panhandle is on a mission to "look better."

The city of Borger hosted its "Dumpster Art" contest last month to all residents in the area. Kids, adults and those in between joined the effort to beautify the city's waste receptacles.

A Borger High School Junior, Kayli Spickes blew the judges away with a design she said, “just popped,” in her head.

Spickes said this isn’t her first rodeo.

She began molding into an artist at the age of three. Over the years, she said she become skilled in costume design, digital arts, painting and more.

“It's just something fun to do, and I've just gotten better and better at it,” she said, “I just enjoy The Art of Animation and stuff like that,”

Being her own master in vibrant colors and creature creations, Spickes often leads her art classes, and is her teachers' star student.

Julie Kerr, an art teacher with Borger ISD, said, “She can just keep getting better and better every year and it's like you don't think a person can get any [better]," but the young star keeps surpassing all expectations.

“As a freshman, she has entered scholastic contest and base contest every year. She's also been to state,” said Kerr.

Spickes told us creating a masterpiece that helps make a place she calls home “was exciting, because I haven't painted something that big.”

Taking on a new project of such a large capacity became a “stepping stone for me to improve more and more of my art, because I'm always looking to improve everything. Every aspect of my art,” she said

The City of Borger considers dumpsters to be prominent features of public places, and they may not be the first place you think of when you think "beauty."

However, they think allowing artists to express themselves helps improve the appearance of the city. They said Kayli's art design was one that couldn’t be denied.

“Borger is lucky to have such a talented artist, and we're so happy that she was able to participate in this initiative,” said Marisa Montoya, the city’s communications manager. “Aside from just the sheer creativity and the color of it, it brings a lot of vibrancy to the city, especially if it's on a prime location to where it's highly visible. It's a lot more appealing than seeing a brown dumpster we like to think."

Spickes said though her dumpster looks good as of now, it isn’t finished.

Once she puts her final touches on it you can find it along south Main Street in Borger.