Well before the most recent wave of coverage of the crisis of plastic accumulating in our oceans, jeweler and artist Jesse Gray of Gray Metal started picking up beach plastic on Vancouver Island and casting some of it into jewelry. This is just a small selection of her line (not all of which is cast from these plastics). Her website is here, and pieces are also available at the Nanaimo Art Gallery store. Interesting combination of historical references from brutalist sculpture to midcentury minimalism. The captions often indicate homage to artists I haven’t heard of, which opens up all sorts of rabbit holes. See her Instagram (first link) for information on each. Many pieces are priced on a sliding scale. And beaches are cleaned up in the process!
Bracelet after Betty Cooke. Bronze-cast beach plastic, sterling.
