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https://www.pinterest.se/pin/289145238581907665/

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Remote islands where plastic waste killed half a MILLION hermit crabs

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Jun 11, 2020 - The number of crabs killed is equal to one to two every square metre. The study was carried out on the Cocos Islands in the Indian Ocean and Henderson Island in the Pacific Ocean.

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https://www.wwf.eu/?1891441/Factsheet-reducing-the-mortality-of-marine-turtles

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Factsheet: reducing the mortality of marine turtles

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The need for Turtle Excluder Device legislation in Europe

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https://www.uca.ac.uk/campuses/virtual-tour/farnham/

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https://creativemornings.com/talks/angela-haseltine-pozzi

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All Talks Individuals Chapters

Born in Portland, Oregon to a family of artists and naturalists, Angela is the founder and artistic director of the Washed Ashore Project.

Angela has always believed in "art for all." In her 30-year career as an educator, she has taught elementary through college students and led museum programs. She has also spent much of her career lecturing, consulting, creating and exhibiting her artwork in galleries and museums.

In 2010, Angela found her life's calling; to make Art to Save the Sea. Rallying her small community of Bandon, Oregon she inspired them with her creative problem-solving, and the non-profit Washed Ashore was born. Today over 10,000 volunteers have helped clean beaches and worked with Washed Ashore to process over 20 tons of debris into over 70 sculptures of the animals affected by plastic pollution.

These sculptures now tour as the "Washed Ashore Project" traveling exhibits educating and inspiring countless people from diverse backgrounds to take action in their own lives and prevent contributing to this global problem. Her work continues as Artistic Director, designing and creating multitudes of sea creatures from the ongoing tons of marine debris with the goal to have a global impact.

As the leader of a team of dedicated employees and hundreds of volunteers, Angela has vowed that this effort is her life's work, and "until we run out of plastic on the beach, we will keep doing our work."

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Angela Haseltine Pozzi | Art with a purpose | CreativeMornings/PDX

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All Talks Individuals Chapters Born in Portland, Oregon to a family of artists and naturalists, Angela is the founder and artistic director of the Washed Ashore Project. Angela has always believed in "art for all."

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http://oceanblues.brightonmuseums.org/our-plastic-ocean-by-mandy-barker/behind-the-scenes-with-mandy-barker/

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Mandy Barker works closely with scientists to raise awareness about plastic pollution in the world's oceans.

Her passion for highlighting the harmful affect of plastic pollution on marine life takes her on voyages all over the world.

In 2012, Barker joined a research expedition which sailed from Japan to Hawaii to examine the accumulation of marine plastic debris in the tsumani debris field in the Pacific Ocean.

In June 2017 she was invited to join Greenpeace on the Beluga II Expedition which sailed around the remote and unique island locations of the Inner Hebrides, Scotland, to recover plastic debris.

Barker's most recent voyage led her to one of the most remote parts of the world, Henderson Island, which sits 5000km from the nearest landmass. In June 2019, she visited the island with scientists, filmmakers, a clean up crew, journalists and divers. Despite being so far away from human contact, one of the island's beach was found by scientists to be the most densely plastic polluted beaches on the planet.

Barker's projects are then developed through collating ideas and concepts in sketchbooks. The sketchbooks give an insight into the creative process Barker undertakes to produce her work.

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Mandy Barker works closely with scientists to raise awareness about plastic pollution in the world's oceans. Her passion for highlighting the harmful affect of plastic pollution on marine life takes her on voyages all over the world. In 2012, Barker joined a research expedition which saile

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https://grist.org/article/meet-the-guy-swimming-through-the-great-pacific-garbage-patch/

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Ben Lecomte is swimming through tons of plastic. Pieces of it have gotten stuck to his face. He's passed abandoned fishing nets that tangle and kill wildlife. He's held pieces of broken storage crates blooming with algae and barnacles. And he wants us to see it all - so we know what we've done to the planet.

In June, the athlete and environmental advocate embarked on a swim through a highly polluted stretch between Hawaii and California. By September, he hopes to traverse 300 nautical miles of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, the world's largest accumulation of marine plastic debris. It's an area that's not well understood, despite recent media attention to the growing problem of plastic waste.

Lecomte's effort, called the Vortex Swim, is part adventure, part research experiment. His team - scientists, sailors, and photographers - don't guide him in a straight line toward his final destination; instead, they direct him toward areas where they expect to find floating trash.

For instance, the University of Hawaii, one of the partners on this project, already has tracking devices out there, attached to large pieces of debris, and the Vortex Swim team sends Lecomte to investigate those spots while he swims. The team is also collecting data for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, and several other organizations.

What kinds of plastic trash have they found so far? Lots of different stuff, says Lecomte, who boards his team's boat to rest in between bouts of swimming. "The most common pieces we find generally have some connection to the fishing industry. Fish crates, buckets, and lots of ghost nets," he told HuffPost by email. They've also found household items, like soda bottles, CD cases, and plastic bags - even a laundry basket.

The team is documenting its progress on Instagram. One of the most striking things about its photos is how infrequently large plastic objects are found. But don't be fooled - the water is teeming with debris, Lecomte told HuffPost.

"This is one of those issues that cannot necessarily be seen with the naked eye," he said.

Plastics that end up in the ocean tend to break apart into small pieces that are practically microscopic. Much of the debris Lecomte encounters is barely visible. Every day, his team trawls the water with a net to collect plastic particles as he swims - they always find some. Lecomte isn't usually aware of these tiny pieces while he's swimming, although once he arrived back on the boat with a small chunk of plastic stuck to his face.

The world's oceans contain an estimated 150 million metric tons of plastic garbage. It can be found floating at various depths and resting on the seafloor. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is just one of five major convergences that occur around the world where ocean currents create higher concentrations of trash. These so-called garbage patches don't have clearly defined borders: They shift and change all the time. They're not dense enough to walk on top of or see from space.

Lecomte says people shouldn't think of garbage patches as floating islands of trash. Instead, he describes them as a " smog of particles circulating with the currents."

The Pacific Ocean is home to two such garbage patches: one in the South Pacific and one in the North, where Lecomte is exploring. The North Pacific patch is particularly difficult to study because it covers a sprawling area - from California to Japan - and consists of two distinct sections, between which currents carry plastic particles back and forth over great distances. Lecomte's team is focusing only on the eastern section, which is estimated to be twice the size of Texas.

Lecomte and his team have been most surprised to see how wildlife interacts with the floating plastics. Whenever they locate a large piece of debris, they usually find that a small ecosystem has popped up around it. Plants and barnacles attach to the plastic's surface, while fish take shelter in the shadow the item casts.

"These drifting homes wander the ocean currents, collecting larvae and eggs as they go," Lecomte wrote on Instagram last month.

Abandoned fishing gear and household plastics can entangle and strangle marine animals. In addition, scientists know that fish eat tiny pieces of plastic, as well as fibers that shed from synthetic clothing. Baby fish are known to mistake plastic particles for food during their first days of life. The Vortex Swim crew, which catches fish to supplement their food on the journey, recently found shards of plastic in the belly of a mahi-mahi. It is unclear what effects small pieces of debris have on the animals that eat them or how they affect the rest of the food chain.

The Vortex Swim team often debates what to do when they find a plastic item that has creatures living on or around it, Lecomte told HuffPost. "Do we leave it to save those animals now? Or take it to stop it from breaking up into smaller and smaller fragments potentially hurting more animals in the future?"

The team ultimately leaves behind a lot of things they find. After all, Lecomte told HuffPost, this is not a cleanup mission, and space is limited on their boat.

"If we collected every item, we would need a container ship to house it," he said.

Ocean cleanups are extremely complex and expensive. It would take 67 ships one year to recover less than 1 percent of the debris in the North Pacific, according to NOAA.

There are several trash-collecting efforts underway in the Pacific. The most famous, the Ocean Cleanup system, was designed by 24-year-old Boyan Slat and floats with the currents to catch debris near the surface. The first iteration of this system broke in December, spilling trash back into the water before being towed to shore in Hawaii. The Ocean Cleanup deployed a new device in June.

Ocean researchers and advocates say that although attempts to clean up marine trash can be worthwhile, a better long-term solution is to focus on plastics before they escape into the environment.

"The best way to prevent large accumulations of debris from getting larger is to stop debris from entering the ocean in the first place," said Nancy Wallace, director of the marine debris program at NOAA.

Lecomte, for his part, says people should focus on reducing the production and consumption of plastics.

"The only sustainable way to deal with this global issue is to stop the problem at its source: to change our habits on land, stop using single-use plastic, and when possible use alternatives to plastic," he told HuffPost.

Last year, Lecomte planned a record-breaking swim from Japan to California but had to abandon the attempt before the halfway point because of technical difficulties with his support boat. He encountered ocean plastics every day during the trip - far more than expected - and when he and the team decided to finish their transpacific voyage this year, they chose to focus their efforts on raising awareness around plastic pollution instead of on breaking records.

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Meet the guy swimming through the Great Pacific Garbage Patch

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Ben Lecomte is swimming through tons of plastic. Pieces of it have gotten stuck to his face. He's passed abandoned fishing nets that tangle and kill wildlife. He's held pieces of broken storage crates blooming with algae and barnacles. And he wants us to see it all - so we know what we've done to the planet.

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https://gearjunkie.com/boats-water/diver-ocean-trash-pollution-video

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Jellyfish and manta rays were swimming in and around plastic bags, food waste, and garbage.

A diver in Nusa Penida, Bali filmed a sad sight this week. According to the video, ocean currents brought the trash to the popular dive site Manta Point, popular for its coral reef and manta ray viewing. Sadly, it seems to be suffering horrible plastic pollution too.

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Horrifying Dive Video Shows Ocean Full of Trash

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Jellyfish and manta rays were swimming in and around plastic bags, food waste, and garbage. A diver in Nusa Penida, Bali filmed a sad sight this week. According to the video, ocean currents brought the trash to the popular dive site Manta Point, popular for its coral reef and manta ray viewing.

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https://taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2020/08/14/2003741648

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Combining the exotic underwater world of scuba diving, the physical demands of competitive sports, the mental focus and relaxation of meditation, freediving has recently exploded in popularity

Your body is floating in a warm, blue bath, neither sinking nor rising. Sunlight shimmers on the white sand below as a sea turtle drifts by. You feel your heart beating slowly and a profound sense of calm floods your mind. The figures floating at the surface seem distant, as if from a different world. Down here, there is just you, your mind, your body, and the water. In this calm, timeless moment, you have glimpsed infinity... you are freediving.

The next time you find yourself on Siaoliouciou (小琉球), or on Green Island (綠島), or at any number of popular snorkeling sites throughout the country, take a closer look at those entering the water and you may notice some peculiar-looking divers. In addition to the mask and snorkel you would expect, they might be carrying long fins like scuba divers, while not carrying any air tanks. These are freedivers, heading out to explore the underwater world while exploring their own limits in breath holding, relaxation, and sheer willpower.

Comparing scuba diving to freediving is a bit like comparing a cable car ride to the top of a mountain with a hike up to the same peak. The cable car saves effort and gives one more time to just enjoy the view; however, it does not provide the sense of achievement, the natural high from physical exertion, or the intimate interaction with the natural world that a hike provides.

Photo courtesy of Deep Soul

Similarly, freediving to a new PB (personal best) depth after weeks of training can be a source of pride, and the intimate connection to the underwater world one feels as a freediver - sensing changes in buoyancy as one's torso compresses with depth, and hearing the subtle sounds of the ocean unmarred by the loud bubbling of a regulator - is an experience scuba diving cannot easily provide.

Having already completed my Level 2 AIDA (the French acronym for the International Association for the Development of Apnea) certification last year, I recently decided to further refine my skills with an AIDA3 course at Deep Soul on Siaoliouciou. First, our instructor, "Open", discussed the mammalian dive response with us and had us each immerse our face in a pail of ice water while holding our breath. This simple exercise initiated the dive response and automatically slowed my heart rate down into the 40s. We then jumped into the pool, where the real work began.

Purpose-built for dive training, Deep Soul's pool has some peculiar dimensions: At 25 meters in length but with only one lane, it is certainly the narrowest pool I have ever seen. The next time you visit Siaoliouciou, keep an eye out for this oddity, right beside the main road encircling the island.

Photo courtesy of Deep Soul

We worked on both pool disciplines - static apnea (a breath hold without moving) and dynamic apnea (holding one's breath while swimming) - before heading out to the ocean. In all disciplines, the goal is to accept the uncomfortable feeling as the urge to breathe kicks in, even as it builds in intensity and causes "contractions" of the muscles in the upper body. This urge is actually caused by high carbon dioxide in the body, not a shortage of oxygen. The key to freediving longer, deeper, and more enjoyably is to learn to relax and keep this feeling of rising panic under control.

I managed to hold my breath longer than both my classmates during static training, but my pride was quickly obliterated during dynamic training. I pushed as hard as I could, mentally and physically, but could not finish my full training set, though both of my classmates seemed to finish theirs with relative ease. The exhaustion was unlike anything I'd ever felt before and will take a lot more training to conquer. Though freediving emphasizes relaxation, there is an undeniable element of fitness to the sport as well.

The next two days included diving sessions in the ocean, surrounded by the clear blue water, colorful corals, and curious sea turtles that have made Siaoliouciou such a popular diving destination. We refined our technique to try meeting AIDA3 standards, and began experiencing "freefall". When the full breath in the lungs is compressed enough as one dives deeper, the body becomes less like a balloon and more like a rock, eventually descending without any physical effort at all. At this point, a freediver can relax their entire body and just go along for the ride.

Photo courtesy of DiveCube Hotel

This was all great fun, until one of my classmates emerged from a dive on the last day complaining of a strange sound in one ear. Closer inspection revealed some blood in her ear canal and nose, indicating improper pressure equalization during her last dive. With proper training and awareness, such injuries become less and less likely, but even professionals sometimes suffer from them and the risk is never zero. Her perforated eardrum will heal but, unfortunately, she will have to wait two months before entering the water again. It was a harsh reminder that this sport is not without its risks.

In addition to Deep Soul, Siaoliouciou boasts several other shops that teach freediving, including the all-English Freedive Taiwan. Freediving locations and schools can be found all around Taiwan, from Maoao (卯澳) and Longdong (龍洞) in the north, to Green Island and Orchid Island (蘭嶼) in the east, to Kenting (墾丁) and Siaoliouciou in the south.

There is even a popular freediving destination in downtown Taichung: the DiveCube Hotel (潛立方旅館). This facility - the deepest of its kind in Asia - features a pool with staggered depths ranging from chest-high water down to a staggering 21 meters. This makes it an ideal training site for AIDA2, which requires breath-hold dives to depths of 16 to 20 meters. The facility attracts divers from elsewhere in Asia, as well as locals who prefer the calm, controlled environment of a swimming pool, or the novelty of waving to restaurant patrons while suspended 10 meters underwater.

Photo courtesy of Deep Soul

Whether it's the challenge of pushing one's breath hold and depth limits, or simply the fun of exploring coastal reefs underwater in a less encumbered way, freediving has something for all water lovers out there and offers a fun new way to explore Taiwan.

On the Net:

Deep Soul Center: www.deepsoul.center

Dive Club City Diving and Hotel: www.divecube.com.tw

Freedive Taiwan: freedivetaiwan.com

* Our regular Highways & Byways column will return to this space next Friday.

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A Water Sport That Will Take Your Breath Away - Taipei Times

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Your body is floating in a warm, blue bath, neither sinking nor rising. Sunlight shimmers on the white sand below as a sea turtle drifts by. You feel your heart beating slowly and a profound sense of calm floods your mind. The figures floating at the surface seem distant, as if from a different world.

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https://www.instagram.com/p/CWscgg_Prqj/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

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View this post on Instagram

A post shared by 比特啾啾✌🏻️Elsa🥰 (@chuuu_0908)

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https://mission.cmaquarium.org/help-reduce-ocean-debris/

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How Big is the Problem?

We have produced more plastic in the past 10 years than during the entire last century.

Enough plastic is thrown away each year to circle the earth four times.

80 percent of pollution enters the ocean from the land.

90 percent of all trash floating on the ocean's surface is plastic.

There are 46,000 pieces of plastic per square mile of ocean.

At least 8 million tons of plastic enter the oceans each year.

Plastic makes up 85% of ocean debris.

Ocean debris has become a tragic problem for the oceans, marine life, and yes, even humans. The worst offender: plastic. It truly is a plastic world we live in.
Check out this video.
It's a Plastic World - http://itsaplasticworld.com/
It Gets Worse.

Plastic in the world's oceans could increase by a factor of 10 in the next decade.

More than 260 animal species have become entangled in or consumed fishing line, nets, ropes and other discarded equipment.

An astounding 86 percent of all marine turtles are affected by marine debris.

One million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals are killed annually from plastic in our oceans.

44 percent of all seabird species, 22 percent of cetaceans, all sea turtle species and a growing list of fish species have been documented with plastic in or around their bodies.

At CMA, a number of our rescued marine animals suffer from ocean debris. Look at these recent stories.

Help reduce ocean debris by becoming a Winter Ocean Warrior with this exclusive reusable, recyclable and eco-friendly conservation pack! This pack helps you combat single-use products with a reusable tote, straws and bottle.100% of the net proceeds from your purchase goes directly to supporting our mission of Rescue, Rehabilitation and Release of marine life, and the long-term care of our resident animals.
$11.99

Cozi's Clean Ocean Tips

So, the good news is there is a solution. You and Me.
Get tips from Dolphin Tale star Cozi Zuehlsdorff and help marine life by becoming one of Winter's Ocean Warriors.

Sign up for our Newsletter or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube.

Tip 1: The 3 B's

Bottles: Start lowering your single-use plastic bottles. Use reusable containers.

Bags: Replace plastic with cloth bags.

Balloons: No more balloons. Replace with bubbles and paper streamers.

See tips for businesses here.
Tip 2: Go on a litter cleanup!

Don't litter anywhere! 80% of Ocean Debris enters the ocean from the land.

Organize some friends and go on a litter cleanup in your area.

Share your litter cleanup stories and photos on our Facebook page.

Tip 3: Stop Using Plastic Straws!

Drink your beverage without a plastic straw.

Request no straw when ordering at restaurants.

Use paper and biodegradable straws or reusable metal straws.

Order the Winter's Ocean Warriors Clean Ocean Pack with 25 biodegradable straws included!
Tip 4: Reduce Plastic Use!

Use less plastic at home and at work!

Always look for non-plastic options when buying items or dining out.

Use reusable cloth shopping bags instead of plastic bags.

Choose cans over plastic bottles.

Tip 5: Reuse Plastic Items!
Learn how we're tackling marine debris through our Healthy Habitats and Oceans program.
Sources

Plastic Oceans Foundation https://plasticoceans.org/the-facts/
Eco Watch https://www.ecowatch.com/22-facts-about-plastic-pollution-and-10-things-we-can-do-about-it-1881885971.html
The Huffington Post https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/plastic-waste-oceans_us_58fed37be4b0c46f0781d426
Passport Ocean https://passportocean.com/2017/11/20/15-shocking-facts-ocean-pollution/
Policy-Oriented Marine Environmental Research In The Southern European Seas http://www.perseus-net.eu/site/content.php?locale=1&sel=517&artid=565

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Help Reduce Ocean Debris - Clearwater Marine Aquarium

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We have produced more plastic in the past 10 years than during the entire last century. Enough plastic is thrown away each year to circle the earth four times. 80 percent of pollution enters the ocean from the land. 90 percent of all trash floating on the ocean's surface is plastic.

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https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/4053098

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Taiwan could be the recipient of more floating marine debris in the future than previously thought as the Western Pacific Ocean emerges as a hotspot for the waste, a recent study by Academia Sinica has found.

The three-year study used data collected between 1993 and 2017 on the distribution of global marine trash in the world's seven major oceans, according to Jeng Ming-hsiou (鄭明修), who led the study by Academia Sinica's Biodiversity Research Center.

The study found that when wind resistance, or the "windage effect," is factored in along with marine currents, marine waste will be increasingly channeled to tropical and polar regions rather than the subtropics, with a hot spot forming in the Western Pacific.

That means countries on the Pacific Rim, including Taiwan, could face a bigger marine waste problem than previously thought at a time when up to 12.7 million tons of waste are dumped into the ocean each year, Jeng said.

Hsin Yi-chia (辛宜佳), a researcher on Jeng's team, said previous studies only took marine currents into account when analyzing how marine trash is distributed while overlooking the effect of wind resistance.

Those studies generally concluded that most marine trash should float to subtropical climate regions, she said.

"But if we take windage into account, it will be a different story," she said.

Windage, which refers to the force the wind imposes on a moving object, is actually a key factor in where marine garbage will wash ashore, according to Hsin.

When wind resistance was taken into account, the study found a pattern of waste accumulation in the Pacific shifting from the Eastern Pacific to the Western Pacific, with the equatorial region of the Pacific to be particularly vulnerable to marine garbage buildups.

Taiwan will be less affected, however, by lighter low-density waste because of the role of the wind.

Such waste, including foam items or PET bottles whose density is lighter than sea water, is affected by medium- or high-level windage, Hsin said.

It will float more easily when the wind blows to waters in tropical climate zones between 10 degrees north latitude and 10 degrees south latitude, and to waters in polar regions south of 60 degrees south latitude, she said.

But marine debris that has a higher density than sea water that is not sensitive to wind resistance will gravitate toward and accumulate in waters in the subtropics between 20-30 degrees north latitude, where Taiwan is located, and 20-50 degrees south latitude, she said.

The study was published in the journal Environmental Research Letters on Oct. 6. (By Flor Wang and Wu Hsin-yun)

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Taiwan to be more vulnerable than thought to marine debris: study | Taiwan News | 2020-11-13 19:10:00

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Taiwan could be the recipient of more floating marine debris in the future than previously thought as the Western Pacific Ocean emerges as a hotspot for the waste, a recent study by Academia Sinica has found.

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3. What have you learnt about art activism on this course, and how would you like to engage with art activism in the future?

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In Angela’s words…..“In 2010 I founded the educational non-profit Washed Ashore because I was shocked and heartsick at the amount of plastic. I found on the Pacific beaches in Oregon. I had known since childhood. I had recently lost my husband of 25 years to brain cancer and moved to the ocean to heal. Instead, I found an ocean that needed healing.

In my daily beach walks searching for a new meaning in life I kept seeing more and more plastic until one day I saw a mosaic of tiny plastic pieces that reached as far as my eye could see. I was sick to my stomach. I realized that plastic had been chewed up by the ocean and spit out into the size of sand. After doing research on the internet, I realized that animals were ingesting it, and our ecosystems were in danger. I vowed to save the ocean and use my skills as an artist and educator to carry the message to the public. I found my new purpose in life.”
https://www.tiredearth.com/interviews/tired-earth-an-interview-with-angela-haseltine-pozzi-founder-and-artistic-director-of-the-washed-ashore-project

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This interview was conducted by Selva Ozelli
What was the idea/inspiration behind creating Washed Ashore?
Our founder, educator and artist, Angela Haseltine Pozzi was the child of two professional artists who were avid naturalists. Angela was an art teacher for 30 years in public schools and museums.

In Angela's words....."In 2010 I founded the educational non-profit Washed Ashore because I was shocked and heartsick at the amount of plastic. I found on the Pacific beaches in Oregon. I had known since childhood. I had recently lost my husband of 25 years to brain cancer and moved to the ocean to heal. Instead, I found an ocean that needed healing.

In my daily beach walks searching for a new meaning in life I kept seeing more and more plastic until one day I saw a mosaic of tiny plastic pieces that reached as far as my eye could see. I was sick to my stomach. I realized that plastic had been chewed up by the ocean and spit out into the size of sand. After doing research on the internet, I realized that animals were ingesting it, and our ecosystems were in danger. I vowed to save the ocean and use my skills as an artist and educator to carry the message to the public. I found my new purpose in life."
Tell us about your Organization's https://washedashore.org/exhibit-locations/ initiatives and art exhibits to educate a global audience about plastic pollution in the ocean and waterways and spark positive changes in consumer habits.
We live and breathe our mission: To build and exhibit aesthetically powerful art to educate a global audience about plastic pollution in the ocean and waterways and to spark positive changes in consumer habits.

We are strict about our craftsmanship and design and employ experienced artists, and involve thousands of people into our process of creating sculptures. We teach others to respect art as a language that can change hearts and minds. Education is at the core of all our work. The final sculptures must speak to the plastic pollution issue and be beautiful, but also horrifying. Each piece needs to awaken the senses and make the general public ask questions. It has always been our goal to reach the broadest range of people of all ages, abilities, interests and social economic status with our message. We seek to be extremely accessible with our work and allow touching and interacting with the work, which often makes it unforgettable.
Does your organization collaborate with Museums, Zoo's Botanical Gardens, Universities?
Yes, collaboration is essential to our work. We lease our four traveling exhibits to various venues for periods of 6, 8 or 12 months to optimize our educational impact. When we exhibit at a venue we consider it a partnership. Our staff works with venue staff and volunteers by doing on-site trainings, walking tours, media interviews and educational presentations to community members and patrons. We often design an exhibit to fit their space. We also partner with the scientific community to extend their educational initiatives as well how to use our free curriculum.

We learn about each venues conservation and sustainability initiatives and encourage them to expand their commitments, such as offering more sustainable options in their cafes and gift shops. In 2014, we began our partnership with the U.S, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to create a 12 unit Integrated Arts Marine Debris Curriculum. It can be found on our website and is offered to each venue at no cost. We have created an educational art cart exhibit for the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. and then created a commissioned 12 ft. vitrine sculpture for their Sant Ocean Hall. It has been on display since 2016. We often do commissioned work for a variety of venues.
This year The International Committee for Museums and Collections of Science and Technology (CIMUSET) which is a scientific committee of the International Council of Museums (ICOM) during its 48th #CIMUSET Annual Conference: "Museums & Environmental Concerns, New Insights" -7-11 November 2021, will address our planet's environmental concerns and how Science and Technology museums can approach and present this important issue via education and exhibitions. When did your organization get involved in climate change and plastic pollution related issues and what programs has it instituted in collaboration with Museums?
Washed Ashore began exhibiting it's "Art to Save the Sea" in 2010 and has exhibited in over 35 locations since, with an expanding inventory of sculptures. We now have over 85 works of art that combine into 3 to 4 exhibits that are designed to fit indoor or outdoor spaces. We are constantly exhibiting and avoid ever storing the artwork. We have partnered and exhibited in museums, science centers, botanical gardens, universities, zoos and aquariums and estimate that over 30 million people have seen our work in person.

We have had exhibits a wide variety of places such as: Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, IL, Newport Oregon Visual Arts Center, U. S. State Department, Sea World Parks in Florida, Texas & California, Walt Disney World in Florida, United Nations Plaza, Denver, Colorado Zoo, Portland Oregon Community College, The Clinton Presidential Center in Arkansas and many more. Artwork is also encouraged to be photographed and shared on social media.

Our reach has been expanded through the internet to be truly global.
In the last few decades, the degradation of our environment with increased global warming, melting of the arctic, pollution, increased carbon footprint, ozone layer depletion, natural resource depletion, loss of endangered species, urban sprawl has gone up at an alarming rate. The worldwide covid-19 pandemic has also added to plastic pollution stemming from single use plastic equipment that are dumped into our world's wetlands, oceans and landfills. Tell us more about your organizations plastic pollution related initiatives, programs?
In our work we highlight threatened environments and animals, including climate change, pollution and degradation.

We understand that many environmental challenges are often easy to ignore or too great to want to spend time on. To avoid being overwhelmed with apathy or depression, our sculptures lure the general public with the colorful beauty of oversized animals. Everyone wants to go see a giant Penguin, Octopus or Parrotfish! Then they get up close and they start to see that it is all made of garbage. Then they read the sign and find out it is all plastic garbage from the beach. They start looking closely to easy identify common everyday plastic items they use in their own lives; lighters, flip flops, toothbrushes, bottle caps, beer cans. They suddenly realize they are part of the problem and part of the solution. This is our most powerful educational tool, the art itself. The next thing they realize is that the animal they are admiring is endangered by the very pollution it is made from. The setting of the animal, such as Daisy the Polar Bear, on her melting iceberg or Giacometti the River Otter next to a plastic river may also deliver a message. This multi-level multi-sensory experience is the power of Washed Ashore.

Another of Washed Ashore's educational initiatives is the involvement of the general public in the making of the sculptures. Washed Ashore encourages beach clean-ups and, through careful direction in the home-base of Bandon Oregon, we conduct ongoing workshops with all ages and abilities to make small parts the sculptures. Volunteers wire-stitch, thread and weave processed debris into panel and kabobs that the artists then use to build the sculptures.
Your organization has gracefully participated in Tiredearth.com's #MASKUARY CAMPAIGN. What is a Campaign like #MASKUARY's role in increasing public awareness in dealing with plastic pollution caused by PPE?
We recognize that plastic PPE is increasing on ocean shores around the world. Our organization is challenged by this fact and is looking at ways to encourage reusable and highly effective cloth masks with washable filters. We have not yet taken on the challenge of using PPE that has washed upon our shores. Our group's home base is in a remote rural area where we are not yet finding large amounts of PPE on the beaches. We are strict to only use debris from the beaches When or if this type of debris increases we will investigate how to incorporate this type of debris in our sculptures.
2021 has been declared the "International Year of Creative Economy for Sustainable Development" by the United Nations. What partnerships does your organization have with the United Nations, the Ministerial Conference to end marine litter and plastic pollution?
Washed Ashore has worked with UNEP to display 4 large sculptures at the United Nations Plaza in NYC in 2017 during the first UN Ocean Conference. We have continued to be in touch with UNEP about how to continue our relationship to educate the general public with art.
How can people reach your Organization's art exhibitions?
We proudly exhibit in highly visible and accessible venues and have reached over 30 million people in person with our work in over 11 years.
Do you have digital reach?
We have a wide digital reach and have had our artwork published in international and multi-language blogs, magazines, text books, videos, films and websites.

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Tired Earth: An Interview with Angela Haseltine Pozzi, Founder and Artistic Director of the Washed Ashore Project

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This interview was conducted by Selva Ozelli What was the idea/inspiration behind creating Washed Ashore? Our founder, educator and artist, Angela Haseltine Pozzi was the child of two professional artists who were avid naturalists.

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Mandy Barker’s work blends unwavering artistic vision with collaborative scientific research, digging into the hard-hitting issue of plastic in the ocean and how it’s destroying habitats, killing wildlife and contributing to our planet’s extinction. At first glance, Mandy’s work is beautiful and arresting. However, when you give your attention to her captions, you learn these intricately crafted pieces are actually made up of some of the one hundred and fifty million tonnes of plastic currently circulating our planet’s waters. It was disheartening to recognise items we use regularly in her photos and to be forced to acknowledge that we are culprits in this assault against our environment. Mandy’s work relays the haunting reality of what’s to come for the human race if we do not sit up, take action, and save our planet.
https://www.rifemagazine.co.uk/2019/04/waves-of-plastic-behind-the-lens-with-photographer-mandy-barker/

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Sumaya and Asmaa quiz Mandy on her artistic practice and ask why her work is so vital when it comes to saving the planet
Mandy Barker's work blends unwavering artistic vision with collaborative scientific research, digging into the hard-hitting issue of plastic in the ocean and how it's destroying habitats, killing wildlife and contributing to our planet's extinction. At first glance, Mandy's work is beautiful and arresting. However, when you give your attention to her captions, you learn these intricately crafted pieces are actually made up of some of the one hundred and fifty million tonnes of plastic currently circulating our planet's waters. It was disheartening to recognise items we use regularly in her photos and to be forced to acknowledge that we are culprits in this assault against our environment. Mandy's work relays the haunting reality of what's to come for the human race if we do not sit up, take action, and save our planet.

Barker's exhibition will be housed at the Royal Photographic Society from April 4th to June 23rd. We chatted to her about her inspirations, the emotional impact of her work, and her tips on how to do your bit to save the world.
Hi, Mandy. Can you tell us a little bit about what you do?
I'm a photographic artist and I've been taking pictures of marine plastic debris for almost ten years now. I grew up in Hull and often visited local beaches near my hometown where I would collect shells and driftwood. Over the years when visiting my parents, we've gone to the same beach and noticed things washing up on the shoreline, things like a partially submerged car, a fridge freezer, computer casings, children's car seats - quite large pieces of plastic. I wondered where it was coming from and if other people knew that this was happening. So, I began my first series, 'Indefinite,' in which I collected items and photographed them on a black background. I got people to send me collections from all around the world and visited remote locations to try and raise awareness of plastic pollution.
Practically speaking, what does the process of creating your work entail?
So the process would of course start with me recovering plastic and taking it back to the studio. I have black velvet background on the floor which I'll scatter the smallest pieces onto to then photograph. I then remove them and repeat this process with the medium and large items. I then photoshop them together in three layers. This technique creates a depth of suspension, which hopefully makes you feel like you're looking under the sea. I initially took pictures of plastics as I found them on the shoreline, but found people weren't as interested as they see rubbish all the time on the streets. The whole point of making them attractive is to engage an audience and then deliver all the shocking facts and statistics.
Whose work inspires you?
Lots of people but it's not just individuals - nature inspires me a lot; like the things I find along the seashore, the way objects get washed up, the patterns in nature. They all influence shapes in my work. Early on I was really inspired by the artist Cornelia Parker and the photographer Simon Norfolk. There was a particular image he took of dawn in the Scottish highlands. It was a seemingly beautiful picture of a lake, but when you read the caption you find out that a trawler had been sunk, killing four members of the same family. That image has stayed in my mind and made me think about the relationship between image and text, and how powerful that can be.
What's it like existing at the intersection of art and science?
For me it's essential because I don't want to produce art for no reason. I think if I can underpin my work with true, current research, it makes it far more powerful. For example, the 'Beyond Drifting' series was based on research from Plymouth University, where it was discovered plankton was eating microplastic particles. If I can represent science through art and bring it to public spaces, it can reach a larger audience than it would on its own.

Does your work take an emotional toll, for example the series 'Shoal' which is based on the tsunami? If so, how do you take care of yourself?

That was a particularly difficult project. Although it was deeply disturbing, I think it was important to see the impact of the tsunami - people's lives scattered on the shoreline and towns completely flattened. It was a double-edged sword: it was a scientific expedition, but at the same time it was very emotive and this was hard to balance. Generally though, I think the very fact that what I'm doing is of importance is what helps me with the emotional side. I want to make the rest of the world shocked by it so they hopefully think about the plastic they use.

All of your work is beautiful but of course there are elements of morbidity through the implied destruction of our planet. What is something that you think is really important to take away from your work?

Probably these tips ( pics to be inserted) . If you want to do more you can sign petitions to try and make the government enforce legislations on plastic companies, making them responsible for the after use their plastics. You can also join environmental clean ups. However, whilst that's a good thing, it's not really solving the issue at its source. We need to stop it from entering the ocean. Although it's a good start, straws and cotton buds aren't going to save the world.

Are there any other themes that you really want to cover?

Yes, I'm half way through a project aiming to raise awareness on synthetic fabrics. If you're not wearing natural materials like wool or cotton, the chances are you're wearing plastic. I want to raise awareness for the fact that actually 60% of our clothing now is plastic. And when this clothing is washed, microplastic fibres come off. They escape our washing machines, water treatment works and end up in the stomachs of sea life and into our food chain.

We know that you have some events coming up. Could you tell us a bit more about that?

I've got an exhibition running currently, for the next few months. In June I'm going on a trip to Henderson Island, which is one of the most polluted plastic places on the planet, so much so, that it's uninhabited by humans. The plastic issue is really affecting wildlife there though. Some of these creatures are native to the island, so if this level of pollution continues to increase, they could potentially become extinct. It's a really key place to visit and I almost can't believe I'm actually going there. It's really important.
You can check out more of Mandy's work here and grab tickets to her exhibition here. What are your thoughts on plastic pollution and what's being done to aid the issue? Let us know in the comments.

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Waves of Plastic: Behind the lens with photographer Mandy Barker - Rife Magazine

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Sumaya and Asmaa quiz Mandy on her artistic practice and ask why her work is so vital when it comes to saving the planet Mandy Barker's work blends unwavering artistic vision with collaborative scientific research, digging into the hard-hitting issue of plastic in the ocean and how it's destroying habitats, killing wildlife and contributing to our planet's extinction.

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1. The photographs reveal the footballs in a stark and beautiful light, nakedly exposing their battered textures as well as their environmental impact on the world. Mandy’s photographic style sees the objects delicately suspended in a celestial blackness reminiscent of the blackness of the deep sea representing “the fact that plastic debris has no boundaries, plastic is found from the sea bed to the sea surface, from the polar regions to the equator”, says Mandy.

“Creating these compositions visually portrays infinity suggesting there is unlimited waste being created. Time serves as a metaphor in that stars in the universe can take several years for their light to reach us, but plastic items that go unseen floating in the ocean do not biodegrade for hundreds of years.”
https://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/mandy-barker-penality-series-photography-260918

2.I then photoshop them together in three layers. This technique creates a depth of suspension, which hopefully makes you feel like you’re looking under the sea. I initially took pictures of plastics as I found them on the shoreline, but found people weren’t as interested as they see rubbish all the time on the streets. The whole point of making them attractive is to engage an audience and then deliver all the shocking facts and statistics.
https://www.rifemagazine.co.uk/2019/04/waves-of-plastic-behind-the-lens-with-photographer-mandy-barker/

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UK-based photographer Mandy Barker is an internationally-acclaimed photographer, receiving the 2018 National Geographic Society Grant for Research and Exploration for her work involving marine plastic debris. Her work has been published in over 40 countries by the likes of Time Magazine, Unesco and The Guardian and her first book Beyond Drifting was named one of the Ten Best Photography Books of 2017 by Smithsonian. Mandy collaborates with scientists and the general public to raise awareness about the effects of plastic pollution in the world, a costly detriment on marine life, not to mention human welfare. Next month, Mandy is exhibiting her internationally-acclaimed photography series Hong Kong Soup at Manchester's Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art, on til January next year.

Hong Kong Soup took shape in 2012 when Mandy was awarded The Royal Photographic Society's Environmental Bursary. The cash enabled her to take part in the Japanese Tsunami Debris Field Expedition, a month long research trip which took place on a yacht sailing across the Pacific Ocean.

During the trip, Mandy became exposed to the relentless efforts to clean up the plastic that covers the beaches in Hong Kong. She tells It's Nice That, "the amount of debris was on a scale I'd never seen before". During the voyage, scientists recorded the disturbing amounts of plastic disposed in the ocean; plastic pellets were detected in every single sample collected. "The voyage lasted 38 days without seeing land or another vessel, it gave me the time to contemplate the state of the oceans and the reason I was taking part in the project. I want to pass on my experience of this critical issue to those who don't have the opportunity to see it for themselves", explains Mandy.

Penalty is another photographic series raising awareness around marine pollution through the documentation of discarded footballs. The series title is a pun on "penalty" being a punishment for rule-breaking as well as "penalty" referring to the price we will all pay if we do not look after our ecology, particularly, our plastic consumption. Members of the worldwide public were invited to take part in the project via social media, Mandy requested the collection of abandoned balls from the sea or on beaches to be sent back to her in the UK.
Consequently, 992 debris balls were sent to Mandy over four months. 769 footballs and bits of 223 other types of balls were recovered from 41 different countries and islands including 144 different beaches, by just 89 members of the public.

The photographs reveal the footballs in a stark and beautiful light, nakedly exposing their battered textures as well as their environmental impact on the world. Mandy's photographic style sees the objects delicately suspended in a celestial blackness reminiscent of the blackness of the deep sea representing "the fact that plastic debris has no boundaries, plastic is found from the sea bed to the sea surface, from the polar regions to the equator", says Mandy.

"Creating these compositions visually portrays infinity suggesting there is unlimited waste being created. Time serves as a metaphor in that stars in the universe can take several years for their light to reach us, but plastic items that go unseen floating in the ocean do not biodegrade for hundreds of years."

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Mandy Barker's photography is a beautiful and shocking commentary on our excessive plastic consumption

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UK-based photographer Mandy Barker is an internationally-acclaimed photographer, receiving the 2018 National Geographic Society Grant for Research and Exploration for her work involving marine plastic debris. Her work has been published in over 40 countries by the likes of Time Magazine, Unesco and The Guardian and her first book Beyond Drifting was named one of the Ten Best Photography Books of 2017 by Smithsonian.

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UK-based photographer Mandy Barker is an internationally-acclaimed photographer, receiving the 2018 National Geographic Society Grant for Research and Exploration for her work involving marine plastic debris. Her work has been published in over 40 countries by the likes of Time Magazine, Unesco and The Guardian and her first book Beyond Drifting was named one of the Ten Best Photography Books of 2017 by Smithsonian. Mandy collaborates with scientists and the general public to raise awareness about the effects of plastic pollution in the world, a costly detriment on marine life, not to mention human welfare. Next month, Mandy is exhibiting her internationally-acclaimed photography series Hong Kong Soup at Manchester’s Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art, on til January next year.
https://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/mandy-barker-penality-series-photography-260918

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
UK-based photographer Mandy Barker is an internationally-acclaimed photographer, receiving the 2018 National Geographic Society Grant for Research and Exploration for her work involving marine plastic debris. Her work has been published in over 40 countries by the likes of Time Magazine, Unesco and The Guardian and her first book Beyond Drifting was named one of the Ten Best Photography Books of 2017 by Smithsonian. Mandy collaborates with scientists and the general public to raise awareness about the effects of plastic pollution in the world, a costly detriment on marine life, not to mention human welfare. Next month, Mandy is exhibiting her internationally-acclaimed photography series Hong Kong Soup at Manchester's Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art, on til January next year.

Hong Kong Soup took shape in 2012 when Mandy was awarded The Royal Photographic Society's Environmental Bursary. The cash enabled her to take part in the Japanese Tsunami Debris Field Expedition, a month long research trip which took place on a yacht sailing across the Pacific Ocean.

During the trip, Mandy became exposed to the relentless efforts to clean up the plastic that covers the beaches in Hong Kong. She tells It's Nice That, "the amount of debris was on a scale I'd never seen before". During the voyage, scientists recorded the disturbing amounts of plastic disposed in the ocean; plastic pellets were detected in every single sample collected. "The voyage lasted 38 days without seeing land or another vessel, it gave me the time to contemplate the state of the oceans and the reason I was taking part in the project. I want to pass on my experience of this critical issue to those who don't have the opportunity to see it for themselves", explains Mandy.

Penalty is another photographic series raising awareness around marine pollution through the documentation of discarded footballs. The series title is a pun on "penalty" being a punishment for rule-breaking as well as "penalty" referring to the price we will all pay if we do not look after our ecology, particularly, our plastic consumption. Members of the worldwide public were invited to take part in the project via social media, Mandy requested the collection of abandoned balls from the sea or on beaches to be sent back to her in the UK.
Consequently, 992 debris balls were sent to Mandy over four months. 769 footballs and bits of 223 other types of balls were recovered from 41 different countries and islands including 144 different beaches, by just 89 members of the public.

The photographs reveal the footballs in a stark and beautiful light, nakedly exposing their battered textures as well as their environmental impact on the world. Mandy's photographic style sees the objects delicately suspended in a celestial blackness reminiscent of the blackness of the deep sea representing "the fact that plastic debris has no boundaries, plastic is found from the sea bed to the sea surface, from the polar regions to the equator", says Mandy.

"Creating these compositions visually portrays infinity suggesting there is unlimited waste being created. Time serves as a metaphor in that stars in the universe can take several years for their light to reach us, but plastic items that go unseen floating in the ocean do not biodegrade for hundreds of years."

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Mandy Barker's photography is a beautiful and shocking commentary on our excessive plastic consumption

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
UK-based photographer Mandy Barker is an internationally-acclaimed photographer, receiving the 2018 National Geographic Society Grant for Research and Exploration for her work involving marine plastic debris. Her work has been published in over 40 countries by the likes of Time Magazine, Unesco and The Guardian and her first book Beyond Drifting was named one of the Ten Best Photography Books of 2017 by Smithsonian.

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1. Now it’s six years later. We started the whole non profit in 2010. I have 9 employees, and 10,000 volunteers.(volunteers)
2. We’ve processed about 20 tons of garbage now into about 70 sculptures.(70works)
3. People drop off the raw debris. Then we sort through it, using pretty much everything, about 95% — which is a real challenge, creatively, because I don’t want to recycle any of it; I want people to see how much there is. If I recycled all the water bottles, then nobody would realize how many water bottles wash ashore. The only things we don’t use are toxic things or stuff that’s too photo-degraded for us to use.
All those parts are quality checked – everything has to be 100-mile-an-hour windproof, because they might end up outside. And those parts of pieces come back to the sculpture processing, and I have an apprentice and art assistant that work with me to attach those pieces to the big steel frame – we have a welded steel frame that we create. But it’s a strange, strange world, to work with marine debris.(divide)
4. Some of those pieces are on permanent sites, where they were commissioned. Mostly we find that exhibiting at zoos, aquariums, and science centers is really a great way of getting the message out, because we connect with their education staff, and sometimes the animal is right there, so their education connects with what our message is.(exhiabiton)

Once we hose everything down, we start sorting it by type of things. Then we vinegar wash, and use biodegradable soap. We scrub it, we scrape it; we put things in our aging yard that have too many barnacles attached, and let the raccoons and the slugs do their job. We let the rain do its job. And then we sort it by color.

From there, it’s a constant design process. We never, ever supplement with anything that’s not from the beach.
https://oceanic.global/angela-pozzi-of-washed-ashore/

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Since 2010, Angela Pozzi's Washed Ashore project has transformed an astonishing 20 tons of marine trash into over 70 works of arresting larger-than-life public art works, drawing much-needed attention to the epidemic of plastic pollution and its negative impact on endangered species. What started as Pozzi's personal attempt to keep a beach beautiful has become a global call to action with shocking visual and educational impact, as the lifelong sculpture artist and her team of volunteers harness the power of collective work to start a revolution in the way we approach our beaches. The medium is, truly, the message. Oceanic Global spent an hour in conversation with Pozzi, learning about the surprising origins and exciting growth of Washed Ashore. The interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Can you tell us about your background and the origins of Washed Ashore?
First of all, I've always loved the ocean. It's where I spent all my summers as a child; it was always the place where it felt like I connected to the world.

I was also raised by two artists, and I grew up realizing that the arts are an important language, and that I was very privileged to be able to speak those fluently. As I grew up, I kept wondering why nobody else understood art like I did, and I decided to become an art teacher because I thought: it doesn't seem right that people don't understand how important art - all the arts - are. I eventually became an art teacher for 30 years - art and creative dance - and I helped start two arts magnet schools, where you integrate all the arts into the subject areas, in the Portland, Oregon area.
What were you working on before Washed Ashore happened - and how did this project really come alive?
In my own artwork, I scrounged materials from thrift stores and found objects; I was an exhibiting artist starting in about 2000. I was married to an artist and teacher, Craig Pozzi, and we both were doing the same kind of thing. We were married 24 years before all of a sudden he had a massive collapse and was rushed off to emergency brain surgery with a brain tumor. We didn't know what was going on, but he came through that. Then a year later he had a massive stroke; he was disabled. And a year later, he died.

We were very close, and I was just a wreck. We were living in the Portland area, and the only thing I could think of to try to find a reason to live and a reason to do art was to go to the ocean. So I said to myself, I'll get to the ocean where I can try to heal and see beauty and try to find my purpose in life.

So I moved to Bend in Oregon, where my family had a cabin on a little lake for 85 years. I took my dog to the beach every day and walked the beach. At first I kind of stepped over the garbage. There wasn't a lot of it; there was just a little bit here and there. I just didn't want to see it, because I needed beauty. But it still kept nagging at me - what is that stuff on the sand?

I walked onto this one beach and I was just shocked. There was a rack line of plastics going away as far as the eye could see. I was absolutely horrified.

I saw people along the shoreline picking up agates and shells with their little buckets, and I thought, I have to figure out how to get those people to pick up this stuff. And I have to get them to see. Because we can't not see it - this is bad.

So I decided to only use garbage from the beach as my medium.

I knew from my father, who was director of the Washington State Arts Commission for 12 years and had done a lot of work with public art - I knew it had to be public, and it had to be big. The biggest issue with public art is it's not big enough; people ignore it, people don't see it.

So I thought, it has to be big, and it has to be something that everyone loves - so animals that were threatened by marine debris. So I thought: how about a big fish that everyone wants their picture taken next to, and can go viral? And everything came together, and suddenly I found a purpose in life.

Ideally this will reach people globally, and we'll have it be an epidemic art exhibit, where everyone will see it - and we'll start Washed Ashore projects in other parts of the world, and they would make sculptures from their beaches and they would tour them, and spark another person.

Now it's six years later. We started the whole non profit in 2010. I have 9 employees, and 10,000 volunteers.
Can you talk a little about the physical process - how long does it take to complete one of these massive works? Are there any particular challenges involved in collecting the debris and getting people together to do it?
That's the one thing that I really like to tell people: you don't have to organize a beach cleanup. We have constant influx of garbage.

People drop off the raw debris. Then we sort through it, using pretty much everything, about 95% - which is a real challenge, creatively, because I don't want to recycle any of it; I want people to see how much there is. If I recycled all the water bottles, then nobody would realize how many water bottles wash ashore. The only things we don't use are toxic things or stuff that's too photo-degraded for us to use.

Once we hose everything down, we start sorting it by type of things. Then we vinegar wash, and use biodegradable soap. We scrub it, we scrape it; we put things in our aging yard that have too many barnacles attached, and let the raccoons and the slugs do their job. We let the rain do its job. And then we sort it by color.

From there, it's a constant design process. We never, ever supplement with anything that's not from the beach.
So locals in your town are used to being a part of this?
Oh, yes. We also live in a tourist town, so we get people from all over the world. We've processed about 20 tons of garbage now into about 70 sculptures. And we're making new ones all the time.
What kind of team are you working with that's helping you doing the construction for the pieces?
That's the exciting part: we rely on volunteers for a massive amount of it. We bring in little parts of things that people can wire-stitch together. We have stuff that kids can do that are 3 years old, and we have things for adults that are more complex. I have a workshop space at our gallery where people can come in: they can stay for 15 minutes, they can walk through, or they can sit down and make a part of the sculpture.

All those parts are quality checked - everything has to be 100-mile-an-hour windproof, because they might end up outside. And those parts of pieces come back to the sculpture processing, and I have an apprentice and art assistant that work with me to attach those pieces to the big steel frame - we have a welded steel frame that we create. But it's a strange, strange world, to work with marine debris. You can't plan too far ahead unless you know something that's commonly washed up.
So you said there are about 70 works you've created over the last 6 years or so - what happens to them? What's the future of these pieces?
Some of those pieces are on permanent sites, where they were commissioned. Mostly we find that exhibiting at zoos, aquariums, and science centers is really a great way of getting the message out, because we connect with their education staff, and sometimes the animal is right there, so their education connects with what our message is.

We have three touring exhibits right now, one at the Georgia Aquarium, one at the Smithsonian National Zoo, and then we have our exhibit hall here in Bend. Next year we're already booked through the entire year at botanical gardens as well, a science museum, and a zoo.
Do you have a specific memorable experience in your career as an artist and as an ocean advocate that stands out to you as a big accomplishment, or something you're really excited about?
There are two of them.

I remember this one woman who came into the exhibit, and she stood there and she just started crying. I went up to her, and I asked her, "Is there anything I can answer? Are you doing OK?"

And she said, "This has impacted me so powerfully. I will never look at the world the same. What can I do?"

I've seen it several times: our work just brings people to tears. The arts can reach the heart in a way that facts and figures and science just can't do sometimes. Over and over, I hear: this has changed the way I think about the world. And I go, Great! That's a good start. That fuels me to keep doing this work.
What kind of reaction would you like people to have to these pieces - and what message do you want them to take away?
I want people to stop and think about what they're doing. To make better choices. As consumers, if we can demand something different, we can make a difference.

We're not a political activist organization. I'm very careful about that; we want the doors open to work with everybody.

The one other thing that's personally the most significant thing that's ever happened is that I was asked by the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History to do a display case for them. I've never felt so much pressure to do things right, and do things scientifically. I just completed that and installed it in June of this year; it should be there for 1 to 3 years. I tried to make it rich with teachable moments. It's 12-foot long, a endangered Hawksbill turtle tangled in net, swimming over a reef that's bleaching out, surrounded by sea jellies and a plastic bag.

It's a huge honor.
What's next? What would you like to work on next?
We have had quite a bit of interest in the satellite projects. We've been growing so fast that we're trying to make sure that we're able to go overseas, which would be wonderful, but that's a huge jump for a small non-profit.

I think having some permanent pieces in zoos and aquariums is a really great next step for us - to make sure that this messaging is constant, that it's always there.
If there's one thing that you think people should do, or that you'd like them to walk away from seeing your art doing, what is that thing?
Stop using plastic water bottles. So simple! It's so simple. Buy a reusable water bottle. And plastic bags - eliminate a plastic bag, and use a reusable bag.
What is the weirdest thing that's washed up and come into your studio that you've incorporated into a piece?
Well, you know, I don't think there's anything weird at this point because I've seen so much. The most profound, amazing, and constantly shocking thing that I find are the bottles - usually lotion bottles and motor oil containers - with bite marks in them. It's so obvious that the fish are eating it; it simply can't be denied. When you see these, it's like, oh my God, what's that doing to the animal? Every time I see one, it gets me.

It's really funny because at the very beginning of this project I presented to a group of scientists about what I was doing, and I showed this piece. And afterwards a group of scientists came up and gathered around me, and they said, you have to keep doing this work. You can show things and say things that we can't in science. And people will see it, and you'll start having impact before the science comes out.

Now the science is coming out, six years later. But when you actually see this stuff - you can't deny it. It's right there in front of you.
Is there anything else you'd like to add?
There's one thing I really value about Washed Ashore, and that is that we're a metaphor for how we can help solve environmental issues. We work with hundreds and thousands of people that just make one little contribution. They may not even see the final product, but they had faith that the small action would help solve a problem and help educate.

All these sculptures were made because people believed that their action counted. We can show you a visual, tactile example that every action really does make a difference. We can show that there's hope; people can do amazing things when we work together. We can get ourselves out of this mess if we all work together. I tend to be optimistic. You have to believe that good will conquer evil.
Discover more at WashedAshore.org.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Angela Pozzi of Washed Ashore - Oceanic Global

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Since 2010, Angela Pozzi's Washed Ashore project has transformed an astonishing 20 tons of marine trash into over 70 works of arresting larger-than-life public art works, drawing much-needed attention to the epidemic of plastic pollution and its negative impact on endangered species. What started as Pozzi's personal attempt to keep a beach beautiful has become...

# data[].attributes.body
1. I was also raised by two artists, and I grew up realizing that the arts are an important language(big)
2. I walked onto this one beach and I was just shocked. There was a rack line of plastics going away as far as the eye could see. I was absolutely horrified.(garbage)

I saw people along the shoreline picking up agates and shells with their little buckets, and I thought, I have to figure out how to get those people to pick up this stuff. And I have to get them to see. Because we can’t not see it — this is bad.

So I decided to only use garbage from the beach as my medium.
https://oceanic.global/angela-pozzi-of-washed-ashore/

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Since 2010, Angela Pozzi's Washed Ashore project has transformed an astonishing 20 tons of marine trash into over 70 works of arresting larger-than-life public art works, drawing much-needed attention to the epidemic of plastic pollution and its negative impact on endangered species. What started as Pozzi's personal attempt to keep a beach beautiful has become a global call to action with shocking visual and educational impact, as the lifelong sculpture artist and her team of volunteers harness the power of collective work to start a revolution in the way we approach our beaches. The medium is, truly, the message. Oceanic Global spent an hour in conversation with Pozzi, learning about the surprising origins and exciting growth of Washed Ashore. The interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Can you tell us about your background and the origins of Washed Ashore?
First of all, I've always loved the ocean. It's where I spent all my summers as a child; it was always the place where it felt like I connected to the world.

I was also raised by two artists, and I grew up realizing that the arts are an important language, and that I was very privileged to be able to speak those fluently. As I grew up, I kept wondering why nobody else understood art like I did, and I decided to become an art teacher because I thought: it doesn't seem right that people don't understand how important art - all the arts - are. I eventually became an art teacher for 30 years - art and creative dance - and I helped start two arts magnet schools, where you integrate all the arts into the subject areas, in the Portland, Oregon area.
What were you working on before Washed Ashore happened - and how did this project really come alive?
In my own artwork, I scrounged materials from thrift stores and found objects; I was an exhibiting artist starting in about 2000. I was married to an artist and teacher, Craig Pozzi, and we both were doing the same kind of thing. We were married 24 years before all of a sudden he had a massive collapse and was rushed off to emergency brain surgery with a brain tumor. We didn't know what was going on, but he came through that. Then a year later he had a massive stroke; he was disabled. And a year later, he died.

We were very close, and I was just a wreck. We were living in the Portland area, and the only thing I could think of to try to find a reason to live and a reason to do art was to go to the ocean. So I said to myself, I'll get to the ocean where I can try to heal and see beauty and try to find my purpose in life.

So I moved to Bend in Oregon, where my family had a cabin on a little lake for 85 years. I took my dog to the beach every day and walked the beach. At first I kind of stepped over the garbage. There wasn't a lot of it; there was just a little bit here and there. I just didn't want to see it, because I needed beauty. But it still kept nagging at me - what is that stuff on the sand?

I walked onto this one beach and I was just shocked. There was a rack line of plastics going away as far as the eye could see. I was absolutely horrified.

I saw people along the shoreline picking up agates and shells with their little buckets, and I thought, I have to figure out how to get those people to pick up this stuff. And I have to get them to see. Because we can't not see it - this is bad.

So I decided to only use garbage from the beach as my medium.

I knew from my father, who was director of the Washington State Arts Commission for 12 years and had done a lot of work with public art - I knew it had to be public, and it had to be big. The biggest issue with public art is it's not big enough; people ignore it, people don't see it.

So I thought, it has to be big, and it has to be something that everyone loves - so animals that were threatened by marine debris. So I thought: how about a big fish that everyone wants their picture taken next to, and can go viral? And everything came together, and suddenly I found a purpose in life.

Ideally this will reach people globally, and we'll have it be an epidemic art exhibit, where everyone will see it - and we'll start Washed Ashore projects in other parts of the world, and they would make sculptures from their beaches and they would tour them, and spark another person.

Now it's six years later. We started the whole non profit in 2010. I have 9 employees, and 10,000 volunteers.
Can you talk a little about the physical process - how long does it take to complete one of these massive works? Are there any particular challenges involved in collecting the debris and getting people together to do it?
That's the one thing that I really like to tell people: you don't have to organize a beach cleanup. We have constant influx of garbage.

People drop off the raw debris. Then we sort through it, using pretty much everything, about 95% - which is a real challenge, creatively, because I don't want to recycle any of it; I want people to see how much there is. If I recycled all the water bottles, then nobody would realize how many water bottles wash ashore. The only things we don't use are toxic things or stuff that's too photo-degraded for us to use.

Once we hose everything down, we start sorting it by type of things. Then we vinegar wash, and use biodegradable soap. We scrub it, we scrape it; we put things in our aging yard that have too many barnacles attached, and let the raccoons and the slugs do their job. We let the rain do its job. And then we sort it by color.

From there, it's a constant design process. We never, ever supplement with anything that's not from the beach.
So locals in your town are used to being a part of this?
Oh, yes. We also live in a tourist town, so we get people from all over the world. We've processed about 20 tons of garbage now into about 70 sculptures. And we're making new ones all the time.
What kind of team are you working with that's helping you doing the construction for the pieces?
That's the exciting part: we rely on volunteers for a massive amount of it. We bring in little parts of things that people can wire-stitch together. We have stuff that kids can do that are 3 years old, and we have things for adults that are more complex. I have a workshop space at our gallery where people can come in: they can stay for 15 minutes, they can walk through, or they can sit down and make a part of the sculpture.

All those parts are quality checked - everything has to be 100-mile-an-hour windproof, because they might end up outside. And those parts of pieces come back to the sculpture processing, and I have an apprentice and art assistant that work with me to attach those pieces to the big steel frame - we have a welded steel frame that we create. But it's a strange, strange world, to work with marine debris. You can't plan too far ahead unless you know something that's commonly washed up.
So you said there are about 70 works you've created over the last 6 years or so - what happens to them? What's the future of these pieces?
Some of those pieces are on permanent sites, where they were commissioned. Mostly we find that exhibiting at zoos, aquariums, and science centers is really a great way of getting the message out, because we connect with their education staff, and sometimes the animal is right there, so their education connects with what our message is.

We have three touring exhibits right now, one at the Georgia Aquarium, one at the Smithsonian National Zoo, and then we have our exhibit hall here in Bend. Next year we're already booked through the entire year at botanical gardens as well, a science museum, and a zoo.
Do you have a specific memorable experience in your career as an artist and as an ocean advocate that stands out to you as a big accomplishment, or something you're really excited about?
There are two of them.

I remember this one woman who came into the exhibit, and she stood there and she just started crying. I went up to her, and I asked her, "Is there anything I can answer? Are you doing OK?"

And she said, "This has impacted me so powerfully. I will never look at the world the same. What can I do?"

I've seen it several times: our work just brings people to tears. The arts can reach the heart in a way that facts and figures and science just can't do sometimes. Over and over, I hear: this has changed the way I think about the world. And I go, Great! That's a good start. That fuels me to keep doing this work.
What kind of reaction would you like people to have to these pieces - and what message do you want them to take away?
I want people to stop and think about what they're doing. To make better choices. As consumers, if we can demand something different, we can make a difference.

We're not a political activist organization. I'm very careful about that; we want the doors open to work with everybody.

The one other thing that's personally the most significant thing that's ever happened is that I was asked by the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History to do a display case for them. I've never felt so much pressure to do things right, and do things scientifically. I just completed that and installed it in June of this year; it should be there for 1 to 3 years. I tried to make it rich with teachable moments. It's 12-foot long, a endangered Hawksbill turtle tangled in net, swimming over a reef that's bleaching out, surrounded by sea jellies and a plastic bag.

It's a huge honor.
What's next? What would you like to work on next?
We have had quite a bit of interest in the satellite projects. We've been growing so fast that we're trying to make sure that we're able to go overseas, which would be wonderful, but that's a huge jump for a small non-profit.

I think having some permanent pieces in zoos and aquariums is a really great next step for us - to make sure that this messaging is constant, that it's always there.
If there's one thing that you think people should do, or that you'd like them to walk away from seeing your art doing, what is that thing?
Stop using plastic water bottles. So simple! It's so simple. Buy a reusable water bottle. And plastic bags - eliminate a plastic bag, and use a reusable bag.
What is the weirdest thing that's washed up and come into your studio that you've incorporated into a piece?
Well, you know, I don't think there's anything weird at this point because I've seen so much. The most profound, amazing, and constantly shocking thing that I find are the bottles - usually lotion bottles and motor oil containers - with bite marks in them. It's so obvious that the fish are eating it; it simply can't be denied. When you see these, it's like, oh my God, what's that doing to the animal? Every time I see one, it gets me.

It's really funny because at the very beginning of this project I presented to a group of scientists about what I was doing, and I showed this piece. And afterwards a group of scientists came up and gathered around me, and they said, you have to keep doing this work. You can show things and say things that we can't in science. And people will see it, and you'll start having impact before the science comes out.

Now the science is coming out, six years later. But when you actually see this stuff - you can't deny it. It's right there in front of you.
Is there anything else you'd like to add?
There's one thing I really value about Washed Ashore, and that is that we're a metaphor for how we can help solve environmental issues. We work with hundreds and thousands of people that just make one little contribution. They may not even see the final product, but they had faith that the small action would help solve a problem and help educate.

All these sculptures were made because people believed that their action counted. We can show you a visual, tactile example that every action really does make a difference. We can show that there's hope; people can do amazing things when we work together. We can get ourselves out of this mess if we all work together. I tend to be optimistic. You have to believe that good will conquer evil.
Discover more at WashedAshore.org.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Angela Pozzi of Washed Ashore - Oceanic Global

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Since 2010, Angela Pozzi's Washed Ashore project has transformed an astonishing 20 tons of marine trash into over 70 works of arresting larger-than-life public art works, drawing much-needed attention to the epidemic of plastic pollution and its negative impact on endangered species. What started as Pozzi's personal attempt to keep a beach beautiful has become...

# data[].attributes.body
1. I knew from my father, who was director of the Washington State Arts Commission for 12 years and had done a lot of work with public art – I knew it had to be public, and it had to be big. The biggest issue with public art is it’s not big enough; people ignore it, people don’t see it. (big)
2. So I thought, it has to be big, and it has to be something that everyone loves — so animals that were threatened by marine debris. So I thought: how about a big fish that everyone wants their picture taken next to, and can go viral? And everything came together, and suddenly I found a purpose in life. (exhibition)
https://oceanic.global/angela-pozzi-of-washed-ashore/

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Since 2010, Angela Pozzi's Washed Ashore project has transformed an astonishing 20 tons of marine trash into over 70 works of arresting larger-than-life public art works, drawing much-needed attention to the epidemic of plastic pollution and its negative impact on endangered species. What started as Pozzi's personal attempt to keep a beach beautiful has become a global call to action with shocking visual and educational impact, as the lifelong sculpture artist and her team of volunteers harness the power of collective work to start a revolution in the way we approach our beaches. The medium is, truly, the message. Oceanic Global spent an hour in conversation with Pozzi, learning about the surprising origins and exciting growth of Washed Ashore. The interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Can you tell us about your background and the origins of Washed Ashore?
First of all, I've always loved the ocean. It's where I spent all my summers as a child; it was always the place where it felt like I connected to the world.

I was also raised by two artists, and I grew up realizing that the arts are an important language, and that I was very privileged to be able to speak those fluently. As I grew up, I kept wondering why nobody else understood art like I did, and I decided to become an art teacher because I thought: it doesn't seem right that people don't understand how important art - all the arts - are. I eventually became an art teacher for 30 years - art and creative dance - and I helped start two arts magnet schools, where you integrate all the arts into the subject areas, in the Portland, Oregon area.
What were you working on before Washed Ashore happened - and how did this project really come alive?
In my own artwork, I scrounged materials from thrift stores and found objects; I was an exhibiting artist starting in about 2000. I was married to an artist and teacher, Craig Pozzi, and we both were doing the same kind of thing. We were married 24 years before all of a sudden he had a massive collapse and was rushed off to emergency brain surgery with a brain tumor. We didn't know what was going on, but he came through that. Then a year later he had a massive stroke; he was disabled. And a year later, he died.

We were very close, and I was just a wreck. We were living in the Portland area, and the only thing I could think of to try to find a reason to live and a reason to do art was to go to the ocean. So I said to myself, I'll get to the ocean where I can try to heal and see beauty and try to find my purpose in life.

So I moved to Bend in Oregon, where my family had a cabin on a little lake for 85 years. I took my dog to the beach every day and walked the beach. At first I kind of stepped over the garbage. There wasn't a lot of it; there was just a little bit here and there. I just didn't want to see it, because I needed beauty. But it still kept nagging at me - what is that stuff on the sand?

I walked onto this one beach and I was just shocked. There was a rack line of plastics going away as far as the eye could see. I was absolutely horrified.

I saw people along the shoreline picking up agates and shells with their little buckets, and I thought, I have to figure out how to get those people to pick up this stuff. And I have to get them to see. Because we can't not see it - this is bad.

So I decided to only use garbage from the beach as my medium.

I knew from my father, who was director of the Washington State Arts Commission for 12 years and had done a lot of work with public art - I knew it had to be public, and it had to be big. The biggest issue with public art is it's not big enough; people ignore it, people don't see it.

So I thought, it has to be big, and it has to be something that everyone loves - so animals that were threatened by marine debris. So I thought: how about a big fish that everyone wants their picture taken next to, and can go viral? And everything came together, and suddenly I found a purpose in life.

Ideally this will reach people globally, and we'll have it be an epidemic art exhibit, where everyone will see it - and we'll start Washed Ashore projects in other parts of the world, and they would make sculptures from their beaches and they would tour them, and spark another person.

Now it's six years later. We started the whole non profit in 2010. I have 9 employees, and 10,000 volunteers.
Can you talk a little about the physical process - how long does it take to complete one of these massive works? Are there any particular challenges involved in collecting the debris and getting people together to do it?
That's the one thing that I really like to tell people: you don't have to organize a beach cleanup. We have constant influx of garbage.

People drop off the raw debris. Then we sort through it, using pretty much everything, about 95% - which is a real challenge, creatively, because I don't want to recycle any of it; I want people to see how much there is. If I recycled all the water bottles, then nobody would realize how many water bottles wash ashore. The only things we don't use are toxic things or stuff that's too photo-degraded for us to use.

Once we hose everything down, we start sorting it by type of things. Then we vinegar wash, and use biodegradable soap. We scrub it, we scrape it; we put things in our aging yard that have too many barnacles attached, and let the raccoons and the slugs do their job. We let the rain do its job. And then we sort it by color.

From there, it's a constant design process. We never, ever supplement with anything that's not from the beach.
So locals in your town are used to being a part of this?
Oh, yes. We also live in a tourist town, so we get people from all over the world. We've processed about 20 tons of garbage now into about 70 sculptures. And we're making new ones all the time.
What kind of team are you working with that's helping you doing the construction for the pieces?
That's the exciting part: we rely on volunteers for a massive amount of it. We bring in little parts of things that people can wire-stitch together. We have stuff that kids can do that are 3 years old, and we have things for adults that are more complex. I have a workshop space at our gallery where people can come in: they can stay for 15 minutes, they can walk through, or they can sit down and make a part of the sculpture.

All those parts are quality checked - everything has to be 100-mile-an-hour windproof, because they might end up outside. And those parts of pieces come back to the sculpture processing, and I have an apprentice and art assistant that work with me to attach those pieces to the big steel frame - we have a welded steel frame that we create. But it's a strange, strange world, to work with marine debris. You can't plan too far ahead unless you know something that's commonly washed up.
So you said there are about 70 works you've created over the last 6 years or so - what happens to them? What's the future of these pieces?
Some of those pieces are on permanent sites, where they were commissioned. Mostly we find that exhibiting at zoos, aquariums, and science centers is really a great way of getting the message out, because we connect with their education staff, and sometimes the animal is right there, so their education connects with what our message is.

We have three touring exhibits right now, one at the Georgia Aquarium, one at the Smithsonian National Zoo, and then we have our exhibit hall here in Bend. Next year we're already booked through the entire year at botanical gardens as well, a science museum, and a zoo.
Do you have a specific memorable experience in your career as an artist and as an ocean advocate that stands out to you as a big accomplishment, or something you're really excited about?
There are two of them.

I remember this one woman who came into the exhibit, and she stood there and she just started crying. I went up to her, and I asked her, "Is there anything I can answer? Are you doing OK?"

And she said, "This has impacted me so powerfully. I will never look at the world the same. What can I do?"

I've seen it several times: our work just brings people to tears. The arts can reach the heart in a way that facts and figures and science just can't do sometimes. Over and over, I hear: this has changed the way I think about the world. And I go, Great! That's a good start. That fuels me to keep doing this work.
What kind of reaction would you like people to have to these pieces - and what message do you want them to take away?
I want people to stop and think about what they're doing. To make better choices. As consumers, if we can demand something different, we can make a difference.

We're not a political activist organization. I'm very careful about that; we want the doors open to work with everybody.

The one other thing that's personally the most significant thing that's ever happened is that I was asked by the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History to do a display case for them. I've never felt so much pressure to do things right, and do things scientifically. I just completed that and installed it in June of this year; it should be there for 1 to 3 years. I tried to make it rich with teachable moments. It's 12-foot long, a endangered Hawksbill turtle tangled in net, swimming over a reef that's bleaching out, surrounded by sea jellies and a plastic bag.

It's a huge honor.
What's next? What would you like to work on next?
We have had quite a bit of interest in the satellite projects. We've been growing so fast that we're trying to make sure that we're able to go overseas, which would be wonderful, but that's a huge jump for a small non-profit.

I think having some permanent pieces in zoos and aquariums is a really great next step for us - to make sure that this messaging is constant, that it's always there.
If there's one thing that you think people should do, or that you'd like them to walk away from seeing your art doing, what is that thing?
Stop using plastic water bottles. So simple! It's so simple. Buy a reusable water bottle. And plastic bags - eliminate a plastic bag, and use a reusable bag.
What is the weirdest thing that's washed up and come into your studio that you've incorporated into a piece?
Well, you know, I don't think there's anything weird at this point because I've seen so much. The most profound, amazing, and constantly shocking thing that I find are the bottles - usually lotion bottles and motor oil containers - with bite marks in them. It's so obvious that the fish are eating it; it simply can't be denied. When you see these, it's like, oh my God, what's that doing to the animal? Every time I see one, it gets me.

It's really funny because at the very beginning of this project I presented to a group of scientists about what I was doing, and I showed this piece. And afterwards a group of scientists came up and gathered around me, and they said, you have to keep doing this work. You can show things and say things that we can't in science. And people will see it, and you'll start having impact before the science comes out.

Now the science is coming out, six years later. But when you actually see this stuff - you can't deny it. It's right there in front of you.
Is there anything else you'd like to add?
There's one thing I really value about Washed Ashore, and that is that we're a metaphor for how we can help solve environmental issues. We work with hundreds and thousands of people that just make one little contribution. They may not even see the final product, but they had faith that the small action would help solve a problem and help educate.

All these sculptures were made because people believed that their action counted. We can show you a visual, tactile example that every action really does make a difference. We can show that there's hope; people can do amazing things when we work together. We can get ourselves out of this mess if we all work together. I tend to be optimistic. You have to believe that good will conquer evil.
Discover more at WashedAshore.org.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Angela Pozzi of Washed Ashore - Oceanic Global

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Since 2010, Angela Pozzi's Washed Ashore project has transformed an astonishing 20 tons of marine trash into over 70 works of arresting larger-than-life public art works, drawing much-needed attention to the epidemic of plastic pollution and its negative impact on endangered species. What started as Pozzi's personal attempt to keep a beach beautiful has become...

# data[].attributes.body
Since 2010, Angela Pozzi’s Washed Ashore project has transformed an astonishing 20 tons of marine trash into over 70 works of arresting larger-than-life public art works, drawing much-needed attention to the epidemic of plastic pollution and its negative impact on endangered species.(garbage)
2. I remember this one woman who came into the exhibit, and she stood there and she just started crying. I went up to her, and I asked her, “Is there anything I can answer? Are you doing OK?”

And she said, “This has impacted me so powerfully. I will never look at the world the same. What can I do?”

I’ve seen it several times: our work just brings people to tears. The arts can reach the heart in a way that facts and figures and science just can’t do sometimes. Over and over, I hear: this has changed the way I think about the world. And I go, Great! That’s a good start. That fuels me to keep doing this work.(people)
https://oceanic.global/angela-pozzi-of-washed-ashore/

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Since 2010, Angela Pozzi's Washed Ashore project has transformed an astonishing 20 tons of marine trash into over 70 works of arresting larger-than-life public art works, drawing much-needed attention to the epidemic of plastic pollution and its negative impact on endangered species. What started as Pozzi's personal attempt to keep a beach beautiful has become a global call to action with shocking visual and educational impact, as the lifelong sculpture artist and her team of volunteers harness the power of collective work to start a revolution in the way we approach our beaches. The medium is, truly, the message. Oceanic Global spent an hour in conversation with Pozzi, learning about the surprising origins and exciting growth of Washed Ashore. The interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Can you tell us about your background and the origins of Washed Ashore?
First of all, I've always loved the ocean. It's where I spent all my summers as a child; it was always the place where it felt like I connected to the world.

I was also raised by two artists, and I grew up realizing that the arts are an important language, and that I was very privileged to be able to speak those fluently. As I grew up, I kept wondering why nobody else understood art like I did, and I decided to become an art teacher because I thought: it doesn't seem right that people don't understand how important art - all the arts - are. I eventually became an art teacher for 30 years - art and creative dance - and I helped start two arts magnet schools, where you integrate all the arts into the subject areas, in the Portland, Oregon area.
What were you working on before Washed Ashore happened - and how did this project really come alive?
In my own artwork, I scrounged materials from thrift stores and found objects; I was an exhibiting artist starting in about 2000. I was married to an artist and teacher, Craig Pozzi, and we both were doing the same kind of thing. We were married 24 years before all of a sudden he had a massive collapse and was rushed off to emergency brain surgery with a brain tumor. We didn't know what was going on, but he came through that. Then a year later he had a massive stroke; he was disabled. And a year later, he died.

We were very close, and I was just a wreck. We were living in the Portland area, and the only thing I could think of to try to find a reason to live and a reason to do art was to go to the ocean. So I said to myself, I'll get to the ocean where I can try to heal and see beauty and try to find my purpose in life.

So I moved to Bend in Oregon, where my family had a cabin on a little lake for 85 years. I took my dog to the beach every day and walked the beach. At first I kind of stepped over the garbage. There wasn't a lot of it; there was just a little bit here and there. I just didn't want to see it, because I needed beauty. But it still kept nagging at me - what is that stuff on the sand?

I walked onto this one beach and I was just shocked. There was a rack line of plastics going away as far as the eye could see. I was absolutely horrified.

I saw people along the shoreline picking up agates and shells with their little buckets, and I thought, I have to figure out how to get those people to pick up this stuff. And I have to get them to see. Because we can't not see it - this is bad.

So I decided to only use garbage from the beach as my medium.

I knew from my father, who was director of the Washington State Arts Commission for 12 years and had done a lot of work with public art - I knew it had to be public, and it had to be big. The biggest issue with public art is it's not big enough; people ignore it, people don't see it.

So I thought, it has to be big, and it has to be something that everyone loves - so animals that were threatened by marine debris. So I thought: how about a big fish that everyone wants their picture taken next to, and can go viral? And everything came together, and suddenly I found a purpose in life.

Ideally this will reach people globally, and we'll have it be an epidemic art exhibit, where everyone will see it - and we'll start Washed Ashore projects in other parts of the world, and they would make sculptures from their beaches and they would tour them, and spark another person.

Now it's six years later. We started the whole non profit in 2010. I have 9 employees, and 10,000 volunteers.
Can you talk a little about the physical process - how long does it take to complete one of these massive works? Are there any particular challenges involved in collecting the debris and getting people together to do it?
That's the one thing that I really like to tell people: you don't have to organize a beach cleanup. We have constant influx of garbage.

People drop off the raw debris. Then we sort through it, using pretty much everything, about 95% - which is a real challenge, creatively, because I don't want to recycle any of it; I want people to see how much there is. If I recycled all the water bottles, then nobody would realize how many water bottles wash ashore. The only things we don't use are toxic things or stuff that's too photo-degraded for us to use.

Once we hose everything down, we start sorting it by type of things. Then we vinegar wash, and use biodegradable soap. We scrub it, we scrape it; we put things in our aging yard that have too many barnacles attached, and let the raccoons and the slugs do their job. We let the rain do its job. And then we sort it by color.

From there, it's a constant design process. We never, ever supplement with anything that's not from the beach.
So locals in your town are used to being a part of this?
Oh, yes. We also live in a tourist town, so we get people from all over the world. We've processed about 20 tons of garbage now into about 70 sculptures. And we're making new ones all the time.
What kind of team are you working with that's helping you doing the construction for the pieces?
That's the exciting part: we rely on volunteers for a massive amount of it. We bring in little parts of things that people can wire-stitch together. We have stuff that kids can do that are 3 years old, and we have things for adults that are more complex. I have a workshop space at our gallery where people can come in: they can stay for 15 minutes, they can walk through, or they can sit down and make a part of the sculpture.

All those parts are quality checked - everything has to be 100-mile-an-hour windproof, because they might end up outside. And those parts of pieces come back to the sculpture processing, and I have an apprentice and art assistant that work with me to attach those pieces to the big steel frame - we have a welded steel frame that we create. But it's a strange, strange world, to work with marine debris. You can't plan too far ahead unless you know something that's commonly washed up.
So you said there are about 70 works you've created over the last 6 years or so - what happens to them? What's the future of these pieces?
Some of those pieces are on permanent sites, where they were commissioned. Mostly we find that exhibiting at zoos, aquariums, and science centers is really a great way of getting the message out, because we connect with their education staff, and sometimes the animal is right there, so their education connects with what our message is.

We have three touring exhibits right now, one at the Georgia Aquarium, one at the Smithsonian National Zoo, and then we have our exhibit hall here in Bend. Next year we're already booked through the entire year at botanical gardens as well, a science museum, and a zoo.
Do you have a specific memorable experience in your career as an artist and as an ocean advocate that stands out to you as a big accomplishment, or something you're really excited about?
There are two of them.

I remember this one woman who came into the exhibit, and she stood there and she just started crying. I went up to her, and I asked her, "Is there anything I can answer? Are you doing OK?"

And she said, "This has impacted me so powerfully. I will never look at the world the same. What can I do?"

I've seen it several times: our work just brings people to tears. The arts can reach the heart in a way that facts and figures and science just can't do sometimes. Over and over, I hear: this has changed the way I think about the world. And I go, Great! That's a good start. That fuels me to keep doing this work.
What kind of reaction would you like people to have to these pieces - and what message do you want them to take away?
I want people to stop and think about what they're doing. To make better choices. As consumers, if we can demand something different, we can make a difference.

We're not a political activist organization. I'm very careful about that; we want the doors open to work with everybody.

The one other thing that's personally the most significant thing that's ever happened is that I was asked by the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History to do a display case for them. I've never felt so much pressure to do things right, and do things scientifically. I just completed that and installed it in June of this year; it should be there for 1 to 3 years. I tried to make it rich with teachable moments. It's 12-foot long, a endangered Hawksbill turtle tangled in net, swimming over a reef that's bleaching out, surrounded by sea jellies and a plastic bag.

It's a huge honor.
What's next? What would you like to work on next?
We have had quite a bit of interest in the satellite projects. We've been growing so fast that we're trying to make sure that we're able to go overseas, which would be wonderful, but that's a huge jump for a small non-profit.

I think having some permanent pieces in zoos and aquariums is a really great next step for us - to make sure that this messaging is constant, that it's always there.
If there's one thing that you think people should do, or that you'd like them to walk away from seeing your art doing, what is that thing?
Stop using plastic water bottles. So simple! It's so simple. Buy a reusable water bottle. And plastic bags - eliminate a plastic bag, and use a reusable bag.
What is the weirdest thing that's washed up and come into your studio that you've incorporated into a piece?
Well, you know, I don't think there's anything weird at this point because I've seen so much. The most profound, amazing, and constantly shocking thing that I find are the bottles - usually lotion bottles and motor oil containers - with bite marks in them. It's so obvious that the fish are eating it; it simply can't be denied. When you see these, it's like, oh my God, what's that doing to the animal? Every time I see one, it gets me.

It's really funny because at the very beginning of this project I presented to a group of scientists about what I was doing, and I showed this piece. And afterwards a group of scientists came up and gathered around me, and they said, you have to keep doing this work. You can show things and say things that we can't in science. And people will see it, and you'll start having impact before the science comes out.

Now the science is coming out, six years later. But when you actually see this stuff - you can't deny it. It's right there in front of you.
Is there anything else you'd like to add?
There's one thing I really value about Washed Ashore, and that is that we're a metaphor for how we can help solve environmental issues. We work with hundreds and thousands of people that just make one little contribution. They may not even see the final product, but they had faith that the small action would help solve a problem and help educate.

All these sculptures were made because people believed that their action counted. We can show you a visual, tactile example that every action really does make a difference. We can show that there's hope; people can do amazing things when we work together. We can get ourselves out of this mess if we all work together. I tend to be optimistic. You have to believe that good will conquer evil.
Discover more at WashedAshore.org.

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Angela Pozzi of Washed Ashore - Oceanic Global

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Since 2010, Angela Pozzi's Washed Ashore project has transformed an astonishing 20 tons of marine trash into over 70 works of arresting larger-than-life public art works, drawing much-needed attention to the epidemic of plastic pollution and its negative impact on endangered species. What started as Pozzi's personal attempt to keep a beach beautiful has become...

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We understand that many environmental challenges are often easy to ignore or too great to want to spend time on. To avoid being overwhelmed with apathy or depression, our sculptures lure the general public with the colorful beauty of oversized animals. Everyone wants to go see a giant Penguin, Octopus or Parrotfish! Then they get up close and they start to see that it is all made of garbage. Then they read the sign and find out it is all plastic garbage from the beach. They start looking closely to easy identify common everyday plastic items they use in their own lives; lighters, flip flops, toothbrushes, bottle caps, beer cans. They suddenly realize they are part of the problem and part of the solution. This is our most powerful educational tool, the art itself. The next thing they realize is that the animal they are admiring is endangered by the very pollution it is made from. The setting of the animal, such as Daisy the Polar Bear, on her melting iceberg or Giacometti the River Otter next to a plastic river may also deliver a message. This multi-level multi-sensory experience is the power of Washed Ashore.
https://www.tiredearth.com/interviews/tired-earth-an-interview-with-angela-haseltine-pozzi-founder-and-artistic-director-of-the-washed-ashore-project

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
This interview was conducted by Selva Ozelli
What was the idea/inspiration behind creating Washed Ashore?
Our founder, educator and artist, Angela Haseltine Pozzi was the child of two professional artists who were avid naturalists. Angela was an art teacher for 30 years in public schools and museums.

In Angela's words....."In 2010 I founded the educational non-profit Washed Ashore because I was shocked and heartsick at the amount of plastic. I found on the Pacific beaches in Oregon. I had known since childhood. I had recently lost my husband of 25 years to brain cancer and moved to the ocean to heal. Instead, I found an ocean that needed healing.

In my daily beach walks searching for a new meaning in life I kept seeing more and more plastic until one day I saw a mosaic of tiny plastic pieces that reached as far as my eye could see. I was sick to my stomach. I realized that plastic had been chewed up by the ocean and spit out into the size of sand. After doing research on the internet, I realized that animals were ingesting it, and our ecosystems were in danger. I vowed to save the ocean and use my skills as an artist and educator to carry the message to the public. I found my new purpose in life."
Tell us about your Organization's https://washedashore.org/exhibit-locations/ initiatives and art exhibits to educate a global audience about plastic pollution in the ocean and waterways and spark positive changes in consumer habits.
We live and breathe our mission: To build and exhibit aesthetically powerful art to educate a global audience about plastic pollution in the ocean and waterways and to spark positive changes in consumer habits.

We are strict about our craftsmanship and design and employ experienced artists, and involve thousands of people into our process of creating sculptures. We teach others to respect art as a language that can change hearts and minds. Education is at the core of all our work. The final sculptures must speak to the plastic pollution issue and be beautiful, but also horrifying. Each piece needs to awaken the senses and make the general public ask questions. It has always been our goal to reach the broadest range of people of all ages, abilities, interests and social economic status with our message. We seek to be extremely accessible with our work and allow touching and interacting with the work, which often makes it unforgettable.
Does your organization collaborate with Museums, Zoo's Botanical Gardens, Universities?
Yes, collaboration is essential to our work. We lease our four traveling exhibits to various venues for periods of 6, 8 or 12 months to optimize our educational impact. When we exhibit at a venue we consider it a partnership. Our staff works with venue staff and volunteers by doing on-site trainings, walking tours, media interviews and educational presentations to community members and patrons. We often design an exhibit to fit their space. We also partner with the scientific community to extend their educational initiatives as well how to use our free curriculum.

We learn about each venues conservation and sustainability initiatives and encourage them to expand their commitments, such as offering more sustainable options in their cafes and gift shops. In 2014, we began our partnership with the U.S, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to create a 12 unit Integrated Arts Marine Debris Curriculum. It can be found on our website and is offered to each venue at no cost. We have created an educational art cart exhibit for the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. and then created a commissioned 12 ft. vitrine sculpture for their Sant Ocean Hall. It has been on display since 2016. We often do commissioned work for a variety of venues.
This year The International Committee for Museums and Collections of Science and Technology (CIMUSET) which is a scientific committee of the International Council of Museums (ICOM) during its 48th #CIMUSET Annual Conference: "Museums & Environmental Concerns, New Insights" -7-11 November 2021, will address our planet's environmental concerns and how Science and Technology museums can approach and present this important issue via education and exhibitions. When did your organization get involved in climate change and plastic pollution related issues and what programs has it instituted in collaboration with Museums?
Washed Ashore began exhibiting it's "Art to Save the Sea" in 2010 and has exhibited in over 35 locations since, with an expanding inventory of sculptures. We now have over 85 works of art that combine into 3 to 4 exhibits that are designed to fit indoor or outdoor spaces. We are constantly exhibiting and avoid ever storing the artwork. We have partnered and exhibited in museums, science centers, botanical gardens, universities, zoos and aquariums and estimate that over 30 million people have seen our work in person.

We have had exhibits a wide variety of places such as: Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, IL, Newport Oregon Visual Arts Center, U. S. State Department, Sea World Parks in Florida, Texas & California, Walt Disney World in Florida, United Nations Plaza, Denver, Colorado Zoo, Portland Oregon Community College, The Clinton Presidential Center in Arkansas and many more. Artwork is also encouraged to be photographed and shared on social media.

Our reach has been expanded through the internet to be truly global.
In the last few decades, the degradation of our environment with increased global warming, melting of the arctic, pollution, increased carbon footprint, ozone layer depletion, natural resource depletion, loss of endangered species, urban sprawl has gone up at an alarming rate. The worldwide covid-19 pandemic has also added to plastic pollution stemming from single use plastic equipment that are dumped into our world's wetlands, oceans and landfills. Tell us more about your organizations plastic pollution related initiatives, programs?
In our work we highlight threatened environments and animals, including climate change, pollution and degradation.

We understand that many environmental challenges are often easy to ignore or too great to want to spend time on. To avoid being overwhelmed with apathy or depression, our sculptures lure the general public with the colorful beauty of oversized animals. Everyone wants to go see a giant Penguin, Octopus or Parrotfish! Then they get up close and they start to see that it is all made of garbage. Then they read the sign and find out it is all plastic garbage from the beach. They start looking closely to easy identify common everyday plastic items they use in their own lives; lighters, flip flops, toothbrushes, bottle caps, beer cans. They suddenly realize they are part of the problem and part of the solution. This is our most powerful educational tool, the art itself. The next thing they realize is that the animal they are admiring is endangered by the very pollution it is made from. The setting of the animal, such as Daisy the Polar Bear, on her melting iceberg or Giacometti the River Otter next to a plastic river may also deliver a message. This multi-level multi-sensory experience is the power of Washed Ashore.

Another of Washed Ashore's educational initiatives is the involvement of the general public in the making of the sculptures. Washed Ashore encourages beach clean-ups and, through careful direction in the home-base of Bandon Oregon, we conduct ongoing workshops with all ages and abilities to make small parts the sculptures. Volunteers wire-stitch, thread and weave processed debris into panel and kabobs that the artists then use to build the sculptures.
Your organization has gracefully participated in Tiredearth.com's #MASKUARY CAMPAIGN. What is a Campaign like #MASKUARY's role in increasing public awareness in dealing with plastic pollution caused by PPE?
We recognize that plastic PPE is increasing on ocean shores around the world. Our organization is challenged by this fact and is looking at ways to encourage reusable and highly effective cloth masks with washable filters. We have not yet taken on the challenge of using PPE that has washed upon our shores. Our group's home base is in a remote rural area where we are not yet finding large amounts of PPE on the beaches. We are strict to only use debris from the beaches When or if this type of debris increases we will investigate how to incorporate this type of debris in our sculptures.
2021 has been declared the "International Year of Creative Economy for Sustainable Development" by the United Nations. What partnerships does your organization have with the United Nations, the Ministerial Conference to end marine litter and plastic pollution?
Washed Ashore has worked with UNEP to display 4 large sculptures at the United Nations Plaza in NYC in 2017 during the first UN Ocean Conference. We have continued to be in touch with UNEP about how to continue our relationship to educate the general public with art.
How can people reach your Organization's art exhibitions?
We proudly exhibit in highly visible and accessible venues and have reached over 30 million people in person with our work in over 11 years.
Do you have digital reach?
We have a wide digital reach and have had our artwork published in international and multi-language blogs, magazines, text books, videos, films and websites.

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Tired Earth: An Interview with Angela Haseltine Pozzi, Founder and Artistic Director of the Washed Ashore Project

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This interview was conducted by Selva Ozelli What was the idea/inspiration behind creating Washed Ashore? Our founder, educator and artist, Angela Haseltine Pozzi was the child of two professional artists who were avid naturalists.

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“She’s taken a concept that resonates with kids and adults alike to make these stunning animals, but the message is so strong, that there is plastic pollution at a scale we’ve never even dreamed of,” said Don Moore, director of the Oregon Zoo.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/09/arts/design/ocean-plastic-sculpture.html

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Angela Haseltine Pozzi, founder of the art and education nonprofit Washed Ashore, with Cosmo, a tufted puffin made from plastic that washed up on the coast of Oregon. Credit... Mason Trinca for The New York Times

The Washed Ashore nonprofit collects garbage on the Oregon coast and creates sculptures of animals whose health is endangered by the trash they are made of.

Angela Haseltine Pozzi, founder of the art and education nonprofit Washed Ashore, with Cosmo, a tufted puffin made from plastic that washed up on the coast of Oregon. Credit... Mason Trinca for The New York Times

Cosmo endures the weather just fine, as he is composed of plastic that has washed ashore - flip-flops, bottle caps, toy wheels, cigarette lighters - all mounted to a stainless-steel frame and bolted to concrete. The puffin is a sculpture from Ms. Haseltine Pozzi's art and education nonprofit, Washed Ashore, whose tagline is "Art to Save the Sea."

Image

Nina Avila and her son, Vincent Avila, admiring Daisy the Polar Bear at the Oregon Zoo in Portland. Credit... Mason Trinca for The New York Times

"We have more demand for our work than we can actually meet," Ms. Haseltine Pozzi said.

In 2020, Washed Ashore will open a capital campaign to build a $3 million LEED-certified processing, training and education center where they will invite organizations from around the world to partner with, and to teach how to put the system into effect back home.

Ms. Haseltine Pozzi again found herself walking the beaches, this time finding endless bits of plastic. The ocean had become what her friend Charles Moore - the environmentalist famed for bringing attention to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch - calls "a plastic soup."

Bella the Angel Fish. Credit... Mason Trinca for The New York Times

Materials at Washed Ashore's facilities. Credit... Mason Trinca for The New York Times

Sevren Quinn, 11, and his grandmother Karen Thomas, 79, have been volunteering for six years. "It's a lot of plastic," Sevren said. "I've done three sharks, a sea dragon and a polar bear."

"We did a lot on the polar bear years back," Ms. Thomas added. "And the mom and baby penguin."

While volunteers and staff members work on the bodies, Ms. Haseltine Pozzi builds the heads.

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When the Ocean Gives You Plastic, Make Animals

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The Washed Ashore nonprofit collects garbage on the Oregon coast and creates sculptures of animals whose health is endangered by the trash they are made of. Angela Haseltine Pozzi, founder of the art and education nonprofit Washed Ashore, with Cosmo, a tufted puffin made from plastic that washed up on the coast of Oregon.

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Washed Ashore has taken those 26 tons of garbage, all debris that washed up on the Oregon coast (the majority within 100 miles of Bandon), and built 70 large-scale sculptures and counting, including Octavia the Octopus, Edward the Leatherback Turtle and Daisy the Polar Bear.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/09/arts/design/ocean-plastic-sculpture.html

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Angela Haseltine Pozzi, founder of the art and education nonprofit Washed Ashore, with Cosmo, a tufted puffin made from plastic that washed up on the coast of Oregon. Credit... Mason Trinca for The New York Times

The Washed Ashore nonprofit collects garbage on the Oregon coast and creates sculptures of animals whose health is endangered by the trash they are made of.

Angela Haseltine Pozzi, founder of the art and education nonprofit Washed Ashore, with Cosmo, a tufted puffin made from plastic that washed up on the coast of Oregon. Credit... Mason Trinca for The New York Times

Cosmo endures the weather just fine, as he is composed of plastic that has washed ashore - flip-flops, bottle caps, toy wheels, cigarette lighters - all mounted to a stainless-steel frame and bolted to concrete. The puffin is a sculpture from Ms. Haseltine Pozzi's art and education nonprofit, Washed Ashore, whose tagline is "Art to Save the Sea."

Image

Nina Avila and her son, Vincent Avila, admiring Daisy the Polar Bear at the Oregon Zoo in Portland. Credit... Mason Trinca for The New York Times

"We have more demand for our work than we can actually meet," Ms. Haseltine Pozzi said.

In 2020, Washed Ashore will open a capital campaign to build a $3 million LEED-certified processing, training and education center where they will invite organizations from around the world to partner with, and to teach how to put the system into effect back home.

Ms. Haseltine Pozzi again found herself walking the beaches, this time finding endless bits of plastic. The ocean had become what her friend Charles Moore - the environmentalist famed for bringing attention to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch - calls "a plastic soup."

Bella the Angel Fish. Credit... Mason Trinca for The New York Times

Materials at Washed Ashore's facilities. Credit... Mason Trinca for The New York Times

Sevren Quinn, 11, and his grandmother Karen Thomas, 79, have been volunteering for six years. "It's a lot of plastic," Sevren said. "I've done three sharks, a sea dragon and a polar bear."

"We did a lot on the polar bear years back," Ms. Thomas added. "And the mom and baby penguin."

While volunteers and staff members work on the bodies, Ms. Haseltine Pozzi builds the heads.

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When the Ocean Gives You Plastic, Make Animals

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Washed Ashore nonprofit collects garbage on the Oregon coast and creates sculptures of animals whose health is endangered by the trash they are made of. Angela Haseltine Pozzi, founder of the art and education nonprofit Washed Ashore, with Cosmo, a tufted puffin made from plastic that washed up on the coast of Oregon.

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https://share.america.gov/turning-trash-into-art-to-save-ocean/

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With every walk along the Oregon coast, Angela Haseltine Pozzi was seeing more plastic trash wash ashore. But this artist decided to do more than just pick up the garbage. For the past few years, she has been making larger-than-life sculptures - from coral reef to octopus - entirely of plastic pollution from the ocean.

Pozzi figured that turning trash into massive works of art might get people to think more about what they can do to help protect the ocean and the animals in it. Some sculptures are 6 meters long and weigh 385 kilograms.

Thousands of volunteers of all ages pitch in through Pozzi's organization, Washed Ashore. Some pick up the trash, others clean, sort and process it. There is so much plastic, of so many colors, that none of the sculptures are painted.

Other volunteers help to assemble the sculptures, cutting, drilling, stitching, twisting and securely attaching the plastic so that visitors can touch and feel the pieces. The group has created 65 sculptures from more than 16 metric tons of garbage, and more are in the works.

The group's message is clear: Even small actions can make a difference in cleaning up the 286 billion metric tons of plastic pollution in the ocean. Pozzi hopes the project goes global, since the problem is global.

Some of the sculptures are currently on display at the Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington and the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta.

Pozzi isn't trying to make people feel guilty about using plastic, but to take action. There are ways to help preserve the ocean:

The next time you go out to eat, bring from home your own containers to take leftovers.

Donate used items to thrift stores or recycling centers.

Bring your own reusable bag the next time you shop.

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Turning trash into art to save the ocean | ShareAmerica

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
With every walk along the Oregon coast, Angela Haseltine Pozzi was seeing more plastic trash wash ashore. But this artist decided to do more than just pick up the garbage. For the past few years, she has been making larger-than-life sculptures - from coral reef to octopus - entirely of plastic pollution from the ocean.

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https://www.tiredearth.com/interviews/tired-earth-an-interview-with-angela-haseltine-pozzi-founder-and-artistic-director-of-the-washed-ashore-project
(pozzi, 2021)

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This interview was conducted by Selva Ozelli
What was the idea/inspiration behind creating Washed Ashore?
Our founder, educator and artist, Angela Haseltine Pozzi was the child of two professional artists who were avid naturalists. Angela was an art teacher for 30 years in public schools and museums.

In Angela's words....."In 2010 I founded the educational non-profit Washed Ashore because I was shocked and heartsick at the amount of plastic. I found on the Pacific beaches in Oregon. I had known since childhood. I had recently lost my husband of 25 years to brain cancer and moved to the ocean to heal. Instead, I found an ocean that needed healing.

In my daily beach walks searching for a new meaning in life I kept seeing more and more plastic until one day I saw a mosaic of tiny plastic pieces that reached as far as my eye could see. I was sick to my stomach. I realized that plastic had been chewed up by the ocean and spit out into the size of sand. After doing research on the internet, I realized that animals were ingesting it, and our ecosystems were in danger. I vowed to save the ocean and use my skills as an artist and educator to carry the message to the public. I found my new purpose in life."
Tell us about your Organization's https://washedashore.org/exhibit-locations/ initiatives and art exhibits to educate a global audience about plastic pollution in the ocean and waterways and spark positive changes in consumer habits.
We live and breathe our mission: To build and exhibit aesthetically powerful art to educate a global audience about plastic pollution in the ocean and waterways and to spark positive changes in consumer habits.

We are strict about our craftsmanship and design and employ experienced artists, and involve thousands of people into our process of creating sculptures. We teach others to respect art as a language that can change hearts and minds. Education is at the core of all our work. The final sculptures must speak to the plastic pollution issue and be beautiful, but also horrifying. Each piece needs to awaken the senses and make the general public ask questions. It has always been our goal to reach the broadest range of people of all ages, abilities, interests and social economic status with our message. We seek to be extremely accessible with our work and allow touching and interacting with the work, which often makes it unforgettable.
Does your organization collaborate with Museums, Zoo's Botanical Gardens, Universities?
Yes, collaboration is essential to our work. We lease our four traveling exhibits to various venues for periods of 6, 8 or 12 months to optimize our educational impact. When we exhibit at a venue we consider it a partnership. Our staff works with venue staff and volunteers by doing on-site trainings, walking tours, media interviews and educational presentations to community members and patrons. We often design an exhibit to fit their space. We also partner with the scientific community to extend their educational initiatives as well how to use our free curriculum.

We learn about each venues conservation and sustainability initiatives and encourage them to expand their commitments, such as offering more sustainable options in their cafes and gift shops. In 2014, we began our partnership with the U.S, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to create a 12 unit Integrated Arts Marine Debris Curriculum. It can be found on our website and is offered to each venue at no cost. We have created an educational art cart exhibit for the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. and then created a commissioned 12 ft. vitrine sculpture for their Sant Ocean Hall. It has been on display since 2016. We often do commissioned work for a variety of venues.
This year The International Committee for Museums and Collections of Science and Technology (CIMUSET) which is a scientific committee of the International Council of Museums (ICOM) during its 48th #CIMUSET Annual Conference: "Museums & Environmental Concerns, New Insights" -7-11 November 2021, will address our planet's environmental concerns and how Science and Technology museums can approach and present this important issue via education and exhibitions. When did your organization get involved in climate change and plastic pollution related issues and what programs has it instituted in collaboration with Museums?
Washed Ashore began exhibiting it's "Art to Save the Sea" in 2010 and has exhibited in over 35 locations since, with an expanding inventory of sculptures. We now have over 85 works of art that combine into 3 to 4 exhibits that are designed to fit indoor or outdoor spaces. We are constantly exhibiting and avoid ever storing the artwork. We have partnered and exhibited in museums, science centers, botanical gardens, universities, zoos and aquariums and estimate that over 30 million people have seen our work in person.

We have had exhibits a wide variety of places such as: Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, IL, Newport Oregon Visual Arts Center, U. S. State Department, Sea World Parks in Florida, Texas & California, Walt Disney World in Florida, United Nations Plaza, Denver, Colorado Zoo, Portland Oregon Community College, The Clinton Presidential Center in Arkansas and many more. Artwork is also encouraged to be photographed and shared on social media.

Our reach has been expanded through the internet to be truly global.
In the last few decades, the degradation of our environment with increased global warming, melting of the arctic, pollution, increased carbon footprint, ozone layer depletion, natural resource depletion, loss of endangered species, urban sprawl has gone up at an alarming rate. The worldwide covid-19 pandemic has also added to plastic pollution stemming from single use plastic equipment that are dumped into our world's wetlands, oceans and landfills. Tell us more about your organizations plastic pollution related initiatives, programs?
In our work we highlight threatened environments and animals, including climate change, pollution and degradation.

We understand that many environmental challenges are often easy to ignore or too great to want to spend time on. To avoid being overwhelmed with apathy or depression, our sculptures lure the general public with the colorful beauty of oversized animals. Everyone wants to go see a giant Penguin, Octopus or Parrotfish! Then they get up close and they start to see that it is all made of garbage. Then they read the sign and find out it is all plastic garbage from the beach. They start looking closely to easy identify common everyday plastic items they use in their own lives; lighters, flip flops, toothbrushes, bottle caps, beer cans. They suddenly realize they are part of the problem and part of the solution. This is our most powerful educational tool, the art itself. The next thing they realize is that the animal they are admiring is endangered by the very pollution it is made from. The setting of the animal, such as Daisy the Polar Bear, on her melting iceberg or Giacometti the River Otter next to a plastic river may also deliver a message. This multi-level multi-sensory experience is the power of Washed Ashore.

Another of Washed Ashore's educational initiatives is the involvement of the general public in the making of the sculptures. Washed Ashore encourages beach clean-ups and, through careful direction in the home-base of Bandon Oregon, we conduct ongoing workshops with all ages and abilities to make small parts the sculptures. Volunteers wire-stitch, thread and weave processed debris into panel and kabobs that the artists then use to build the sculptures.
Your organization has gracefully participated in Tiredearth.com's #MASKUARY CAMPAIGN. What is a Campaign like #MASKUARY's role in increasing public awareness in dealing with plastic pollution caused by PPE?
We recognize that plastic PPE is increasing on ocean shores around the world. Our organization is challenged by this fact and is looking at ways to encourage reusable and highly effective cloth masks with washable filters. We have not yet taken on the challenge of using PPE that has washed upon our shores. Our group's home base is in a remote rural area where we are not yet finding large amounts of PPE on the beaches. We are strict to only use debris from the beaches When or if this type of debris increases we will investigate how to incorporate this type of debris in our sculptures.
2021 has been declared the "International Year of Creative Economy for Sustainable Development" by the United Nations. What partnerships does your organization have with the United Nations, the Ministerial Conference to end marine litter and plastic pollution?
Washed Ashore has worked with UNEP to display 4 large sculptures at the United Nations Plaza in NYC in 2017 during the first UN Ocean Conference. We have continued to be in touch with UNEP about how to continue our relationship to educate the general public with art.
How can people reach your Organization's art exhibitions?
We proudly exhibit in highly visible and accessible venues and have reached over 30 million people in person with our work in over 11 years.
Do you have digital reach?
We have a wide digital reach and have had our artwork published in international and multi-language blogs, magazines, text books, videos, films and websites.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Tired Earth: An Interview with Angela Haseltine Pozzi, Founder and Artistic Director of the Washed Ashore Project

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This interview was conducted by Selva Ozelli What was the idea/inspiration behind creating Washed Ashore? Our founder, educator and artist, Angela Haseltine Pozzi was the child of two professional artists who were avid naturalists.

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https://sciencing.com/plastic-trash-affecting-ocean-food-chain-12143.html
(Brett Smith, 2017)

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How Is Plastic Trash Affecting The Ocean Food Chain? - Sciencing

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In the late 1990s, the scientific community began to gain awareness of a massive Pacific Ocean current that was filled with tiny bitsof plastic waste -- a swath of ocean that was eventually dubbed the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. The area is one of many garbage-filled oceanic regions called gyres, which are hold significantly more garbage than the surrounding ocean. These gyres are formed by a confluence of currents that funnel our trash into higher concentrations. While gyres are the most prevalent example, plastic trash is found in almost any part of the world’s oceans.

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Numerous reproductions from Mandy’s sketchbooks offer a behind the scenes look into her thought process during project development.

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The problem of marine debris is becoming more and more serious. The garbage which is accidentally or unintentionally flowing into the sea cause incredibly serious pollution of the ocean. It is a problem that we must pay attention to. There are numerous artists have devoted to this issue. Among them Mandy Barker and Angela Haseltine Pozzi are very successful to raise awareness of ocean conservation. Their artworks are Altered Ocean and Daisy the Polar Bear respectively. This essay will show how they creative the project and use it to influence people's standpoints and behavior.

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https://www.overlapse.com/catalog/altered-ocean/

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https://www.mandy-barker.com/commissions
https://oceanic.global/mandy-barker/
https://www.washedashore.org/

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Selected commissioned images include work for;

National Geographic - Planet or Plastic?
Planet or Plastic? is National Geographic's multiyear effort to raise awareness about the global plastic trash crisis. These images were commissioned for National Geographic Magazine.

WeTransfer - Union of Concerned Photographers
Images for the campaign series 'Planet in Crisis'. "It's one thing to know that the planet is in crisis. It's another to see what that looks like". WeTransfer's Union of Concerned Photographers uses the power of photography to underline the urgency of environmental concerns.

Greenpeace - Beluga II
Image commissioned as part of the 'Beluga II' ship's expedition and scientific journey around the Inner Hebrides, Scotland, investigating the impact of ocean plastic pollution on some of the UK's most beautiful landscapes and wildlife. Created to raise awareness and focus on plastic pollution and the possible ways to prevent it.

IKEA - 'Lost At Sea'
Ikea Art Event 2016 - Image 'Lost At Sea' - Mandy Barker invited as one of 11 contemporary artists from around the world to create a limited edition image and poster to be sold in Ikea stores globally.
Marine plastic debris was recovered from six different continents and six different oceans around the world, and arranged on a black background to represent this hidden world of plastic under the sea.

"Taking part in this event made it possible for people around the world to buy an image of my work, and by doing so engage a wider audience with the issue of marine plastic. Displaying the poster in their homes will hopefully stimulate discussion and lead to further awareness".

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Selected commissioned images include work for; National Geographic - Planet or Plastic? Planet or Plastic? is National Geographic's multiyear effort to raise awareness about the global plastic trash crisis. These images were commissioned for National Geographic Magazine. WeTransfer - Union of Concerned Photographers Images for the campaign series 'Planet in Crisis'.

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Marine debris means non-decomposable waste which flows or sinks into the ocean. Half of this garbage may be hit ashore by wind and waves, other may continue to float. After sun exposure, wind, and waves, they are continuously broken into plastic particles. After being eaten by small zooplankton, they passed through the food chain and may finally be eaten by humans.

In 2010, Mandy Barker, photographer, found more and more plastic garbage on beach, and notice it need over centuries to solve. Therefore, she started to photograph it (https://thebristolmag.co.uk/altered-ocean-the-royal-photographic-societys-bold-new-exhibition/). Her purpose is improving public awareness of environmental risk though visual effect of her photograph publication and scientific research. ( https://www.overlapse.com/catalog/altered-ocean/)

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Her aim is to expand public awareness of the environmental crisis by using aesthetically attractive visuals to communicate evolving scientific research.
https://www.overlapse.com/catalog/altered-ocean/

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Concerned with the effects of marine plastic debris, Barker’s photographic work has reached worldwide audiences through international exhibitions, educational outreach, media reports and other means.
https://www.overlapse.com/catalog/altered-ocean/

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In 2010, prompted by the growing amount of plastic rubbish she was finding on beaches, and learning it could take centuries to degrade, she began to photograph it.

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When people notice these colorful sculptures is made by rubbishes, they would feel shocked and sad. This feeling can arouse their attention about ocean pollution.

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Pozzi was a teacher for 30 years. After the sudden death of her husband in 2002 she turned to the ocean for healing.After seeing the detriment of plastic pollution along the Oregon coast, she soon realized the ocean also needed healing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angela_Haseltine_Pozzi#Style

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She researched the impact of plastic on marine life and in 2012 she founded the Washed Ashore Project. With plastic debris collected from the beaches bordering Bandon, Oregon, she constructs large sculptures of marine life. With the help of over 10,000 volunteers the organization has collected upwards of 40,000 pounds of waste and created 70 sculptures.

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Angela Haseltine Pozzi (born 1957) is an American sculptor who uses recycled ocean plastic to create her work. She is also the founder and creative director of Washed Ashore. Her large-scale sculptures include a polar bear, puffin, jellyfish, and an octopus. (Wikipedia,2022)

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Mandy Barker is a British photographer. She is mostly known for work with marine plastic debris. Barker has worked alongside scientists in hopes of bringing awareness to the mass amount of plastic that is floating around in our oceans. (Wikipedia,2022)