Guild Member Kim Walwer Creates ‘Shelly’ Sculpture with Summer Rec Program Participants
Early this summer, Eastham’s Recreation and Beach Department worked with the Eastham Chamber of Commerce to sponsor an Earth Day beach cleanup and collected 5,000 pounds of trash. Then on World Ocean Day, Beach and Rec did a second clean-up with the after-school program and collected more trash along with some razor clam and scallop shells. The shells and trash made its way into a unique sculpture. Eastham Painters Guild member Kim Walwer jumped in to the summer recreation program and guided the kids in creating a huge sculpture of a terrapin, which the kids named ‘Shelly’. Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary came to talk with the kids about what is happening to the terrapin’s environment and how we can all help them survive, given climate change and the loss of their habitat through development.
Terrapins are related to turtles and tortoises but are also unique. They are the semi-aquatic, versions of turtles. They live in slightly salty (brackish) water, and you will find them in the marshes of Cape Cod. They tend to swim quite often, but also spend their time on land, basking in the sun and occasionally burrowing in the mud. Their name comes from ‘torope’, a Native American Algonquian word meaning ‘a little turtle’.
Shelly can be seen in the Eastham Public Library through Thanksgiving. September is Environmental Awareness Month and, thanks to Marianne Sinopoli, Shelly will be surrounded by ribbons, created by the community, which share our hopes for the future of our natural environment.
This sculpture is brought to us through the cooperation of the Eastham Chamber of Commerce, Eastham’s Public Library, Eastham’s Rec and Beach Department and Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary. And thanks to Eastham’s awesome DPW who have been gently moving this giant sculpture around.
Stop in at the library to meet Shelly and learn more about one of Eastham’s most treasured creatures… the terrapin.
The Eastham Painters Guild, Cape Cod, MA 