Dumpster Diving for Christmas

Calvert Hills sparkles this time of year with all the traditional holiday decorations: the garland, the twinkle lights, and the reindeer.

But one home stands out among the others on Guilford Road, where the yard is scattered with trash.

Well, recyclable art, that is.

Self-taught artist Steve Hill constructed a 10-foot-six-inch tall shining Christmas tree of a frame and hubcaps, and several snowmen made from bicycle wheel rims painted white.

“Everything is made out of things that I found on the side of the road or dug out of dumpsters,” Hill said.

He’s been doing the recyclable art display for a few years now, making it bigger each Christmas. This year, he’s holding his breath, though, that his artwork will actually survive the whole season.

Your Christmas tree is still standing, I see, one neighbor shouted to Hill Monday night from the street.

Last year, someone destroyed Hill’s display in the middle of the night.

“I guess I slept through it … I cried,” he said. He woke to a busted tree frame, which he spent several days over the summer rebuilding.

The self-taught artist has been making his own creations for a few years now, he said, but he does more than Christmas sculptures. Inside his house, other framed pieces of art hang on his walls. Resting on an easel in his dining room is his current work in progress — a project using a thin paper material he called glassine, in which he plans to burn holes in a pattern.

Hill doesn’t sell his artwork, but sometimes gives his pieces away to friends and family.

But everyone has access to his Christmas display. While sitting in his house, he often notices the community enjoying his unique holiday artwork.

“I’ll see flash bulbs go off or hear the cars stopping,” he said.

Interested in trying your own hand at making recyclable art for the holidays? Here are tutorials we found for smaller-scale projects. If you decide to tackle any of them, be sure to take pictures and add them to the Patch Neighborhood Gallery.

• Follow the photos and instructions in the Sips Etc. blog to learn how to make soda can tree ornaments and recyclable bottle scarves.
• Check out TLC for instructions to create coffee can lid wreaths, craft stick stars, and ornaments from CDs, light bulbs and socks.
• Go Make Something shows us how to make ornaments from Christmas cards.