ST. PETERSBURG, FL — About four years, St. Petersburg veterinarian Dee Sheppard voiced her frustrations about the amount of garbage there is in the world and wastefulness during a conversation with her niece.
“There’s so much trash and that disposable type of lifestyle, and it was like, you know what? Let‘s see if I can do something about it,” she told Patch.
So, she started turning trash into art, and now, she’s focused on creating works from the roofing materials that were torn off Tropicana Field during Hurricane Milton in 2024.
“It started with pallets and old furniture and evolved into anything I could come across that I might be able to make into something,” Sheppard said. “During storms, trees would fall and there was this unlimited wood, and I’d think, ‘Surely, I can make this into something.’ Wall art, little animals, things like that, plates. A little bit of everything.”
Anything can be turned into art, she added. “I feel like I look around and see art in just about everything, every dumpster I come across.”
Initially, Sheppard found a home for her pieces by gifting them to family and friends.
“Then, they hit the point where they couldn’t take anymore,” she said.
She launched a business, Pelican Upcycle, selling her art through an Etsy shop and at local markets, including Shopapalooza and Localtopia.
“That’s when I evolved from wall art and got into cutting boards and picture frames, spatulas,” she said. “But goofy, silly stuff.”
When Tropicana Field’s roof was destroyed during Milton, the debris “fell into place with what I do,” Sheppard said.
A friend who lived downtown collected pieces from the stadium immediately after the storm and offered them to her with the stipulation that any money she earns gets donated to charity.
She agreed, choosing Girls on the Run Greater Tampa Bay, where her niece, Lauren Leavine, serves as executive director. The organization hosts events and programming to inspire and empower girls. So far, she’s raised about $6,000 for the nonprofit.
The roofing debris is made mostly from fiberglass and teflon, Sheppard said. “It’s difficult to work with. Nothing sticks to it. You can’t glue it. You can’t stick anything to it. But I’ve tried different things to see what I can do with it.”
She landed on cutting out various designs that she turned into wall art and people can’t get enough of them.
“The Tropicana Field stuff has been incredible in terms of sales,” she said. “People might have gotten squares of the roof, but this is a piece of art, something you can hang up and have displayed, and that’s what makes it special.”
She hopes the popularity of these works helps to elevate her mission.
“The big thing is to cut down on waste,” Sheppard said. “I just feel like there’s so many ways to do it. This is my way, but I know there are other ways.”
As she runs out of roofing material, she’s already thinking about her next focus: plastics.
“That might be my thing for next year,” she said.