Ocean Plastics

As a family we are passionate about the sea and over the years have noticed a definite increase in rubbish washed up along our beautiful Dorset coastline... everyday plastic rubbish and a terrible amount of marine and fishing debris, caught up with seaweed, driftwood and in sad and more frequent instances, marine life too. We always take with us extra bags to collect what we find, bring it home and recycle or dispose of it and I have over the years made extensive use of the driftwood within my work.

On our most recent trips to Chesil Beach and Kimmeridge Bay on some of those brief 'between lockdown' days, my tallest son and I collected bags of rubbish to take home, dragged larger lengths of fishing rope and ghost net debris to a collection point at the top of the cliff and struggled with lengths of driftwood - the ultimate prize!

On returning home we went through the rubbish to identify the items or source with much of it coming from China, Taiwan, Finland, Coke, still good flip-flops, lots of fishing rope, net and line… 

At this point I decided I needed to do more and that is where the idea for my Ocean Plastics range began to form - working with the rubbish to create a series of original monotypes highlighting this disaster was just the beginning and I am currently exploring the best way to incorporate this technique within my glass work too… 

I will update you as the journey progresses and new work is formed!