Marking the changing seas
Email
Print
Letter to Editor
Share
Updated: September 11, 2009 10:23 AM
From Isabelle Tipton’s imagination, sea anemones sprung from plastic six-pack rings.
Using a crochet hook and left-over yarn, Tipton and friend Wendy Mitchell crafted a small ocean reef full of creatures. Jelly fish hover above with crocheted caps and plastic bag tentacles. Down below, sea stars and anemones are arranged between the occasional plastic bottle. Together, the fibre pieces make Seas of Change, an art exhibit to educate people on how much plastic is in the ocean.
“We are changing the oceans,” Tipton said. “Our hope is to make people aware of what all is ended up in the sea that shouldn’t and what the individual can do about.”
The inspiration came from a similar project based in Australia which recreated parts of the Great Barrier Reef. As Tipton was learning about that project she also stumbled across information on the North Pacific sub-tropical gyre. Roughly the size of Texas, it is estimated that for every kilogram of naturally occurring plankton there are six kilograms of plastic floating in the ocean.
“We just thought we should be doing a Canadian one,” Tipton said. “Our sea beds are in as much danger as any other one.”
The collection of creatures is meant to be fun and is not necessarily based on real biology. They looked at some pictures of creatures for ideas, but most were done without a pattern, Mitchell said.
Seas of Change is on display at the Coast Collective Gallery in Colwood. In an effort to make it interactive, crochet hooks and yarn are available and people are encouraged to add their own creatures, Mitchell said. Facts about pollution are also interwoven with the display, but it’s going to take more than education to make a change, she added.
“That has to be backed up with a sense of individual responsibility,” she said.
“This is a call to action — to change something, to do something,” added Marilyn Guille, the newest member of the project.
To get that point across, the women have showed the exhibit at local festivals and events. They are hoping to take it to more schools in the fall. Kids are the perfect audiences because they are young and interested in change, Tipton said.
There are enough creatures to make several displays, and more are still being made. The focus now though is ensuring as many people as possible see it, Guille said.
“My job will be generating new ideas to take this,” Guille said. “This is meant to be moved around.”
See the display at Coast Collective Gallery, 3221 Heatherbell Rd. The gallery is open Thursday through Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. For more information or to arrange a showing call Mitchell at 250-474-4651 or e-mail wendyncmitchell@shaw.ca.
reporter@goldstreamgazette.com
v2
