I’ve featured my own plastic art projects. Inspired by other artists and motivated by my habit of picking up litter, I began transforming discarded plastic into artwork. You can learn more about the artists who inspired me on my Plastic Art Projects page.
Plastic Art Project #1: “St. Augustine, Florida 2021” by Marie Cullis
When my family visited St. Augustine, Florida, in 2021, we picked up beach trash as we always do. This time, I cleaned and saved the majority of it for a future art piece. Inspired by many of the works below, I created this plastic ocean scene in the Summer of 2023. I painted a square piece of wood for the background with acrylic paint, and then arranged the plastic pieces, using glue to attach them. Some of the items are highly recognizable, like the toothbrush, plastic spoon, and dental pick. There’s even the rolled end of an old latex condom in there (sanitized, of course). Measures 12 inches by 12 inches. You can read more about this piece.
Plastic Art Project #2: “Mermaid’s Grotto,” 2023, by Marie Cullis
My family visited Duck, North Carolina in 2022. We picked up trash on all of our walks. When we returned to our rental, I saved as many pieces as I could for a future art piece and sanitized them. When I found the broken mermaid doll, I immediately knew this would be the center or focus piece. Inspired by The Little Mermaid, this piece came together using plastic pieces that look like everyday items in this context. Plastic parts from fireworks became jellyfish or stars. Plastic caps became cups and kitchen items. I turned candy wrappers into purses. Water bottle caps appear as bubbles. Solo cup pieces became sea plants. Other parts were more obvious, such as the paintbrush, barrette, and the cellophane sun in the upper right. And of course, I had a piece of a fork – that is, a dinglehopper! I painted a large piece of wood for the background with acrylic paint and used glue to attach the pieces. Measures 24 inches by 24 inches. Read more about the piece.
Plastic Art Project #3: “Belly Full of Trash,” 2025, by Marie Cullis
We visited Hilton Head Island on Memorial Day weekend in 2024, where I found many large pieces of trash and a damaged wakeboard. I created a large fish with a cross-section of its belly. I wanted to create a piece that drew attention to the vast amounts of plastic consumed by marine animals, many of whom suffer slow starvation as the plastic blocks their digestive passages. Using Aleene’s Tacky glue and Sugru, I attached plastic pieces to the board. I used round flat pieces (one is a paper seal from a Pringles canister) to make the eye; synthetic fabrics to make a mouth; broken toy shovels as tail fins; juice pouches as fins; and water bottles, bottle caps, and other clear plastics became scales. I created the stomach outline from toy bucket straps, and the colorful and identifiable pieces went into the cross-sectional view of the stomach, as if you were viewing the fish’s stomach contents. It measures approximately 59 inches long by 39 inches wide at the tips of the fins. Read the full article on this piece.