Oriana Poindexter
Artist Oriana Poindexter free dives off the California to collect seaweed and uses a mix of traditional and alternative photographic processes (photography and photograms) and printmaking to reflect their beauty. She finds inspiration in nature and believes that every person can find beauty by interacting with the natural world.
Rebecca Rutstein
Rebecca Rutstein, an accomplished artist who has received many awards and been involved in numerous public exhibitions, is the latest guest on Women Mind the Water Artivist Series Podcast (womenmindthewater.com/featured-guests). Rebecca’s career has taken her to remarkable places including the high seas and the ocean floor. In all, her artwork strives to build connections with nature, inspire wonder, and foster environmental stewardship.
Julia CR Gray
Julia C R Gray is the latest guest on the Women Mind the Water Artivist series podcast. The California-based artist has a connection to nature through her sculptures. Julia uses slip-casting and hand-building methods to mold female forms that represent the strength and vulnerability of women. A dichotomy that Julia believes women’s bodies share with the ocean. Julia’s love of nature, her walks on the beach at sunrise and contemplation of the perfect spiral of a seashell are evident in her sculptures.
Dimitra Skandali
Dimitra Skandali grew up on Paros, a Greek island in the Aegean Sea. She says the island has shaped the way she sees the world. Dimitra combines traditional fiber arts like crochet, embroidery, and weaving with sea grasses and beach trash as a way to focus attention on the ocean and the environmental issues that impact its health and sustainability. While her work is rooted in her relationship with the Aegean Sea, Dimitra also has ties to the Pacific Ocean, having spent almost a decade in California. By using beach trash and natural materials she explores sustainability and other environmental issues like ocean pollution. Her installations, which have been curated in more than 90 solo and group exhibitions worldwide, allude to increasing environmental risks alongside human migrations and struggles with identity.
Lisa Kozel Mangione
Lisa Kozel Mangione is a mixed media artist who is the definition of artivist. Lisa raises money for nonprofits by either donating her paintings directly to organizations or selling her work and then donating the proceeds. Lisa is currently using her art in service of a rural community in Harford County, Maryland. The land known as Mitchell Farm is under consideration for development as a freight distribution district. The possibility of the land being transformed from rural to industrial has spurred Lisa to action. She is concerned about the harm the development will cause on an area that used to be wetland. She is concerned that further industrialization of the area adds to the impacts on local waterways and ultimately Chesapeake Bay, the largest estuary in the United States. She wants people to know that even an average person can make a difference.
Blue de Gersigny
Blue de Gersigny is a plastic artist and designer. Blue lives in South Africa, a country quite literally at the southern tip of the African Continent. It is a country with nearly 3000 km or 1800 miles of coastline, bordering the Indian, South Atlantic and Antarctic oceans. From the beaches near her home, Blue collects colorful plastic and transforms it into eye-catching wearable art. Her intention is to make people aware of plastic debris and pick it up rather than walking by it.
Blue worked for many years as a textile designer until she realized she wanted to be an artist working with found objects. Originally Blue collected natural objects like bone, driftwood, and stone. Eventually, she was attracted to the colorful plastic that litters the beaches. Today her work is created almost entirely of plastic. The relentless of plastic waste rolling in on the tides inspires Blue to start her Plastics Are Forever website. Blue creates eye grabbing wearable art which she artfully displays on Instagram. After seeing one of her posts on Instagram, I knew I had to have her on this podcast.
Margaret Wertheim
Margaret Wertheim is an Australian-born science writer and artist who with her twin sister founded the Institute for Figuring. The Los-Angeles-based nonprofit explores the interrelationship of art, science, mathematics, and women’s handiwork. The Crochet Coral Reef is one of their projects and what we will focus our discussion on today. Margaret Wertheim holds degrees in mathematics and physics. Based on the mathematical discoveries of another mathematically-minded woman, Margaret and her twin sister Christine originated the Crochet Coral Reef project as a response to climate change. The Wertheims’ crocheted representations of coral has become a global collaboration with tens of thousands of people contributing their own pieces to citizen-generated art-installations.
Maanarak of Grey
Manaarak of Grey is a visual artist and storyteller who lives in the Netherlands. Maanarak grew up on the Caribbean Island of Bonaire. She believes the ocean and water are a vital part of life for humans and the ecosystem. Maanarak likes to use her platform to talk about current issues and offer solutions from the perspective of someone who has studied international development management. On the Women Mind the Water Artivist Series she shares her thoughts about the ocean, plastic pollution, collaboration and art.
Danielle Burnside
Danielle Burnside grew up in Michigan on a lake. At the time she was scared of anything that lived in the water. After she moved to Hawaii, she didn’t venture into the ocean for two years. It was divine intervention that a friend of hers who had been working on a manta ray tour point was leaving the job and offered her place to Danielle. Danielle had always wanted to see mantas but was scared of the dark water and got sea sick. She took Dramimine and went on an introductory tour. She fell in love with the experience and took the job. Her life changed when she went underwater.
Kim Bernard
Kim Bernard is a full-time artist based in Maine who creates installations using upcycled trash. She works with communities to share the joy of making things using recycled materials. Kim has over 30 years of experience as a professional artist. She creates works with a range of materials from debris that washes ashore, bicycle inner tubes, plastic bags, even bowling balls. Kim has built a mobile recycling device. She uses her PopUpCycler to encourage communities to collect plastic trash. Together they shred the plastic and transform it into pieces that are assembled into a unique and meaningful installation for everyone to enjoy.
Erin Smith
Erin Smith is the CEO of Ocean Sole, a social enterprise that upcycles flip-flops found along the beaches and waterways of Kenya. Started a decade ago, Ocean Sole has created a unique space to talk about flip flop debris and a successful model for cleaning up ocean trash, and transforming the trash into colorful sculptures, high fashion clothes, and mattresses. Ocean Sole also provides the local community with sustainable employment, and educational opportunities.
