Ocean’s tears

2021. 40”x60”. Trash, wool, silk, seaweed fibers, driftwood; wet-felted.

We produce 381 million tons in plastic waste yearly.  With 8 million new pieces added daily, there are now 5.25 trillion tiny pieces of plastic in our oceans  - 46,000 pieces per square mile.

I am an avid surfer, regularly walking through the sand and sitting on my board in the water.  No matter where I go, I see litter on the beach and plastic pieces floating around me.  It is a sad testament to the state of our planet.

Ocean’s Tears (40x60”).  Made of trash gathered from beaches in Costa Rica and California, embedded in drops of wet-felted wool, hand-dyed silk, and seaweed fiber, hung from driftwood.  If you look closely, you will find a toothbrush, a candy wrapper, a rubber glove, as well as various pieces that had begun to break down and leach into the water.