DIDSBURY – It's tough to imagine what soldiers went through in the trenches during World War I and World War II. Some soldiers actually passed the time making beautiful art, using items that are more associated with death and destruction than beauty.
Trench art is art made with leftover bullets and shell casings. A large display of trench art is currently on display at the Didsbury Museum.
Museum Foundation president Frankie Kelly said the museum has 190 pieces from the private collection of Dr. Dwayne Kostura of Sherwood Park.
“A lot of it started being made in the trenches or away from the main lines,” she said. “Some of it was made by soldiers when they were recuperating as a way to work with their hands. Some of it was made as gifts. It's just amazing what they were able to do.”
Dr. Kostura lent part of his collection of over 600 pieces to the Didsbury Museum. It will be displayed until after Remembrance Day.
“All of the pieces are interesting especially some of the more elaborately engraved pieces that are meant as keepsakes/reminders of the battles the person was in,” he wrote in the Alberta Genealogical Society quarterly journal.
“When I hold the piece I wonder about who the maker was, when he made the article, and what memories he would have recalled after the piece was made.”
