Residents passing by the gardens outside Patrick Hamilton and Kincheloe Elementary schools may have noticed some interesting sights popping up on the schools’ lawns.

The colorful decorations sprouting forth from the ground, bursting out from the sides of the trees or hanging from clotheslines are the latest works on display for the schools’ annual Funky Junk Art display, hosted in conjunction with 26th annual Dogwood Fine Arts Festival.

Beginning now through the end of the school year in June, visitors are encouraged to head over to the lawns outside the Dowagiac elementary schools to see the unique sculpture gardens, created by students in Ashley Hamlet’s kindergarten through fifth-grade classrooms at the schools. A number of art pieces are currently up for display, with Hamlet adding more in the days to come.

For the last several weeks, students in Hamlet’s classrooms have been hard at work assembling miniature sculptures for the gardens, which are comprised mainly of recycled materials, such as plastic bottles or cardboard — hence the name “Funky Junk.”

“We use a little bit of anything and everything,” Hamlet said.

Each classroom was assigned a different type of sculpture to create for the project. For instance, while third graders were asked to create paper mache orbs from balloons and old newspapers, fifth graders created miniature models from melted pop bottles, similar to the glass blown artworks of American artist Dale Chihuly.

This is the fourth year that Hamlet and her students have participated in the Dogwood festival, Dowagiac’s springtime celebration of the humanities. Hamlet reached out to organizers with the festival in 2014 to ask if they would allow the students to participate in the festivities.

“We knew that if the kids could see their things on display in the community, the project would be a lot more fun for them,” Hamlet said.

The members of the Dogwood board of directors were more than happy to oblige, as they regularly arrange for visiting artists to meet and/or perform for students during festival week, said Dogwood board president Jim Benedix.

“The arts often take a beating in school budgets, so anytime we can encourage kids to connect with the arts and participate in the festival, we will make it happen,” Benedix said.

Hamlet said her students always get fired up for the Funky Junk project, asking her throughout the year when they will get a chance to work on it again, she said.

“You can tell that, of all the projects we do, this is far and above their favorite,” Hamlet said. “You can tell they are really invested because they know how many people will see their work.”

The Dogwood Fine Arts Festival is currently in progress, and runs through May 20. For tickets to upcoming shows or for more information, people may call (269) 782-1115 or visit dogwoodfinearts.org.