Midway Island - Plastic Disaster

I came across a video on Facebook today and 

had to post it on my blog immediately. 

This video is about an island in the ocean called 

Midway Atoll or Midway Island.

This island is 2.4 square miles and is roughly 

equidistant between North America and Asia.

Nobody lives on this island, only birds.

The photographs taken show how the

 plastic debris in our oceans create a devastating 

effect on the birds who live on this island.  

It brought tears to my eyes and gave me 

greater conviction to continue creating art

that communicates the severity of the

environmental crisis that plagues our world.

Please watch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsJqMmuFWO4

Artist Re-using Plastic

Oh! It has been too long since I last posted on my blog!

Alas, it is time to start posting again.

I am happy to say that my interest in Eco-art is still alive and well!

I recently came across an article in the magazine, "Art in America" that featured the artist, Aurora Robson. She is an artist that re-uses plastic bottles and transforms them into colorful sculptures. When asked if there are other artists who work with recycled materials that inspire her, she said the following:

"What I'm doing is interrupting the waste stream - so the bottles I use don't really get recycled. What I'm doing is transforming them so they don't even have to go through the environmentally costly recycling process."

I love this! This is how I see my work when I re-use plastic bottle caps.

I also like what Robson says about her role as an artist. She says,
"Part of why I have such a hard time with the role of the artist and with dedicating myself to making art is that I really don't think the planet needs more stuff - even if it's art. I feel more comfortable transforming as opposed to producing. If transformation is part of producing a new piece of artwork, I'm cool with that, but if it's just about mining more materials from our planet to make stuff, I have a really hard time with that."

I couldn't agree more. This just makes so much sense to me. 

It is in this article that I learned more about the natural disaster that Greenpeace calls, 

the "Trash Vortex" or the "Eastern Garbage Patch." 

This is referring to the vast, 100-million ton accumulation of garbage in the

Pacific Ocean - the one that spreads out over a territory the size of Texas. 
This natural disaster has a lot to do with plastic bottles.



This article made me think, "What about the plastic caps that went with those bottles?!"

Discovering this article really gave me extra motivation to get moving
on creating another bottle cap mural. Most likely, this is going to happen
in the context of teaching. My students at school have been collecting
plastic caps since the beginning of the school year. It is time to get started!

Photos taken from various angles, of the mixed-media sculpture
What Goes Around, Comes Around (2008) by Aurora Robson.
The large-scale work was made from approximately 9000 plastic
bottles that were, as Robson says, "saved from the waste stream."

Aveda Bottle Cap Mural

I had the great pleasure of recently creating another bottle cap mural!

This time the mural was made for an Aveda store in Strongsville, Ohio.

Aveda is a beauty company that specializes in naturally derived ingredients.

They are committed to pursuing environmental sustainability and were

the first privately held company to sign the CERES Principles

(Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies).

Aveda is also the first beauty company that packages their products

in 100% post consumer polyethylene terephtalate (PET) plastic.

Aveda pioneered Aveda Caps Recycling when they found out that a

majority of plastic bottle caps aren't recycled, but instead end up in

landfills, rivers and oceans. Aveda collects caps from the public at

different store locations throughout the country. These caps are then

washed, ground up and formed into pellets that are molded into

new caps that are used on Aveda products. 

* Information taken from Aveda web-site: http://www.aveda.com/discover/index.tmpl#section=acting_responsibly

Each year, Aveda dedicates the month of April to raise money to

support clean water projects here in the U.S. and around the world.

Over the last five years, $16 million of funds have been raised.

To find out more about Aveda's Earth Month events, go to:

http://www.aveda.com/cms/whats_new/index.tmpl

In an effort to support Aveda's Earth Month and to take part

in the Recycling Caps program, I created my latest mural.

I brought home boxes and boxes of caps from the Aveda store
in Strongsville and spent a few months collecting caps, taking
an hour or two at a time to sort and clean.

I knew I would need a lot of blue caps, so this is what I had the most of

when I began to assemble the actual mural.

Sometimes I feel like a little kid in a candy store when I sort and

organize my caps. I get so excited to find new colors and sizes,

especially really little caps. These discoveries tap into memories of playing

with my dollhouse as a child. I still love miniatures. You should hear me squeal!



Bottle caps sorted, cleaned and stored
in my little basement studio

Notice the wee-little cap on the left side, bottom row.
These caps come in so handy for tiny spaces that
need to be filled. I love them!

    Below is a photo of me sketching out the design on the board.

I came up with three designs for the mural. I knew I wanted

the design to depict water to represent Aveda's clean water projects.

 My first two sketches were a little too abstract (as seen below).

I decided on a more representational (although still abstract) design.

Me sketching out the design on the 2' x 8' board

Below is the mural in progress. I started off

hot-gluing the caps and then decided to skip

this step entirely and go right to screwing

the caps individually. I felt better knowing the

caps would stay intact while in transit.

Hot-gluing the caps

Screwing down the caps

Over 1,400 caps and screws were used to

create this mural. I include finishing

washers to maintain a sense of aesthetic.

I like the industrial look of the stainless steel.

Below is a photo of the finished mural on display at the

Aveda store in Strongsville, Ohio.

Susan Sargent's "The Comfort of Color"

I discovered this book at the library about a month ago.

The more and more I look at it, the more I love it!

If I wasn't a certified art teacher, I'd be a licensed interior designer.

 I am constantly re-arranging furniture in my little house

and playing with colors, texture, pattern and shapes like I did

when I was the proud owner of a delicate dollhouse that my

father made me for Christmas when I was seven years old.

This book, "The Comfort of Color" is a real gem in my collection of

design books. I really appreciate its eclectic style and bold use of color.

The author, Susan Sargent, is a nationally-known artist and author whose 

"color sense is simple and playful. She is a fan of rich, vibrant colors and

is not afraid to pair a hot pink chair with zebra print or lime green walls

with brown furniture." (http://www.sensationalcolor.com/)

She earned her textile degree in Sweden and spent 15 years gaining

hands-on experience as an artist, dyer and weaver.

She makes gorgeous rugs that are wool tufted and hand-hooked.

Here are some of her rugs.

Aren't they beautiful!?

Susan also creates pillows, ceramics, bedding and glassware.

You can view her work at: http://susansargent.com/

Enjoy! 

Eco-Artist, John Dahlsen

"7 Brown Foam Totems" by John Dahlsen

I noticed I had a post saved back in August that I never made public.

I decided to go ahead and put this on my blog today

as it shows some of my students' work and...

I am firm believer that

art needs to be seen!

My Master's research question focused on authentic assessment, which is

finding ways to assess student work by connecting the classroom to

real world experiences. My research questions was as follows:

"Does displaying student artwork in a public setting increase

student motivation and the quality of their artwork?"

I planned a two week unit (which ended up taking three weeks) that

focused on eco-art. My students learned about different artists who use

recycled materials as their choice of medium and then worked in

small groups to create their own eco-art.

All of the artworks are posted on my blog, except for the one that is below.

These pieces were created by students who finished early as

supplemental work. Therefore, these pieces were not originally planned

for the student art show - but I am glad they were added.

All of the works were on display at Cleveland's City Hall.

With the help of Erin Dorsey, the Mayor's public relations coordinator,

the work was show-cased with two professional artists.

We had a wonderful art opening with the mayor in attendance.

Needless to say, my students loved it!

The work below features three assemblage totems made from plastic Coke bottles,

soda cans and recycled styrofoam.

This artwork was inspired by Australian artist, John Dahlen.

Dahlsen transforms discarded items (aka litter) that he

finds on beaches into beautiful works of art.

He is one of my favorite eco-artists.

You can view more of his work at: http://www.johndahlsen.com/

"Coke Totems" by John Dahlsen

"Primary Totems" by John Dahlsen

Students preparing totems

Totems on display at Cleveland's City Hall

If you're curious what the answer was to my research question,
the answer was equivably, "Yes!"

Chuck Close and Plastic Bottle Caps

I was introduced to the artist, Chuck Close, when I was doing my

student teaching at John Hay High School School of Architecture and Design.

My mentor showed me some of his art while we were studying photorealists.

I immediately fell in love with his work, especially his later work.

Here is an example of his earlier work.

Talk about photorealism - look at that detail. WOW!

Mark (1978–1979), acrylic on canvas. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York.
Detail at right of eye. Mark, a painting that took fourteen months to complete.

Close encountered a catastrophic spinal artery collapse in 1988 which left him severely paralyzed. He found a way to continue painting - with a brush strapped onto his wrist.

No longer able to paint with intricate detail, Close managed to paint large portraits in "low-resolution grid squares that were created by an assistant. Viewed from afar, these squares appear as a single, unified image which attempt photo-reality, albeit in pixelated form." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Close

Self-portrait by Chuck Close, 2000.

Detail of Self-Portrait by Chuck Close, 2000.

I cannot remember what I was researching when I came across the artist,
Mary Ellen Croteau, who was inspired by Chuck Close. I was captivated by her work
because she chose as one of her media, plastic bottle caps!
Here is the excerpt from her web-site that inspired her work:

"Plastic bottle caps - like bags, a plastic product that can’t be/ isn’t recycled. 
I conceived of an “endless column” of these caps, after Constantin Brancussi’s iconic
modernist sculpture (see image below). One became two, and two became many. 
While making these columns, I noticed the smaller caps tended to nest
inside one another, and the color combinations reminded me of Chuck Close’s painted portraits.  So I got sidetracked and started on a large self-portrait made entirely of bottle caps.  The piece measures 8 feet by 7 feet.  No paint is used, except to delineate a few shadows where white board was showing through. 
In a few cases, the caps are trimmed in order to fit into a tight space.

http://www.maryellencroteau.net/mec_website/galleries/Pages/bottle_caps.html
  

 

Constantin Brancusi, "Endless Column" 1937-1938





"Endless Columns" by Mary Ellen Croteau

And below is the end result!

"CLOSE," a self-portrait of Mary Ellen Croteau made with plastic bottle caps

 WOW!!

Vibe of Portland Documentary

I was very fortunate to work for Vibe of Portland this past year, a music and art non-profit in Portland, Oregon. I served as an art instructor for their after-school programming at Harrison Park Elementary School. I was excited to work in this particular school as it reaches a large underserved population in the city of Portland. My Master in Education focused on urban education and working with low-income students, so I possess an understanding and passion for this demographic. As a former Jesuit Volunteer (the Catholic version of the Peace Corps), I am "ruined for life" and am dedicated to working for social justice.

At any rate, Vibe of Portland was interviewed by Christianity Today this past Spring and was included in the documentary, "This is Our City."  I am in part of this documentary!

Here is the link:

http://www.christianitytoday.com/thisisourcity/portland/vibe.html