Art in the Park in Dana Point

Art in the Park 2011 a photo by smashgirl on Flickr.

I had an incredible weekend down in the harbor at the Festival of the Whales "Art in the Park"! I met fellow artists and chatted with people from all over the world. I sold some of my mosaics which was great but my greatest joy came from the opportunity to share my 'Save Our Oceans" mosaic. When the idea first came to me back in January of 2010 with the yellow sunglasses, my hope was to educate with this project. Many people stopped to take a look at my art and the kids were drawn to it like bees to honey. They all wanted to touch it...it's full of colorful toys embedded in grout. The biggest shock to people was the fact that all of this plastic trash was collected in a single thirty minute period on Doheny Beach one day. I overheard parents telling their children to pick up trash and don't let it go into our oceans. My heart was happy that day, my project was educating and entertaining kids and adults. My hope is for this art to be installed in a public place to continue it's job on saving our oceans. Stay tuned!

Save Our Oceans was entered into the Chaco Waves for Change Art Contest and won honorable mention!

My Ocean Awareness Project...A river of trash

The design for my mosaic began with the idea of how all of this trash travels to the ocean. 

I grouped the plastics into color groups first and then into a flowing river pattern.  Trash can travel hundreds of miles from inland cities.  This is something that I think most people don't even think about as they toss something into the gutter.

I had originally used white at the end of my river, but as you can see in the next photo I left it out. I'm saving the white plastics along with any others I gather for future mosaics.

My favorite part of the river is the broken sunglasses. By using my "signature eyes" behind the lenses I think it adds a bit of whimsy...which if you know me...I love!

The background will be filled with various shades of blue tessarae to make up my ocean. I'm currently waiting for a custom ceramic piece to arrive for the "Save Our Oceans".  I can't wait to get back to work on it!