Recycling Sea Trash into Art

Tropical Storm Alberto is currently passing north across Florida, and we’ve got my husband’s parents visiting us from Texas.

We finally had enough sunshine today we could get off the boat for a while and go explore Palm Beach a little.

My mother in law loves gardens, so we visited Mounts Botanical Garden, which is right behind PBI, Palm Beach International Airport. It’s easy to get to from anywhere in the Palm Beaches.

Besides the beautiful gardens, there was also an art exhibit spaced out through the gardens. “Washed Ashore Project. Art to Save the Sea” created by artist Angela Pozzi.

The American Sea Star is used to bring attention to plastics used in Independence Day Celebrations.

Massive sculptures of sea creatures were to be found throughout the gardens, and when you got close, you could see that all the sculptures were made out of trash.

It was a fascinating exhibit, because not only were the pieces bright and colorful, but it made you realize just how much trash, of every kind, was to be found in the ocean. All the trash had been collected, removing a small portion of junk from the sea, and recycled into art. It’s beautiful and horrible all at the same time.

Angela Pozzi created the artwork to bring attention to the amount of plastic in the ocean

Made from wattle bottles collected from coastal beaches.

Humpbacks were once endangered due to overhunting.

Lidia is made from a variety of lids, netting, buoys, umbrella handles, beach toys and buckets.

Seals eat massive amounts of plastic daily, either directly or through eating fish that has injected plastic.

Plastic bags resemble Jellyfish, and hungry turtles cannot tell the difference.

Flash is made from lots of reflective trash; sunglasses, beer cans, fishing poles, lures, etc

The exhibit makes you think about just how much trash we create, and discard.

Next time you go to the beach, think about what you really need to take with you, and remember to always take everything home with you again, or find a trash can at the beach to put your waste in.

Also cut down on the waste you buy in the first place. Say no to plastic straws, think about whether you need a plastic fork for takeaway food, don’t buy junk you’re just going to throw away.

If we’re all a little smaller on the earth, it will make a big difference to the Ocean.

The Washed Ashore exhibit will be at Mounts Botanical Garden till June 3rd, 2018.