Zanesville Artist Transform 1940s Refrigerator

In an effort to educate customers about its appliance recycling program, AEP Ohio, has commissioned three local artist to turn an inefficient refrigerator into a work of art.

Zanesville artist Joleen Kindel, Carrie Turner, and Natasha Oliver of The Artist Collective have been working together to transform a 1940’s refrigerator, provided by AEP, into a work of art.

"The refrigerator recycling program is one of our strongest participant programs that our customers participate in," said David Tabata, Marketing Manager for AEP Ohio. "What we wanted to do was get the community more involved, so we reached out to our add agency and we kinda brainstormed an idea. The idea was to see if we could get local artist to take an old, 1940 refrigerator similar to what you see over here and actually create some sort of master art piece."

The Artist Collective artists were up to the task, after submitting a proposal and being selected they worked over 50 hours to create their masterpiece.

"We were kind of wanting to go along the lines of recycling and renewal and focusing on the earth," said artist Natasha Oliver. "Well, one of my first processes would be what would we want to focus on, and what wouldn’t be over done. So we decided on Ohio native wild flowers and butterflies that are also found in Ohio. So I put together a design by sitting in front of it for a good half hour, just drawing up things and drawing inspiration from the internet of course, and then drawing things on and just doing a layering effect."

This unique art piece will be on display during the December 5th, First Friday Art Walk inside the Masonic Temple in room 512 until 8 pm.