Caltrans... from this to that

 

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The Plastic Turn

 

The cover of The Plastic Turn by Ranjan Ghosh features COMBS from our Kehoe Beach collection. Ghosh is a brilliant academic and thinker who teaches at the Department of English, University of North Bengal, India. His wide-ranging interests include literature, philosophy, education, environmental humanities, and of late, he has turned his attention to plastic. The book is set to be released on November 15. The e-book is now available.(Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 2022) 

UPDATE 01/31/2023

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Ecocide/Ecosave

 

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@check.mate.project

Here's the scoop about Maarten Vanden Eynde Check Mate Project  

We contributed nurdles in 2021 and again in 2022. 

Happy to be a very small part of such an ambitious project.

9/26/22 from Maarten Vanden Eynde 

Here’s Maarten, the visual artist working in Belgium. I contacted you previously about my participative installation Check Mate, the gigantic chessboard, for which you generously donated nurdles.

The project is starting round#2, and I'm once again trying to gather support! I was wondering if you continued collecting nurdles since last time we spoke, and if you’d agree to give some to the project once more. In June 2023, Check Mate will be exhibited again in a major venue, and I’d like to draw people’s attention to the problem of plastic pollution. This time, I’m going for the 20th square of the chessboard, for which I need a total amount of 524,288 nurdles, so all the help I receive is hugely appreciated :) There is no obligation and no rush, but please, don't hesitate to come back to me if you're interested!

July 30, 2021

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Great Wave

Pancho Jiménez, Liz Hickok, Ann Trinca, Richard Lang, Judith Selby Lang

It was a great Great Wave reception on Friday evening, October 7, with so much of a feeling of being back.

Definitely back to the traffic ARRGGGHH!!!— where are all of these people going?

It was back to a gallery filled to the brim with hugs and high-fives. With artists and art enthusiasts expressing appreciation for the artwork and for our brief talk — they even clapped.

We might get used to this — receptions, events, screenings. YAY!

Our piece Remnant loomed over the crowd, expressing all of the power and "terrible beauty" of ghost fishing with the cast shadows animating the space with an underwater feeling.

Rhiannon Briggs, a student a SCU, filed this thoughtful report in The Santa Clara

Great Wave

Exhibition Dates: Sept 19 2022 - Jan 13, 2023

Edward M. Dowd Art and Art History Building

Santa Clara University

 

Great Wave

Artists through the ages have looked to the ocean in all its majesty for clues about the planet’s future. This group exhibition features contemporary artists who live near the coast, and whose work immerses us in a watery drama. Organized by longtime Bay Area curator Ann Trinca, this show finds inspiration in the work of Japanese ukiyo-e master Katsushika Hokusai’s ubiquitous woodblock print The Great Wave. The Great Wave is recognizable across cultures as a symbol of the unpredictable power of the ocean. Using this historic piece as a jumping off point, the artists in the exhibition explore the ocean as a source of mystery and resilience.

Curator Ann Trinca

Artists: Brandon Anderton, Tess Felix, Peter Hassen, Liz Hickok, Kenyatta A.C. Hinkle, Hughen/Starkweather, Luc Janssens, Josh Keyes, Laura Arminda Kingsley, Richard Lang and Judith Selby Lang, Courtney Mattison, Allison Watkins and Angela Willetts

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Pacific Rise: Ocean Health

The Bolinas Museum writes:

"Pacific Rise: Ocean Health expresses both urgency and hope by highlighting the work of visionary artists, scientists, citizens, and organizations. Through painting, photography, multi-media, sculpture, and academic research, the exhibition focuses on the wonder of the marine world, the current age of destructive human impact on the planet—the Anthropocene epoch—and ideas that can empower us as individuals to take responsibility for our daily choices, and be proactive voices for changing our collective human behavior."

Co-curated by Louisa Glober and Elia Haworth.

Pacific Rise: Ocean Health is presented in the main and photo galleries and through out the museum, where ocean related themes are explored. The Coastal Marin Artists Gallery features Laurie Mahan Sawyer: Seeing the Unseen. In the History Room among the many artifacts there are graphic photos of the effect of the oil spill in Bolinas Lagoon. The Collection Gallery has been curated to feature beach and ocean images from the museum permanent collection.

We are pleased to be included in this thoughtful exhibition with a such an illustrious group of artists that is text-rich with the voices of scientist writers and experts. 

PARTICIPATING ARTISTS: Bryant Austin, Brown Cannon III, Sally K. Fairfax, Tess Felix, Elizabeth Fenwick, Keith Hansen, Steve N. G. Howell, Joe Hoyt, Josie Iselin, Jenny Jacox, Chris Jordan, Guillermo H. Kelly, Judith Selby Lang & Richard Lang, Ellen Litwiller, Ethan Okamura, Deborah Oropallo & Andy Rappaport, Laura Plageman, Lina Prairie, Cara Romero, Camille Seaman, Andy Segal, Joseph Siedman, Janai Southworth, Nancy Stein, John Warzybok, Elizabeth Weber, Chelsea Ryoko Wong, and more.

PARTICIPATING SCIENCE WRITERS: Biret Adden, Sarah Allen, Bruce Bowser, Sally K. Fairfax, Peter Gleckler, Keith Hansen, Burr Heneman, Steve Howell, Josie Iselin, Jenny Jacox, Mike Jacox, Judith Selby Lang & Richard Lang, Joe Mueller, Hawk Rosales, Terry Sawyer, Jennifer Stock, Michael Stocker, and more.

In the History Room our print Widening Gyre

In the Photography Gallery:

Pacify fashioned from the remains of a baby binky and tiparillo tips strung like pearls to shape the ring of the necklace. Kid pacifiers. Adult pacifiers. 

Glad to be in the fine company of Chris Jordan's photograph of an albatross from his powerful series Midway:Message from the Gyre.

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This to That

Here's the story about Trash Castle and the journey from here to there...from this to that...from Kehoe Beach to Huntington Beach...

It may be a stereotype but glamorous “fake” fingernails seem so very SoCal…so we knew we had arrived, when the first plastic we found in the sand at Huntington Beach was not one but two plastic nails. 

It is the unexpected finds like those that keep us intrigued and energized to continue the crazy work of picking up plastic. Plus, it is the fun in making a difference in our community and on the planet that brings us and so many people out for Coastal Clean Up Day, to be a part of the Orange County Coastkeepers Day of Action,  to join forces with others to just do something...just do one thing...

In 1999 we forged an artist partnership that we call One Beach Plastic to work with plastic found on Kehoe Beach. Since then, as our collection of plastic has grown, we have grown as individuals and as collaborators. Now after so many years, we understand the challenges and pleasures of working with each other and we have worked successfully with many others who have helped to enlarge our project, adding other circles to our set. We appreciate the lively conversations that ensue when problem solving big issues about installations and exhibitions. As we like to say, we play well with others.

In June, we were contacted by the CalTrans Stormwater Public Education Campaign — an initiative with the message of connecting-the-dots from street to the tideline; from the gutter to beach. They wanted a "Trash Castle." 

We knew that there would be many details to work out when preparing for a visionary project of this scale so we were relieved and thrilled!!! when our proposal made it through all of the hoops, giving us the opportunity to work with CalTrans and a great team of advertising people and filmmakers: D&A Communications, Sagent Marketing, Audacy, and Wingman63.

Proposed site

Proposal-Trash Castle from a distance

Proposal-Trash Castle closer up

    

On September 1 and 2, the film crew from Wingman63 (Ben, Aaron, Gary plus Andi from afar) arrived to document our our process — you know it’s a big deal when there is a make-up person (Joslyn) with breakfast and lunch provided. After all of the to-do and fretting about what would or would not make the cut we are tickled with the Trash Castle Promo PSA that rolled out in advance of the event.

Lookin' good

Of late, with all of the news of the British royals, castles are definitely in the air. Along with Buckingham, Windsor, Balmoral our “Trash Castle” fits right in to the zeitgeist of pomp and ceremony.

It was a Brit who first said, “An Englishman’s home is his castle.”

“Trash Castle says, it’s time for some planetary housekeeping.”

We’ve been musing about the magic and metaphor of building sandcastles — on the beach when after hours of sculpting, as the tide turns high, with one big wave, the edifice is washed away. Such is the transitory nature that gives a special meaning to the making.

And, so too, with our presentation on 9/17 — after days and days of construction, “Trash Castle” was a here-then-gone 5-hour experience. It was our hope that after spending the morning looking down searching for plastic, Coastal Clean Up Day participants, would look up and would be uplifted as they marvel at the variety and amount of plastic on our castle towers. Although the plastic will endure, “Trash Castle” on Huntington Beach is intended to be ephemeral, remaining only as a memory and as a call to action.

On September 14 we packed up and headed south, driving a cargo van to HB. The super bonus for the trip — a family fest. Judith's sister Janis (Check her blog Shoresweep) and brother-in-law Paul were there to help with the install. Richard's daughter Amelia and boyfriend Greg made the trek from LA to HB to see the TC in place.  

Out the door

Loading up

The site- just as we had envisioned

Paul unloading

Carrying the cutlery

Did someone say, "steak?"

Janis and Richard figuring the placement

Trash Castle triumph!!!

There were good sign(s) that invited a closer look with an iSpy game. Fun to see kids running in and among the towers on the hunt for the count.

Sunny, breezy, a day fit for royalty. With the colorful flags, blowing in the breeze, Trash Castle worked its magic. It was an easy set up and easy take down. We claimed HB as our scene of triumph and left without a trace.

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