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#CleanBeachesScotland Press Release

POST card HOLYROOD front image for MSP's

Event: 13th December 2017 The Scottish Parliament David Livingston Room

Julia Barton, in partnership with the Marine Conservation Society, will be hosting a #CleanBeachesScotland event at Holyrood to celebrate new and successful ways of tackling marine litter in Scotland and the next steps Scotland needs to take.

This collaborative Sci-Art event is open to MSPs, researchers and invited guests. The #CleanBeachesScotland Exhibition will be on show along with key information displays from:

  • SAMS – Scottish Association for Marine Science
  • SAT – Shetland Amenity Trust
  • FIDRA – Environmental Charity based in East Lothian
  • KIMO – Local Authorities International Environmental Organisation
  • MCS – Marine Conservation Society

Audience members include a wide range of experts – marine biologists, community engagement groups, harbour masters, waste management consultants, ecologists and environmental group representatives from across Scotland, who will be on hand to discuss the issues and explore how we can achieve #CleanBeachesScotland.

Calum Duncan, Head of Conservation Scotland for the Marine Conservation Society has said: ‘Public awareness and media profile of our seas and the threats they face has never been higher. This exciting and timely event will shed light on the dire impacts of marine litter on our beaches and marine wildlife, but will also celebrate some of the ways we’re tackling this problem, and galvanise support for the many actions still needed to clean up our seas.’

Exhibition: 12th-14th December 2017 The Scottish Parliament Member’s Lobby.

Artist Julia Barton has been creatively investigating beach litter with coastal communities, for over 4 years. Thousands of hours spent on beaches has given her an utterly unique insight into the way plastic has become part of our environment, and this exhibition charts her extraordinary process of discovery. Julia’s novel way of widely engaging communities has recently been acknowledged with a 2017 Shetland Environmental Award for her Littoral Art Project work in the isles. It also prompted an invitation to Holyrood to inform MSPs of her observations at the shoreline from the micro to the macro point of view.

Julia will be presenting her Littoral Art Project exhibition to MSP’s for the first time in Holyrood. The #CleanBeachesScotland exhibition will showcase evidence collected from 120 Scottish beaches, highlighting just how much plastics have become part of the environment and the cost this represents to our society. An installation of collected plastics, based on Julia’s recent NEO Terra exhibition shown in both Shetland and the Highlands (link to review), will also inform the event.

Julia and her colleague Sita Goudie from the Shetland Amenity Trust’s Dunna Chuck Bruck Campaign will be sharing their knowledge of what works at a community level, as well as successful projects and initiatives for #CleanBeachesScotland. They will be asking MSPs to pledge action and support to reduce, recover and recycle waste within our economy rather than allow it to leach into the marine environment.

Next year Julia intends to create giant #LitterCUBES to display in harbours and streets, thereby confronting people with the volume of litter we are facing and the monetary loss to the economy that our plastic pollution represents.  If anyone would like to know more about this, please contact Julia: littoralartproject@btinternet.com.

Julia has received Creative Scotland awards supported by The National Lottery for the original Littoral Art Project R&D and NEO Terra exhibition  CS logo 1 copy

Notes to Editors:

ORGANISATIONS/PRESS : If you would like to join us for the #CleanBeachesScotland Event  on 13th December please get in touch ASAP: Julia Barton: 07977997605; littoralartproject@btinternet.com

NOTE: Due to security restrictions, you must confirm the name of the person(s) attending the event, by 1st December, to ensure they are on the guest list

Please note, due to security reasons, the exhibition is in an area only open to members.  However, the exhibition will be moved to the David Livingston room for the event, giving press and invited guests the chance to see it.

For more information of the artist’s work visit: www.littoralartproject.com

Current events and wider lobbying can be followed @LittoralArt

Comments from Julia’s recent exhibitions can be viewed at:  https://littoralartproject.com/neo-terra-exhibition-comments/

Further information on the Marine Conservation Society at: www.mcsuk.org/

Further information on the Shetland Amenity Trust: www.shetlandamenity.org/

Dunna Chuck Bruck Facebook page: www.facebook.com/Dunnachuckbruck/

 

Webs
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Webs
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Zooming in on plastic strapping threaded together to form #LitterCUBE                                 J Barton

My ongoing musings on our entanglement with plastic pollution and its interconnectedness  with the sustainability of our environment both here in Scotland and globally was greatly aided by visitng the  most recent An Talla Solais exhibition Murmur an exhibition of 5 women artists  reflecting on Climate Change .

Both the exhibition and a gallery talk by  John McIntyre (scientist) illustrated  the linkage between our actions and changes in world ecology.  John used this diagram called a  ‘Muir Web‘ drawn by Landscape ecologist  Chris Harrison as a visualization of habitat relationships and ecological associations of the Manhattan island, circa 1609.

muir web jpg

John Muir:  “When we try to pick out anything by itself we find that it is bound fast by a thousand invisible cords that cannot be broken, to everything in the universe.”

Our inter-connectedness and responsibility to the environment, our species and each other was further wonderfully delivered that evening in a film of the American  philosopher/artist Donna Haraway entitled ‘Story Telling for Earthly Survival’  by film-maker Fabrizio Terranova.  Donna animatedly tells  anecdotes of her dogs prowess at complex agility courses, adding another layer to her own visual analogy of  our ecological and social mesh being as a ‘Cats Cradle’

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As I begin to select elements of the NEO Terra exhibition to take to Holyrood  in December to share with MSP’s and Ministers I am convinced of the importance of taking the #LitterCUBES particularly this one made from strapping  to help with imagining the depth and complexity of the issue that we are all enmeshed in.

COPcube2 - J BartonMy intention is to engage as many people as possible in the seeing of  the ecological web/mesh we hold in our hands.  To do this I am working up an idea to tour the       #LitterCUBES ( in much bigger forms) to harbours and festivals around the coast.

Please leave any suggestions  below of possible locations,  where you can see this working and ways to help raise funding to make this happen .  Thank you

 

Launch of Terra Nova
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Launch of Terra Nova

As the exhibition closes tonight, I have been looking through the visitors book and am delighted and humbled at all the thanks and thoughtfull comments I have received. Please take a look here  they are themselves inspiring to seek out new places to take the exhibition too. Any ideas re galleries/museums/docksides to aim for and any funding sources would be much appreciated.

img116 (3)This great comment about the exhibition animation Terra Nova convinced me that the animation should go live here and on vimeo.  The film tells one part of my investigative journey with plastic pollution – how the burning of litter on beaches forms rock-like lumps of plastic, now named ‘Plastiglomerate’ .

Animation notes: low budget – low tech film, idea developed in Coigach,  storyboarded at An Talla Solais studios, models were made at different scales, in many locations, the delicate casting of litter materials in wax (for the final scene) were cast at Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop  and the film was shot and edited in Shetland  filmaker JJ Jamieson. His enthusiasm was energising throughout the shoot and his inventivness in sourcing, creating and over-laying  special effects and sound completed the film beautifully.

It was fantastic to work with JJ Jamieson, the animation was shot both in his garage studio, back yard, on the banks of a nearby stream and editing studio. More information about the making of the animation can be found on my Vimeo site .

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#WorldOceansDay
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#WorldOceansDay

Join in celebrating WORLD OCEANS DAY on Thursday June 8th in Ullapool casting votes for #CleanSeas. Events happening across the world and on line.

DBfUOVRXsAIi2Jt.jpg large World Oceans Day is a designated UN day to celebrate & honour the world’s oceans.

“Urgent action on a global scale is needed to alleviate the world’s oceans from the many pressures they face, and to protect them from future dangers that may tip them beyond the limits of their carrying capacity. ” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon

The Day provides an opportunity to get directly involved in protecting our future, through a new mindset and personal and community action and involvement.   

My response is to take to the shores of Loch Broom ( Ullapool harbour) where I will be leading a Guided Guide walk sharing information from the Guide to Beach Litter and highlighting the importance of healthy Oceans discussing the many initiatives here and around the world to protect the oceans.X poster 1 (2)_LI

As its polling day here in the UK, participants will be invited to join me at An Talla Solais Gallery, to share experiences and ideas of how to bring about change and to cast your votes for a variety of approaches to reduce plastic pollution in the World’s Oceans and specifically in Scotland.

Ullapool Event:  – meet by the pier on West Shore 11am or 5.30pm, followed at the gallery at  12 noon & 6.15pm  An Talla Solais Gallery, West Arglye St, Ullapool

Poster extract (2)In return voters will receive a copy of the  ‘Isle of CHANGE’ map from the  NEO Terra exhibition presently showing at An Talla Solais until the 18th June

A PDF copy of the map will also be available to download on World Ocean Day from here. Please leave a comment  below and join in the debate .

Find out more about the actions being taken in the UK and around the World.       Visit  http://www.worldoceansday.org

View the  Ullapool World Oceans Day event on Twitter follow @LittoralArt

Ullapool: collecting for NEO Terra
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Ullapool: collecting for NEO Terra

Ullapool collecting samplesNow back on the beaches of Wester Ross feeling the strong winds and immersed in tidal charts and large-scale OS maps on which I am plotting the remaining 32 beach locations to collect  sand & plastiglomerate samples from, needed to construct the NEO Terra exhibition. Opening at An Talla Solais on Sat 13th May

summer isles map (2)   polly bay   IMG_5478

Dates for the diary

April 17th- 29th  collection expeditions  follow on twitter and facebook North to Cape Wrath, South to Scoraig and Loch Ewe shorelines and West to 5 of the Summer Isles.

May 13th – 18th June : NEO Terra exhibition at An Talla Solais Gallery on West Argyle Street (Ullapool IV26 2UG)  open from 10am to 5pm

Dates for Gallery talks to be scheduled soon

May 19th – 20th: A walk along Isle Martin beach exploring  Time Deep as part of the iLAND Festival, A festival of Future Living and Community Resilience.  A 3 day, off-grid, island bound festival, celebrating that the ‘land and sea’

June 8th: World Ocean Day event, Ullapool Harbour

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Guide to Beach Litter

guide-to-beach-litter-image-1-2

The Littoral Art Project’s ‘Guide to Beach Litter’ written & produced by artist Julia Barton will be launched at the   Artists’ BookMarket  Saturday 25 February, 2017 – Sunday 26 February, at The Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, 11am–5pm. Free entry.

The Guide is a useful informative educational tool that with clear colour images helps to identify 40 different types of litter often found on beaches around the UK. It highlights the problem of beach litter and how understanding it better is the first step toward solving it.

guide-to-beach-litter-image-2

The reverse side answers a series of pertinent questions regarding the ever-increasing volumes of litter found on beaches and in our marine environment: What kinds of litter are there? Why does it matter? Where does it come from? Who is responsible? How long might litter last? With a section dedicated to taking action and  providing further  useful information.

guide-sandhopper-map

Come along to celebrate the launch of the ‘Guide to Beach Litter’ and help to promote the word about the Guide. I am looking for bookshops, museums, and visitor centres to stock the Guides, if you would like to place an order please get in touch via the comments box below or mail littoralartproject@btinternet.com  All comments posted about the Guide much appreciate. If you send a review in or place orders for 10 copies you will receive a free Guide! Retail price per Guide is £3 each, plus £1 postage & package (please ask for postage costs if ordering multiple copies ), trade discount for shops/resale.

img_4344  img_4340

This year I will be showing works at the  Artists’ BookMarket  with fellow environmental artist Kate Foster, our books stem from our current themes of marine and wetland conservation respectively and focus on our fascination with the organisms that inspired our work – seaweeds and mosses.

artists-entanglement-with-polymers-on-the-shorelineEntanglement: an artist’s strandline journey with Polymers, Wracks and Laminaria

The selection of books I will  be showing with the Guide, include books comprised of drawings made responding to collections made in Shetlands Littoral Zones, made while artist in residence at Sumburgh Head Lighthouse and ideas developing over the last 4 years walking the strandlines of NW Scotland. All proceeds made go to help support the development of the project reaching more communities.

Artists’ BookMarket  Saturday 25 February, 2017 – Sunday 26 February, at The Fruitmarket Gallery, 45 Market Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1DF   11am–6pm, Sun 11am–5pm. Free entry.

New Collection
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New Collection

In preparation for the projects second NEO Terra exhibition in May at An Talla Solais Gallery in Ullapool, I have begun collecting sand samples and plastiglomerates from beaches along the NW Highland coast.

ullapool-shoreline  scourie-beach-2min-collectiontarbet-beach-2min-collection  2min-collection

Snapshot photographs give an insightful picture of whats occurring on our beaches and in our seas. To expand this information I am asking followers of the project to  keep a look out for plastiglomerates and to tweet images  with #plastiglomerate with the name of the beach they were found on to @LittoralArt .

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Identification: Plastiglomerates are lumps of burnt plastic litter, that has melted and bonded with natural beach materials.

coloured-plastiglomerates They  are often highly colourful just like the plastic objects they once were , but most fade to look deceptively like the rocks and pebbles around them . They can take a lot of looking for, a give away sign is that they are much lighter than similar size  stones and relatively warm to touch. 

plastic rock reveal copy

I am hoping that fellow MCS beach watchers  engaged with monitoring beaches and all those involved with  marine plastic campaigns eg the   #2minutebeachclean and the #Nurdlehunt   will  join in exchanging information to help us build an increasingly comprehensive  documentation of the forms of plastic in the marine and coastal environment.

If any followers along the Scottish coastlines particularly in the NW highlands and the Western Isles  find stretches of beaches with lots of plastiglomerates please  contact me so I can  try to arrange to pick them up to use in the exhibition.

Over the next  10 days I’m visiting 12 beaches between Lochinver and Plockton and I’m inviting people to join me on Sat 4th Feb at Badentarbet beach 11am- 1pm; Friday 10th February at Ullapool (pier west side) 2-3.30pm; at Gairloch (meet at the Museum) Sat 2-3.30pm.  If the weather forecast is bad please check on line www.littoralartproject.com or ring  0797 7997605, please dress for winter conditions .