The Drifters Project Harnesses Community to Clean the Oceans and Visualize Global Plastic Pollution

“Pam In Net” (2008), Southpoint, Hawai’i, Hawai’i Wildlife Fund collaboration. Photo by Megan Lamson. All images © Pam Longobardi, shared with permission

In 2006, Pam Longobardi traveled to Ka Lae, the southernmost tip of Hawaii’s Big Island, for a residency. Cradled by a rugged coastline and high cliffs towering over the Pacific Ocean, the point marks a confluence of currents where marine life and debris gather on shore, making it a popular fishing spot and unintentional waste collection site. “There I saw an immense multitude of colors and forms of plastic that was being vomited out of the ocean, piled so deep it was beyond my arm’s reach to the bottom,” Longobardi tells Colossal. “The shock was so profound that it completely reoriented my art practice and my life.”

While determined to address the issue, Longobardi quickly understood she couldn’t work by herself. “As an artist, still going on my research missions to Hawai’i as frequently as I could but still often alone, it began to be overwhelming, exhausting, depressing to the point of self-doubt,” she says. Instead, she wanted to create something collaborative and community-based, linking activists, environmentalists, and artists with people living in the region and directly witnessing the impacts. These experiences spurred a now two-decade endeavor known as the Drifters Project, a practice of creating installations and sculptures that help visualize the catastrophic amount of plastic ruining the world’s ecosystems.

 

“Ocean Archaeology of Our Time” (2023), global ocean plastics from Maldives, Hawaii, Costa Rica, Indonesia, Alaska, California, and Georgia coasts, mounted on painted marine plywood, 9 x 5 feet

Most works begin with Longobardi and a team cleaning specific areas and preventing plastic from embarking “on the wild journey that ends at sea and negatively impacts many, many life forms along the way.” Once the area is scoured and cleared, the artist arranges the findings by color or material into works that convey the immensity and breadth of over-consumption and the inadequacy of our waste systems.

Recent installations include “Endless (zombie Brancusi),” a series of nine totem-like sculptures made of nets and styrofoam, and an algae-shaped work titled “Ocean Archaeology of Our Time.” Although created in the Maldives, an island nation at the forefront of sea level rise and currently grappling with the effects of luxury tourism, the latter piece exhibits more than 1,000 components gathered both locally and in locations like Costa Rica, Indonesia, and Alaska. “It’s important in my works that I remix, as the ocean does, plastics from all over because it is not one place’s issue,” Longobardi says. “It’s (an) all-places problem.” This global vision grounds the Drifters Project, which calls attention to the way cigarette butts, bottle caps, and packaging from one part of the world can wash up on shores thousands of miles away.

 

One of Longobardi’s largest endeavors is “Plastic Free Island,” an ongoing initiative to keep waste from the beaches of Kefalonia, Greece. Launched in 2011, the project initially paired an international team of students with hundreds of the island’s citizens. Together, they harvested refuse from the shores and created a 44-foot installation and performance. “Plastic Free Island” can provide a sustainable template for reimagining island communities directly facing the impacts of the climate crisis, she says, noting, “Last summer when I went back, we found that all the cafes had switched to paper straws. It was a most rewarding moment to see the results of direct art/science/activism take shape.”

That the Drifters Project can foster community and spark real-world change is also evident in Longobardi’s 2022 book Ocean Gleaning, which documents her works and collaborations over the years along with contributions from about 75 people with similar interests. This crowd-sourced section records evidence of plastics gathered around the world with commentary on the findings. The book also documents waste materials animals often mistake for food, further implicating humanity in causing environmental harm. As Sarah Rose Sharp writes in a review, “The forensic examination of plastics in Longobardi’s work has particular resonance in the context of popular interest in true crime. Stories of horrific murders can always find a voracious audience, but an environmental threat which could ultimately be history’s greatest serial killer is somehow less sensational or interesting.”

 

“The Crime of Willful Neglect”

Ultimately, though, Longobardi is hopeful. She describes visiting a waterway and beginning to clean even when she hadn’t planned to. “Typically, if there are other people about, someone will ask me what I am doing and then begin to help me,” she shares. “These kinds of spontaneous actions with strangers are the basis of Drifters Project: that anyone, anywhere, can train their eyes to (search for plastic), and you will see it everywhere.”

With an estimated 1.15 to 2.41 million tons of plastic leaching into the oceans every year, tackling pollution needs to be a truly collaborative and global effort, and initiatives like the Drifters Project are one way to make such a staggering problem accessible to people wanting to get involved. Part of Longobardi’s goal is to direct our attention to the magnitude of the problem, instigate movements to refuse single-use and disposable items, and use art to tangibly mitigate some of the consequences already in effect. She explains:

I believe the ocean to be the consciousness of the planet. It is where all life on Earth began. By paying attention to the greater interconnected network outside of our immediate lives, we witness the effects of our actions on all other life forms in this world…It’s really powerful, and the best part of my project, to broadcast the emergence of a collective transformation in understanding our presence on Earth.

Ocean Gleaning is available from Fall Line Press, and you can find more about the Drifters Project on its site and Instagram.

 

“Anxiety of Appetites” (2020), recovered and assembled ocean-made driftnet balls, floats, feathers, barnacles, and bryozoa,
122 x 60 x 60 inches

“Swerve” (2019), over 500 ocean plastic objects from Alaska, Greece, California, Hawaii, the Gulf of Mexico, and Costa Rica, steel specimen pins, 96 x 54 x 8 inches

“Endless (zombie Brancusi)” (2020), vagrant polystyrene, sea turtle bites, wood, steel, magnets, seven elements ranging from 3 to 6 feet

Detail “Archeology of Desire” (2021), over 1,000 pieces of ocean plastic from Indonesia, Hawaii, California, and Costa Rica, 144 x 96 x 9 inches

“Archeology of Desire” (2021), over 1,000 pieces of ocean plastic from Indonesia, Hawaii, California, and Costa Rica, 144 x 96 x 9 inches

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Open Call: Empower Your Practice With the NOT REAL ART Grant for Artists

2022 NOT REAL ART Grant winner Joan Cox, “In the Garden of Autumn”

Let your art shine: Calling all creative minds working in the realm of visual art! The NOT REAL ART 2024 Grant Program is now accepting submissions. If you’re ready, so are we. Submit your work today for a chance to win an unrestricted cash award of $2,000, and more in PR and marketing support. There is no application fee.

Founded in 2019, the NOT REAL ART Grant for Artists is a biannual award designed to empower the practice of six contemporary artists, each of whom receives $2,000 and more in media exposure. To date, 36 lucky artists have won this grant!

NOT REAL ART Grant recipients get more than money. Each winner gets to share their story and promote their work with exclusive, in-depth featured interviews on the NOT REAL ART podcast and blog. What’s more, win or lose, every applicant automatically qualifies to be included in future blog stories, newsletters, and our artist marketing database.

It’s free to enter, and the deadline is January 1, 2024. 

Submit your application today at notrealart.com.

 

2022 NOT REAL ART Grant winner Y. Hope Osborn, “Refuge”

2021 NOT REAL ART Grant winner Natalia Villanueva Linares, “Refuge”

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article Open Call: Empower Your Practice With the NOT REAL ART Grant for Artists appeared first on Colossal.

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In ‘Heirloom Machine,’ Kate Van Vliet Catalogues Daily Routines One Eggshell at a Time

“Chimaera: Green #12.” All images © Kate Van Vliet, shared with permission

Kate Van Vliet’s Fault Lines series began with a neighborly gesture. “While sequestered at home during the pandemic with twin infants, our neighbors started giving us fresh eggs from their backyard flock,” she says. “The colors of the eggs were so beautiful, and as the shells accumulated on our kitchen counter each day, I knew I wanted to use them in my artwork.”

As Van Vliet began to reassemble the eggs, each shell catalogued a passing day. “When I became a mother, I found myself in this ritualistic madness, each day repeating the day before and hoping for a different result,” she says. “As the leftovers of those actions accumulated on my kitchen counter, I saw that my life had become an open edition of the same but different days.”

In a solo exhibition at Paradigm Gallery + Studio, Van Vliet examines her roles as mother and artist, exploring the idea of becoming an “heirloom machine,” a concept which lends itself to the title of the show. Creating small objects infused with both routine and memories, she examines the relationship between the meticulous repair of everyday objects and the historically invisible labor of women.

Van Vliet meticulously applied archival tissues and adhesives combined with mica to strengthen each piece. “Lots of research was involved in the physical repairing of the eggs,” she says, continuing:

They aren’t ceramics, but I wanted to celebrate imperfections by adapting the kintsugi method to repair the eggshells. I also researched ways that Ukrainian Pysanki eggs are conserved by museums. I combined what I learned with my sensibilities as a printmaker to make a repeatable method of repair that would be stable over time and work with the hairline fractures that occur in the eggs.

If you’re in Philadelphia, you can stop by Heirloom Machine through November 26. Van Vliet also co-founded the community printshop BYO Print, which is relocating to the Paradigm Arts Building building this winter. Visit the artist’s website and Instagram to see more of her work.

 

“Peck”

“Candy Everybody Wants”

“Donut (Chocolate)”

“Egg Canoes: Duck #12-15”

“Donut (Mint)”

“Roly-poly”

“The Blob”

“The Kiss (Pretzel)”

“The Tickler”

“Tripod”

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article In ‘Heirloom Machine,’ Kate Van Vliet Catalogues Daily Routines One Eggshell at a Time appeared first on Colossal.

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Victoria Rose Richards Surveys Land From Above in Atmospheric Embroidered Landscapes

All images © Victoria Rose Richards, shared with permission

Aerial fields of vision emerge from Victoria Rose Richards’ embroidered landscapes. Setting scenes from up above, the artist (previously) uses thread to achieve a variety of patterns and textures, implementing satin stitches and french knots to form curiously shaped fields, patches of trees, and bodies of water. The majority of her pieces take at least 10-25 hours each, with every meticulous detail shining through at the end.

Richards is inherently connected to her natural surroundings. Raised and based in South West Devon, nostalgic vistas of farmlands, woodlands, and the countryside make up the subjects of her pieces, emanating feelings of homeliness and familiarity. The artist shares with Colossal that she loves depicting fields because of “the different formations and patterns they make, some being orderly and others higgledy-piggledy, some looking naturally formed and others forced.”

Richards’ work will be included in the ING Discerning Eye Exhibition starting November 17. This winter, the artist is also creating calendars with images of her work, so keep up with her Instagram and website for the latest updates.

 

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Play Meets Ink in Roy Scholten’s Ongoing LEGO Letterpress Bird Series

Common linnet. All images © Roy Scholten, shared with permission

Roy Scholten is wrapping up a years-long printing project with dozens of playfully rendered fowl. 50 Birds is an ongoing series that uses LEGO in place of lead type to create curved beaks, long tails, and rounded bellies. With only three species—hawfinch, reed bunting, and kingfisher—remaining, The Netherlands-based artist and designer has nearly a full flock of the letterpress creatures, all nested inside 6 x 6-inch paper.

“It’s been interesting to see how the experience from earlier prints feeds back into the following ones,” he tells Colossal. “In a way, because I got better at it, the more difficult it has become. More subtle color schemes and patterns resulted in a more painterly approach to printing.”

Scholten began working with the unconventional material about a decade ago in collaboration with artist Martijn van der Blom, and the pair recently released a bi-lingual book, Print & Play, the Art of LEGO Letterpress, documenting their process and projects during the last ten years. Their practice of inking and printing with the plastic blocks is known in printmaking circles as the “Hilversum method,” named for their studios’ location in the city of Hilversum.  Included in the book’s pages are some early works from the 50 Birds collection, along with van der Blom’s architectural typography, stylized dinosaurs, landscapes, and more.

Keep an eye on Scholten’s Instagram for the final avian pieces, along with larger species like owls, falcons, and hawks, which are next on his docket. You can also purchase prints on his site.

 

Crested tit

Pied flycatcher

Sanderling

Skylark

Treecreeper

A spread from ‘Print & Play, the Art of LEGO Letterpress’

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In Calida Rawles’ New Paintings, the Next Generation Transcends Darkness

“With Wings of Infinity” (2023), acrylic on canvas, 72 x 60 inches. All images courtesy of the artist and Lehmann Maupin, New York, Hong Kong, Seoul, and London, shared with permission

Tufts of a pink skirt, a soaked evening gown clinging to a knee, and a few fingers and toes gently breach the water’s surface in Calida Rawles’ A Certain Oblivion. On view this month at Lehmann Maupin, the new body of work is transcendent and monumental, with canvases scaling nine feet of rippling blues and blacks. The paintings return to the artist’s interest in water memory theory and the idea that the life-giving liquid preserves moments of time.

In A Certain Oblivion, Rawles renders two of her daughters who gracefully float together and apart, their heads just above the surface. Placing the next generation in such vulnerable, precarious positions alludes to the resilience and determination needed to rise above “the riptides of contemporary American life,” a statement says. Despite facing the threat of being consumed by the current, the figures remain calm and graceful, carrying on and resting at the surface.

While exploring similar themes to earlier series, A Certain Oblivion is darker. Palettes of navy, gray, and black obscure the figures, who are already distorted by the undulating nature of water. These deep, saturated tones reflect the current political and cultural moment that seems to consistently plunge the world into darkness and despair. For Rawles, though, the paintings are hopeful. She explains:

There is always darkness before the light. I thought of that often when making the work and hope this may inspire others during these very trying times. Much of the work in this show is dark, for sure, but I do have a few pieces that are in the light. A cool blue water. I thought of those pieces as my day and the dark ones as part of my night waters. Our light cycle was definitely on the top of my mind when thinking of this show. I want to believe this is a moment in a larger path.

There’s an uncertainty and illegibility that the artist gravitates toward as she reminds us that predicting outcomes isn’t always possible. She even likens the process of painting in acrylics to that of floating, two physical acts that both require a release of control. “All of the dark colors look alike when they are wet,” she says. “You have to trust yourself and (your) ability. The experience was really fun, to put it simply. I was excited to wait for the outcome when it dried.”

A Certain Oblivion is on view from November 9 to December 16 in New York.

 

“Untethered, Twice Bold” (2023), acrylic on canvas, 84 x 72 inches

“Beyond the Certain Oblivion” (2023), acrylic on canvas, 108 x 84 x 3 inches

“Above Yesterday, Beyond Tomorrow” (2023), acrylic on canvas, 96 x 78 x 3 inches

“Like Other Gods With Ancient Rage” (2023), acrylic on canvas, 84 x 84 x 3 inches

“And So It Be” (2023), acrylic on canvas, 60 x 72 x 3 inches

Calida Rawles in her studio (2023). Photo by Marten Elder

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A New Documentary Follows the Ohio Environmentalists Making Paint from Toxic Mining Runoff

In southeast Ohio, toxic drainage from abandoned coal mines has devastated streams and rivers. The acidic sludge, which is filled with heavy metals, leaches into waterways, destroying ecosystems and turning what should be clear, bluish waters into murky, rust-colored runs. In Athens, home of Ohio University, a Hocking River tributary known as Sunday Creek is a prime example of mining’s harmful effects, with more than two million pounds of iron oxide pouring into the stream each year  A new documentary directed by Jason Whalen visits the area and the team vowing to clean it up.

“Toxic Art” follows an unconventional pairing of two Ohio University professors who have teamed up on a project that turns sludge from the stream into pigments for oil paint. A project of the global conservation organization Rivers are Life, the short film shares the story of artist John Sabraw and Guy Riefler, the chair of the Civil Engineering department, who have spent six years developing pigments using iron oxide they collected from the creek.

Riefler explains that conventional treatments are often cost-prohibitive, and so the pair decided that if they could create and sell a commercial product, they could fund clean-up efforts on their own. From there, they helped develop True Pigments, a collaborative project with Gamblin Artist Colors that uses proprietary technology to create vibrant pigments from the toxic material.

“We’ve been refining a process that can continuously treat acid mine drainage, restore a stream for aquatic life, and collect sustainably sourced iron pigment that can be sold offsetting operational costs,” Sabraw told Hyperallergic. “Based on our best estimates, we should be able to create jobs and produce a small profit, while eliminating a perpetual pollution source.”

While primarily comprised of volunteers manually harvesting and processing the materials, the multi-pronged project has now secured $3.5 million in funding to construct a True Pigments facility on the Appalachian site. Once that plant is running, Sabraw estimates that his team will be able to completely restore Sunday Creek, “remove over 6,000 lbs of iron… and theoretically produce 75,000 tubes of paint,” every day. Because that’s a staggering amount of material that would overwhelm the consumer market, the team plans to sell much of their future stock to industrial sources.

Watch “Toxic Art” above to see the innovative pollution-to-pigment pipeline in action, and purchase your own set of reclaimed materials from True Pigments.

 

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