By Jessica Hare
Keep Alliance Beautiful

After two years, the collaborative mural project taken on by the Carnegie Arts Center and Keep Alliance Beautiful has found its home at the corner of Box Butte and Third Street in Alliance.

The mural brought together the missions of each organization, combining art and sustainability to create a piece of public art with an underlying environmental message. The 10,000 plastic lids that cover the mural were saved from the landfill and used to create something new and beautiful.

Over 300 individuals from the community helped to cover the twelve foot by eight foot bulldog mural with plastic caps.  Open sessions were held where individuals could participate and groups such as the residents from Highland Park Assisted Living and local Girl Scouts also contributed their time.  The mural even visited one of Alliance’s Bands on the Bricks concerts where it was worked on by concert-goers.

The mural was spearheaded by Kyren Conley, Director of the Carnegie Arts Center, and Jessica Hare, Education Coordinator of Keep Alliance Beautiful.

The original design was created by Conley. Paint was donated by Roller Hardware in Alliance and funds for the construction materials were provided by the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality and the Nebraska Environmental Trust.