Angela Haseltine Pozzi was a thriving artist, based in Portland, Oregon, when tragedy hit in 2002. Looking for meaning in life she went to the ocean to heal, but what she found was an ocean that needed healing.
Her art has taken a shift since then, which Haseltine Pozzi sees as her life calling: creating art to save the sea. Hence the non-profit Washed Ashore Project was born.
“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.
Take a look at some of their inspiring sculptures, all made from collected plastic.
