Artist Makes Animal Sculptures Out of Trash

Artist Haseltine Pozzi understands her life calling as healing the sea. Her celebrated non-profit project, Washed Ashore, takes this notion quite literally: by collecting marine debris and plastic pollution and then turning this trash into pieces of art.

“The Washed Ashore Project works to increase awareness of the global tragedy of plastics pollution in the ocean,” reads their website. “We accomplish this by collecting marine debris through beach cleanups and community workshops. The collected trash is used to create large scale sculptures of sea life threatened by marine debris. The sculptures are created by volunteers in our workshops and staff under the direction of Angela Haseltine Pozzi our Artistic Director and Lead Artist.”

Over 10,000 volunteers have helped clean beaches and worked with Washed Ashore to process over 20 tons of debris into over 70 sculptures of the animals affected by plastic pollution. The organization also partners with schools, state parks, service groups, youth centers, and local businesses to spread the word about the dangers of plastics pollution and to teach citizens to become better stewards of the ocean.

Check out some of Pozzi’s large scale sculptures of animals and be sure to follow her social media pages for more inspiration.