OLMSTED FALLS, Ohio -- St. Mary of the Falls School has made its presence known more creatively on Taylor Street atColumbia Road.

A 4-by-8foot art collageappears at the corner of Columbia Road and Taylor Street.Students and art teacher Paulette Bohlen created the piece out of about 2,500 plastic bottle caps. The colorful project includes a heart in the middle of a cross standing on a hill, rainbow, and doves.

Paulette said the project "accidentally" occurred while researching ideas on Pinterest for something totally unrelated. She found an artist in southern Ohio, Michelle Stitzlein, who creates sculpture from recycled materials. Paulette was "inspired" by the color and textural quality of her work and believed it also was a great lesson in plastics and recycling.

Rev. Wally Hyclak, St. Mary of the Falls pastorand Principal Annemarie Rajnicek supported the idea and the project began as Paulette asked students and their families to bring in caps last fall.

"Saving caps really rippled into the community outside our school. Parents saved them at their workplace, extended families saved caps, caps were mailed to us from outside Ohio and from overseas," wrote Paulette in an email.

Students submitted designs based on the concept of love of God and His gift of nature. Paulette compiled all the recurring themes from their design sketches into the final composition. It was drawn and painted on the plywood. Then the gluing began. Students from kindergarten through grade 8 helped in that process. Paulette then drilled a screw into each cap to make the mural more weather resistant.

The project provided more than being an artistic creation.

"Throughout the process, we learned some lessons about recycling and the hazards to our environment of single use plastics like water bottles. We discovered artists trying to make the public aware of plastics in our oceans," Paulette wrote. "It was a fun, educational experience."

Be sure to visit the corner of Columbia and Taylorto see the project. You can't miss it.

City meeting Olmsted Falls is eligible to apply for $150,000 in Federal Community Development Block Grant funds that Cuyahoga County administers through the Department of Development. Funds may be used for housing, economic development and community improvement projects.

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Olmsted Falls bottle cap project blends spirituality, recycling: Olmsted Dates and Data