Plastic Addiction
Installation
2’x2′
2016
Plastic Addiction is part of SMALLER FOOTPRINTS: Artists Examine Global Warming
co-presented by MOAH– MUSEUM OF ART & HISTORY, Lancaster CA and WEAD- Women Eco Artists Dialog
January 28, 2016 11:00am — March 27, 2016 06:00pm
Opening Reception: Saturday, January 30, 6 to 8 p.m.
Location: MOAH: CEDAR, 44857 Cedar Avenue, Lancaster, California, USA
Statement for the piece
A smaller footprint is on my mind as an artist, an educator, a citizen and a mother. Living in densely populated Silicon Valley, between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay’s unique eco-system, my projects are oriented towards a better understanding of our surroundings and the consequences of human activity on our watershed and the ocean.
As I walk along the Pacific Ocean or the bay, I collect all sorts of findings (mostly plastic) and create temporary assemblages that I photograph and show to my students (on screen, not printed), when working on a project about pollution awareness in the region where we live.
“Plastic Addiction” is composed with plastic debris found on the beaches in Santa Cruz and San Francisco.
The millions of tons of plastic floating in the ocean pose a serious threat to many marine species. More than half the world’s sea turtles have eaten plastic.
Plastic is everywhere in our lives and changing our consumption habits is difficult, but there are some things we can do. We can stop using all the plastic that we use only once (plastic bottles, straws, coffee cups with plastic lids), and stop using products that contains microbeads.
I am working with Montalvo Arts Center on a program that integrates the arts into the elementary school curriculums in our region. I developed an ensemble of lessons that address environmental issues and I recently created a 6 lesson project: “The Water Project”, about the water cycle, our waterscapes, our water consumption, how to protect our watershed, the consequences of our plastic addiction on the ocean and the marine species endangered by the plastic pollution.
Recently I created a participative installation, a large shadow theatre with video projection “Species Encounter: Dive In!” about the consequences of plastic pollution in the ocean. At the de Saisset Museum, I created a large scale installation with murals, videos and objects, “Sip. Do Not Gulp.”, about the history of water in the Santa Clara Valley in which the visitors were welcome to write on the mural their thoughts about water and the drought. At the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History, my installation “Plankton, Our Invisible Foundation”, addressed the importance of plankton in the marine eco-systems. The plankton drawings, made of reflective stickers, glowed under black light, and the visitors were invited to complete the mural.
michele guieu 