School covers art honoring dead pets, fearing it looked like LGBT support, artist says
_fitted.png "A landscaper who painted a Tennessee high school’s football field for years quit after his latest art meant to commemorate Rainbow Bridge Day was covered.")
A landscaper will no longer paint murals at a Tennessee football field after he says school employees asked him to cover up his latest artwork: a rainbow with animals.
On the morning of Friday, Aug. 26, Shaun Trent had just finished a tradition he’d been keeping for years: Painting the logo of Macon County High School on the 50 yard line of their football field with an artistic twist, he told SuperTalk 99.7 WTN the following Monday.
Trent, who runs Trent’s Professional Grounds landscaping company in Lafayette, Tennessee, said on the radio show that to commemorate Rainbow Bridge Remembrance Day — a holiday commemorating pets who have died — he decided to paint a rainbow with animals walking across it inside the letters “MC.”
He posted photos of his work on Facebook, captioning them “In memory of our pets who have crossed the Rainbow bridge and are waiting for us on the other side.”
But shortly after finishing up that morning, the head football coach called and asked him to cover his latest painting, Trent told WSMV. The Macon County Director of Schools also called him with the same message.
“I never once thought about offending anybody,” Trent said, according to WKRN. “I thought everyone knew what the rainbow bridge was.”
He told the radio station he was asked to cover up his artwork because of fears it might be associated with LGBTQ symbolism, as the LGBTQ Pride flag uses rainbow colors.
School district officials did not immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for comment.
Trent had worked for the county for 12 years and had painted the football field murals for five of those years, he said on air. He did the work for free and, until the recent incident, said he was allowed to paint whatever he wanted. According to photos on his Facebook page, that usually included holiday-themed art.
Trent said he didn’t have the heart to cover up what he’d worked so hard on.
“You can’t do that to somebody who takes so much pride in something like that,” Trent told WSMV. “You can’t censor them and do that, especially after you’ve had so much trust in them. It crushed me, it crushed my soul.”
Nick Beres, a reporter at NewsChannel 5 Nashville, posted photos on Facebook from before and after the painting was allegedly covered by school officials before the football game. The spot on the field where the rainbow was inside the “MC” logo appears to be covered to blend into the letters, but has a distinguishable circular outline.
Trent said on his company Facebook page later that same day that he would no longer paint for the county.
“I promise I did not mean to cause problems,” the post said. “I pour my heart and soul into these paintings and maintaining this field for our community.”
The post was shared by dozens and has almost 500 comments expressing disappointment and support.
“Your art is beautiful. If someone is offended, that’s on them. I for one always look forward to seeing what our beautiful field will look like each time,” one person commented.
“This is ridiculous! I hate that one person’s stupidity has you feeling this way. I think you’ve done amazing work and some of the most inspirational ideas I’ve ever seen.” another said.
Kayla Lanier, a resident of Macon County and frequent attendee of the local football games, made T-shirts with the hashtag #IStandWithTrent to raise money for the landscaper. She told McClatchy News she has sold nearly 40 shirts so far and that she and Trent agreed to donate the profits to Friends of Macon County, a local animal shelter.
“I made the shirts because I read his story, and thought this [was] not right at all,” Lanier told McClatchy News.”If he sees how much love and support he had with these shirts people are wearing with his art, maybe he wouldn’t just give up on art!”
“It’s a horrible feeling to know that you’ve made somebody mad or angered somebody with your paint because that’s no artist’s intention,” Trent told WKRN. “You just paint what comes to you. Now I have to look back and think in my mind, am I painting things now that offend people?”
Lafayette is about 60 miles northeast of Nashville.
This story was originally published September 1, 2022 at 8:36 AM with the headline "School covers art honoring dead pets, fearing it looked like LGBT support, artist says."
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