8/8/25

In Chinese numerology, 8/8/25 is a good day for starting new ventures, making important decisions, or engaging in activities related to wealth and prosperity. 

So, with Ocean Recovery Alliance in Hong Kong, we are thrilled to ride this wave of AI fun, as an awareness builder and fund-raiser for this awesome organization.

https://www.oceanrecov.org/plastically-possible

Plastically Possible | Ocean Recovery Alliance Welcome to Plastically Possible! A fun, new way to create pictures of sea animals, using GenAI to compile artistic images from plastic waste. By showcasing the staggering amount of plastic collected from just 1,000 yards of beach, the images invite everyone to consider their role in making our ocean and environment a better place, one piece of plastic at a time. www.oceanrecov.org

Check out Doug Woodring and Napoleon Biggs in conversation 

https://www.facebook.com/reel/726299256898234?mibextid=wwXIfr

Check out Doug Woodring talking about Plastically Possible on The Brew, RTHK Radio 3, Hong Kong

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1541839353831082

What's with the wads?

 

Wads are used to encase shot inside a shotgun shell and are one of the most pernicious pieces of plastic that we find on the beach. We have thousands of them in our collection. The walls of the wad protect the pellets from the charge, restricting the shot pattern to a more coherent pattern. They shoot out of the gun and remain in the landscape long after the ducks and the hunters are gone. They float their way down rivers, from the wetlands to the sea. We have never been to the beach when we don’t find these in great numbers. Historically, they were made of compressed paper, but with the advent of cheap polypropylene, they are now made exclusively of plastic.

Our very first show, in 2001 at Gallery Route One in Point Reyes Station titled One Year One Beach: Disposable Truths, showcased what we, two people as a collaborating team, collected from Kehoe Beach in one year.

During that year, we found wads — over a hundred on a typical day of collecting. We wanted to express the awe we felt in finding so many. At first, we thought of a wall mandala made of a thousand wads, but it spun into a Spiral Nebulae seven feet across, a galaxy, a gyre, a focal point for One Beach, One Year. 

Spiral Nebulae

For (Processing) at the Worth Ryder Gallery in Berkeley, we asked visitors to help us identify mysterious pieces of plastic. With curiosity sparked, there was fun aplenty with dramatic plots about its elaborate history as a vintage wetlands object. Could it be a jellyfish hat or a piece of a spaceship?

Surfrider Foundation has been pro-active, blogging about the environmental impact of wads, and lobbying for wads to be made from paper/cardboard. We have participated in their data collection. Post your pics on Instagram.

Shotgun Wedding is a LOL story of Judith's wad and tampon necklaces purchased for the Yale Art Museum collection. Just one of many of her fashion statements on her Beach Plastic Jewelry site. 

Shotgun wads remain on our "hit list." Every time we go to the beach, we find them in a variety of colors and designs. Although they are a blight on the landscape, they are marvels of ballistic engineering. A shotgun shell's wad features a variety of designs that control the shot's performance and ensure safety by manipulating the shot pattern, managing the recoil, and protecting the pellets. Hey, maybe they really are a piece of a spaceship!!!

THE BOX SHOW

Gallery Route One

August 16-September 13

August 16, Opening reception 3-5 PM 

September 13 Closing Party and final auction

Early on, back in the day, every year for the GRO The Box Show box we made boxes. But, when so many artists clamored to get in the show, we took our leave, making space for others to join in the fun.

Recently, when we were at the gallery director, Shelley Rugg, was there distributing boxes. She had a few remaining and encouraged us to come back into the fold and we are so glad that we did. 

It is a fun challenge to do something to a simple wooden box and create something fresh that will sell for big $$$. This is Gallery Route One’s biggest fundraiser of the year where 150 identical wooden boxes are transformed into 150 one-of-a-kind works of art by incredible local artists.

So dear friends we ask you to:

Bid box.

Bid big.

Bid often.

AUCTION SITE

Richard writes:

Title: "The Buddha's Last Instruction"

I've chosen to make the box into a small shrine commemorating the Buddha's Last Instruction. It contains a small statue of the Buddha seated in meditation, a mandala I created with computer software, and, of course, an antique light bulb found on Kehoe Beach (PRNSS), because we all know the Buddha's last instruction was "Make of Yourself a Light,"—don't we? Well...now we do!!!

Judith writes:

Calcite and chalk were the first whites used by Paleolithic artists to render drawings of animals thundering across the cave walls in the Dordogne region of France. While the true significance of these ancient artworks may remain elusive, they are believed to hold profound symbolic or spiritual meaning.

White is the most common color of plastic that regularly washes up onto Kehoe Beach, Point Reyes National Seashore. The shards and fragments tell the story of the use-it and toss-it ethos of our contemporary consumer culture.

Take a moment to let your eyes adjust to the seemingly monochrome of this stele. Allow the reflections from the shapes come into view. Notice the subtle variations in the shades. Contemplate the mystery of white as all visible light.

Let this exploration inspire you to appreciate the beauty and complexity of what is often overlooked.

we take AIM

Will Clapp, Dola Tibbs, Rose Dalager, Demi Hall

The AIM teens (Academy of Integrated Humanities and New Media) from Tam High were here last evening for dinner (Indian from Arti's) and the showing of their film project, MATTER OUT OF PLACE. 

We laughed, we cried. 

👏🎥👏🎥👏🎥👏🎥👏

Their youthful energy and their commitment to the environment is just the boost we need to lift us from the despair of politics gone awry.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1C_c45EJyb1_rDlXqi_9f6bMomCanv0xw/view

The Academy of Integrated Humanities and New Media (AIM) is a film program at Tamalpais High School in Mill Valley, CA. This is a two-year interdisciplinary program for juniors and seniors that integrates the classes of English, History, and Media Studies. Each semester they produce award-winning short documentaries. 

"Skyscraper" the Whale - Have We Breached the Limit?

Doug Woodring from Ocean Recovery Alliance just sent these blast-from-the-past (2019) videos of the Bruges Whale. Happy to see our Can you find me? signs doing what we hoped they would do, engaging the public in a game of looking.

TRASH

We are keen on teens and especially when that means (TRASH) The Recology Artstart Student Hub. 

Big thanks to the Marie Kneemeyer from Recology and Heather Brook from Artstart for inviting us to present our One Beach Plastic project to the TRASH student artists. Their positive response gave us a real boost. All too often the problems of climate change and plastic pollution seem so huge that one can feel demoralized, immobilized, and bewildered about how to take action. With all of the catastrophes in the world, we are happy to find real joy in life — the creative moment gives us the best pleasure we can imagine.

We are looking forward to seeing everyone on September 4, 4-6 PM for Reclaim, Repurpose, Recover at Sonoma State University Gallery where we will, as the curators Eileen Parent and Stefan Kiesbye say, "explore the act of transforming discarded objects into meaningful art that holds powerful significance for the human experience. By reclaiming materials that would otherwise be wasted, artists mirror the process of self-discovery, personal growth, environmentalism and sustainability. The symbolism lies in the ability to recognize hidden beauty, potential, and resilience in both objects and ourselves."

This exhibition will showcase the works of Bay Area artists: Mia Feuer, Bryan Keith Thomas, Arleene Correa Valencia, Richard Lang and Judith Selby Lang of One Beach Plastic, and feature selected works from the Recology Artstart Student Hub (TRASH) summer residency program. 

RHYTHMIX Rising Seas in Alameda

Judith writes:

While in Alameda delivering our artwork for the Rising Seas exhibition at Rhythmix Cultural Works, as it so happens, I was able to visit the estuary where the Kaisei went down. It was sad to see the two masts tilted at half-mast apropos of the rising seas theme of the day.

Our Sashay series of dancing balloons will be on display until August 16. Opening reception, Saturday June 14, 3-5 PM.

Check out Photos of the reception by JZLIM Photography with special thanks to Rhythmix Cultural Works.

https://www.rhythmix.org/events/rising-seas-gamelan-sekar-jaya/

UPDATE: June 21

What a spectacular event...a brilliant day...

We hosted our hands-on beach plastic workshop, enjoyed the music, dancing, and the view. 

So full of positive energy and hope. Exactly the uplift we need in these troubled times.