(Recycled Plastic) ART IN THE PARK 'Something Fishy'

A few weeks back, on a beautiful Autumn day here in my corner of the world. I spent part of the morning with a few other artists installing sculptures on the South Royalton green.

The idea was to use recycled plastic, and while my piece is not entirely plastic, it is created from parts of previous sculptures that have been recycled. Multiple times.

In 2016 the Woodstock History Center hosted a community event where we gathered for an afternoon of willow hoop making and me sharing about the amazing plant species Salix (willow). I then created a sculpture “Spirit” for Sculpturefest 2016, in Woodstock.

That piece remained standing until I disassembled it in fall of 2018. By that time the willow hoops had weathered, but were still strong; the plastic ties had almost completely lost their integrity.

Then, I reused the same hoops, with new plastic ties to create another sculpture “Blobert Revisited” for Sculpturefest 2018.

And another reuse of that same sculpture last year for LandArt Lab 2019 at the King Farm in Woodstock “Blobert Revisited 2”. The balls are encapsulated in 100% wool netting, hand-made in the same way fisherman have created netting thru the centuries. 

Do you know about 'the great pacific garbage patch'? Here's a link to a national geopgraphic website about it...

https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/great-pacific-garbage-patch/

And another link about an innovative ongoing cleanup effort.

https://theoceancleanup.com/updates/wilson-update-tweaking-the-system/


I had originally, in my mind's eye the idea of a pod with the ball inside as the 'seed' (think GMO). But when all was said and done, and much to my surprise, there was no mistaking the shape that emerged was definitely animal not vegetable.

To create 'Something Fishy' I took apart the previous sculpture in large sections and then lashed them together using fresh willow withies to encapsulate the pink ball.

My intent, in this piece, and all the works before it is to provide an opportunity for people to think about their relationship with plastic vs. natural materials.

What words come to your mind about the plastic parts? What words come to mind about the willow? Are your thoughts based on the way they look? Their durability? Some other factor?

I would love to hear your thoughts. Leave a comment!

I will close with some pics of the other Art in the Park...

'til next time. Love to you, susie