Conversing with the Earth 3 Plastic Takeover by Cindy Brendzel

Plastic Takeover 24" x 32"

For this piece I wanted to address the growing problem of plastic waste in the oceans.  It’s an environmental crisis that has been in the making since the 1950s and 1960s when plastic began to be widely used.  Plastic pollution is now considered one of the largest environmental threats facing humans and animals globally. While much of the plastic comes from ships and lost fishing gear, it is believed that as much as 80% comes from land-based sources and is carried to sea by rivers. It is difficult to accurately report the total annual amount ending up in the oceans, but one estimate is around 8 million tons of plastic per year (SOURCE: www.grida.no).

The current situation is not pretty and I wanted my piece to make that point. I decided to experiment by adding plastic, a lot of plastic, into this piece. First, I used acrylic paint to cover a piece of canvas with various shades of blue and black. Then I rough-cut ordinary plastic shopping bags, vegetable bags, and printed product bags into strips. I randomly stitched the strips onto the canvas and filled in some spaces with blue fabric to create images of whirlpools filled with plastic. I’m satisfied with the result.