The old adage goes:
"Measure once, cut twice... and it's still too short!"
It's a humorous reminder that hasty, careless, or impulsive actions—especially those involving irreversible decisions—often lead to wasted effort, squandered resources, and work that must be redone.
Knowing that I would be installing at the Japan Foundation in Los Angeles, a small section of Recycle Ryoanji. required months of planning.The original installation at City Hall in San Francisco measured 18 feet by 44 feet and contained fifteen "rocks" composed of black plastic collected from Kehoe Beach. For Los Angeles, the work had to be thoughtfully reimagined and resized to approximately 8 feet by 13 feet, with just five rocks. Every dimension, proportion, tool, material, and supply had to be carefully considered and packed. There would be no quick trips to the hardware store once the installation began.
Fortunately, all the measuring, planning, and preparation paid off. The installation proceeded without a hitch, proving that careful preparation is often the invisible foundation of success.
I am deeply grateful to Aldo Schwartz, tea ceremony practitioner, who invited me to participate in the exhibition Tea Ceremony with Pacific Plastics; UCLA Professor Dr. Michelle Liu Carriger, whose guidance and vision helped shape the project and support the students involved; and Kaoru Kuribayashi, Arts and Culture Program Coordinator at the Japan Foundation Los Angeles, who works to bridge traditional Japanese culture with contemporary art. Follow on Instagram.
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| Aldo, Michelle, Judith, Richard |
It was especially rewarding to see this new iteration of Recycle Ryoanji situated adjacent to the inspiring Tea Ceremony with Pacific Plastic upcycled tea room (chashitsu).
Founded in 2022 by a collective of UCLA students and faculty, Tea Ceremony with Pacific Plastic explores sustainability and ocean plastic pollution through the cultural practice of chanoyu, commonly known as the Japanese tea ceremony. Over the past three years, the group has collaborated with artists, designers, engineers, craftspeople, scholars, and cultural practitioners across California, Boston, and Japan. Together they have constructed a tea house from salvaged and recycled materials and created tea-inspired performances that investigate sustainability, local histories, and trans-Pacific cultural exchange.
This summer's exhibition features ocean-inspired tea utensils (dōgu) created by the collective and their collaborators. Since the adjacent shelves displayed their functional tea tools, I curated a complementary installation on the lowest shelf. A series of plates featured useful objects that had washed ashore—items of labor and utility rather than beach toys—highlighting another dimension of our relationship with the ocean and its debris.
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| Straws, Caps, Cutlery, Tiparillo Tips, Shotgun Wads, Disposable Lighters, Spice Lids |
One particularly meaningful contribution was staged in the corner where the shelving wall meets the tokonoma wall. Michelle suggested incorporating a chiri-ana, a symbolic refuse pit that typically contains a few broken twigs, some leaves, and bamboo chopsticks placed by the host or hostess as a sign of having cleaned the garden. In this context, the gesture became especially poignant, evoking the seemingly endless accumulation of plastic we are now struggling to clean up from our beaches, waterways, and oceans.
Another idea was inspired by a familiar tea ceremony custom. To maintain cleanliness and show respect for the space, visitors remove their shoes before entering the tea house. Nearby, I displayed a collection of shoes that had washed ashore on to Kehoe Beach. Each had arrived alone, carried by tides and currents. Not one was found with its mate. Together they served as a quiet reminder of the countless journeys and stories embedded in the objects we discard.
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| Thanks to Richard for suggesting this lineup |
Finally, none of this would have been possible without the love and encouragement of my husband and my One Beach Plastic artistic partner, Richard Lang, and the unwavering support of our family.
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Paul, Richard, Judith, Amelia, Janis, Greg, Louise!!! |
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| LOUISE!!! |
On June 18, Recycle Ryoanji truly rocked. The dual opening for Tea Ceremony with Pacific Plastic and Kinetic Stillness brought together a lively crowd of artists, students, environmentalists, tea practitioners, and art enthusiasts. Conversations flowed throughout the galleries as visitors moved between the installations, discovering unexpected connections between contemporary environmental concerns, traditional Japanese aesthetics, and the transformative possibilities of art.
For that evening, the garden, the tea house, and the collected debris of our consumer culture seemed to speak with one another—and the crowd enthusiastically joined in. Those conversations are exactly what I had hoped the work would inspire.
Listen to the cacophony of the crowd of art enthusiasts enjoying the festivities.
Through September 19
and beyond — Let's keep the conversations going.
https://www.jflalc.org/event-details.php/361/tea-ceremony-with-pacific-plastics
- HoursMon-Fri: 12-6pm, Sat: 10am-3pm, Closed on Sundays and Holidays (June 19, July 3, 4, 20, August 11, and September 7)
Venue5700 Wilshire Blvd. Suite 100 Los Angeles, CA 90036
Venue
