Jake Schmidt carries a tangible reminder of his travelling art show with him wherever he goes.  His Converse shoes are splattered in a rainbow of paint drippings, the leftovers of dozens of creations.
Schmidt narrowed the obstacles the project was facing down to three main points: getting permission, raising funding and recruiting other artists.
“There was a point there where they were like ‘You can’t do this project because there’s no way to identify these dumpsters.’ For a good five hours or so I was really in the dumps, but I said to myself, alright, I have a good idea, I know I can make it work, and I’m going to try to think of new solutions,†Schmidt recalled.
Schmidt admired one Sally Ride tribute by Theresa Hopkins, as well as a mural of cyclists by artist Megan Rieke.
“It has definitely affected people’s thought process about the cities they live in, and that was really the goal in this project … It wasn’t just to paint these dumpsters, it was to have people question the ugliness around them … and ask why, why do they need this ugliness and why can’t it be something beautiful?†Schmidt said.
Almost a year after the first dumpsters were painted, however, Schmidt’s dumpster art has been a resounding success with support spread across the St. Louis community.
Ally Carlovsky • Jun 9, 2013 at 12:02 pm
I have a few questions on the dumpster painted by Jacob Schimdt displaying the fantastic urban art whale. I am currently chosen to do an urban art dumpster for my community that is much like the dumpster displayed that does not have smooth sides, I was just curious on how the artist painted with the ridges…did they paint in the ridges side or just on the face of the ridges? I have never done something as big as this and I was looking for a few pointers or tips!
If you could get back to me as soon as possible or anyone could answer my questions they would be very helpful and much appreciated!
Thank You!
Ally Carlovsky