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Exploring ideas in the Shetland Isles (1)

13.5.15: Arrived Sumburgh Airport

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Plastic toy plane found on Shetland beach last week

I flew to the Shetland Isles to explore ideas in person with Sita Goudie of the Shetland Amenity Trust to  discuss ideas of creatively working together  to  deliver a Shetland Littoral Art Project  in the future. I was met by Jane Outram the Trust’s Environmental Awareness Officer who within the first hour introduced me to Angela Hunt manager of Sumburgh Head and gave me a fascinating tour of this  fantastic heritage centre with working ligthouse, bird reserve and arts venue.
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Sumburgh Head Lighthouse has played many important roles saving mariners lives  and through out the war with its temporary radar station.

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The Lighthouse  seemed a pertinent start to our discussions together as we walked passed a chute in the wall down which waste used to be dropped into the sea and then examined a metre high bone from a sperm whale’s head which had washed up nearby tangled in fishing nets. Some patterns of behavior have changed dropping waste directly from lighthouses is illegal in most countries, but its estimated that we dump 6.4 million tonnes of litter into the sea every year.

15.5.15  I was able to join  77 pupil plus teachers from the Scalloway  Primary School for the last 2015 Da Voar Redd Up (Spring Clean up) event organised by the Shetland Amenity Trust (SAT). The S.A.T  have managed to encourage more and more of the communities around Shetland to join in with collecting litter from beaches, roadsides cliff tops all events are catalogued on the Dunna Chuck Bruck Facebook page

Friday’s task was to clean Burwick beach a mile NW from the school. This is the third year that the school as risen to the task and spirits were high as 5-12year old children walked over the hill and down to the beach.

Burwick beach MS before 2

The beach I took in was as bad as the beach that started me off on this Littoral Journey in 2012

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For me the mounds of  broken down rope fibres 1/2 m deep that almost created a plastic raised beach at the top of the littoral zone was painful to see.  As I  scooped and pulled at the matted fibres to bag it up. I was thinking that this is where rolls of seaweed should have been lying, thoughts especially coupled with the knowledge that hundreds of thousands of organisms will have ingested such fibres the effects of which are still to be understood.

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Burwick beach WS before   DSCF9530

In total 254 bags of litter were filled and removed from the beach, while  there was still much left to do a significant difference was made.  Well done to everyone who took place especially the youngest members of the team. Millions of reasons to work together to devise creative ideas to help to change our behavior which presently allows this to happen.

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Exciting Schedule May-June 2015

 May

Appeal Update: Over £1,000 has been pledged towards producing the ‘Guide to Beach Litter’ this will  pay for photographing found litter items, researching and writing the text, plus the design and print costs. If you pledged or would like to donate please send donations via PayPal

May 13th:  Shetland Visit 2015  I fly to Shetland to to meet the Shetland Amenity Trust whose work addressing marine and beach litter is second to none in the UK.  They have been working to keep beaches clean for over 19 years and annually lead the Da Voar Redd Up litter clean-ups across the islands which last last year involved over 7,000 volunteers. I am looking forward to joining the last day of the Redd Up in Scalloway on Burwick

Shetland_UK_location_map with position

I will be visiting  a selection of beaches,  schools and key organisations to explore the idea of collaborating with the Shetland Amenity Trust to deliver the Littoral sci-art project across the Islands over the next two years.

May 28th: Edinburgh Talk  I will be giving an illustrated talk  ‘News from the Littoral Zone’ which is my account of my processes, findings and ideas on the Littoral Art Project as part of the Ragged University series of talks at the Counting House, Nicholson Street, EH8. My talk will be followed by Susan Brown talking about Sustainability for Education. This is a free event, no booking necessary, all welcome 7pm

June

June 5th: World Environment Day Event   Littoral Sci-Art Lab installation/performance location to be announced.

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#IVoted

casting votes for beaches 1

Over the last few weeks I have carefully cast my marks within the ‘littoral zones’ of our coastline.Marks  writ large on Luce Bay (Dumfries) with lines of washed up plastic gun wads threaded together

casting votes for beaches 2

Bold marks made with washed up sections of plastic prawn boxes

mixed col X white X Purplr & white X

Blue X red X green X

Small marks on Portobello beach using beach-goers litter, spoons, pens, cotton bud sticks , plastic stirrers plus commercial fishing tags and cord. These marks are addressed to all the party’s regardless of their colour.

Please cast your vote for the marine environment and the arts today @LittoralArt #cleanseas #cleanbeaches    Check out what the Littoral Art Project is doing, send me your comments, press the follow button on this page and consider supporting funding the work of this project.

Above all vote for a cleaner and creative world!

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Beach style campaign

My  campaign trip to the Dumfries coastline  to raise last minute support for the ‘Guide to Beach Litter’ developed into an exciting days work on Luce Bay Beach. The bay is vast and the beach extensive and has a great mix of sand, shingle and rocks. Perfect for anyone’s bank holiday.  Thankfully the day was bright and sunny though the brisk very cold winds kept all but the hardy seaside visitors away.

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I set the van up as a Sci-Art beach investigation unit alongside the beach, highlighting a selection of my findings so far  and open to all  beach goers. Discussions with intrigued visitors ranged widely from beach litter, to concern about the increasing acid levels in the sea and to fears of over fishing. On the beach I began mocking up a ‘Guide to Beach Litter’ using the litter I collected from along the strandline. The process of laying out the litter made me realise how complex the decisions to decide what to include in the Guide will be, in order to highlight the different : materials ,  hazards, and groups of people responsible for the litter.

DSCF9316 DSCF9383  particles in petridish
The item that drew most attention was in fact the collection of minute  fragments of mixed platic pieces and fibres that are found in the sand and amongst the seaweed.  I explained that these fibres and micro plastic particles are now being ingested by fish and marine organisms. The conversations reminded me of my dismay at being told by marine biologist Dr Philip Cowie  that organisms as small as sandhoppers had been found to ingest micro-plastic fibres.  As I had the ‘lab’ all set up I placed a (found) dead sand- hopper under the microscope and placed fibres beneath it to explore the visual connection. An idea I intend to pursue.

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I was asked what I was filming as I shook a glass flaskcontain in front of the camera.  I explained that I was experimenting with the idea of how it would feel to be in the sea surrounded by plastic particles rather than plankton.

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Flask contents : water , plastic particles and fibres plus architectural model  figure.

 ‘Well you have opened my eyes  with that, I never realised that’s what happens’                                     Alan local man

‘Yours is a great project and is doing a great job to make us aware of our environment. When you think about it the way we live has to change! ‘ Hugh from Whithorn

To celebrate these  encouraging comments in the Littoral Art Project’s work,  I spent the evening translating their verbal votes of confidence into visual votes on the beach.  As the tide receding I marked out  two X’s  using ‘litter lines’ made of prawn boxes and gun wads stitched together on Isle Martin last May.   One for #cleanseas and the other for #cleanbeaches

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A full compliment of X’s will follow soon with the appeal and sponsorship update. Many thanks to everyone who pledged support, together there has been over £1,000 pledged. I am presently setting up a  [donate] button on the blog and I hope everyone will be happy to donate their pledges via this PayPal system instead of via kickstarter. Thank you!

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Campaign Trail…..heads west

Campaign trip 2draft

The count down to the close of my kickstarter appeal to fund the production of  a ‘Guide to Beach Litter’ is fast approaching  4thMay (11pm BST )

Responding to a backers comment that  ‘ I think your project is important and really interesting. We were down in Dumfries and Galloway recently after very high tides and there was mounds debris on the beach’ I have decided to take the project  van out to investigate and campaign  this weekend May 3-4th on the beaches of  Dumries & Galloway beaches.

This is an area of the coastline I don’t know well so please contact me by leaving a comment below/ or email  me with  specific suggestions beaches to  visit – I do need to be able to park the van close by so I can invite people to join me to  identify beach litter items and to make a large identification chart on the beach and to discuss the dangers they pose to wildlife , us and the wider environment.

I will encourage  visitors to  use Littoral Sci-Art Unit microscope, lenses and to carry out simple experiments and to share their observations cast their vote for Cleaner Seas and make a pledge to help the production of the ‘Guide to Beach Litter’

Please join in this campaign and send in comments photos from your beaches to me at littoralartproject@btinternet.com

Take a look at the Appeal

 

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Appeal Update

A big thank you to the first supporters from across the UK, US and Canada who have generously pledged support to produce the ‘Guide to Beach litter ‘   so far the  Kickstarter Appeal has raised £573 .This is a wonderful achievement  in these difficult  economic times.

The Appeal ends in 8 days time on the 4th of May  . So please pass the link to the Littoral Kickstater appeal  http://kck.st/1Fx9ret  so we can raise the remaining £2,437  needed to produce the  ‘Guides to Beach Litter’

The £573 raised so far will fund photographing all the litter items.

The next £300 will fund going to Millport Field Study Centre  on the Isle of Cumbrae to collaborate with Dr Phillip Cowie Marine Biologist to ascertain the the environmental hazards each litter item poses. An edited version of the risks to wildlife, the food-chain and the wider environment will be included in the Guide.

£600 will will be spent on the  graphic layout and approximately £1,500 will be spent on the printing of the full colour  fold out chart

litter guide

The limited edition of charts are being offered as rewards along with key rings made from beach litter items that have been branded with the locations where they have been found. Take a look at the appeal film and please get in touch with any ideas to promote the appeal.  Like all the  parties I will be taking to the road at the end of the week in the Littoral Arts Project battle-bus to campaign and promote the message for cleaner seas in the littoral zone. Will keep you posted as to the beaches we will be visiting…..

litter sorting  Beach sign copy

Please follow the blog by pressing the ‘follow’ button in the left hand margin of this post and follow the facebook Littoral:sci-art project

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Kickstarter Appeal

Littoral – Kickstarter Appeal 2015

I am planning to use the information I have collected over the last 18 months on beach litter, to make a  series of contemporary artworks for a Littoral Art Project multi-media exhibition

I am asking for your support to produce a key part of this exhibition, a laminated colour
Guide to Beach Litter                             

The guide will help facilitate workshops with community groups that I am scheduled to work with as the exhibition is created and tours Scotland over the next 2 years. The locations are as follows; Shetland, Inverclyde, Ullapool, Peterhead and Edinburgh.

Rewards for your donation include copies of the Guide to Beach Litter and key rings made from items of up-cycled beach litter marked with the location they were recovered from.  Please click on the link below for more details and pass on to friends, colleagues and post on appropriate websites/blogs.   Your help is much appreciated.   Thank you
Click to Kickstarter Littoral  Appeal

 
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North West Strand-lines

This week I returned to the NW coast to take a look at the littoral zones (the areas of beach between the low and high tide marks) which I have come to know well over the past 18months researching this project .
After a winter of repeated storms I had braced myself before walking out to a selection of remote beaches – Dun Canna, Rhue and Reiff . After 18 months researching into beach and marine litter I consider myself toughened to the issue but looking along the strandline of twisted rolls of seaweed I felt deeply disturbed and upset as I imagined myself walking into a Dali like landscape with bright blue and orange plastic sheeting draped over plastic piping and the giant knots of twisted ropes, buoys and domestic objects punctuating the strandline.

Dun Canna knot
The knots of litter brought in by the wild weather and exceptional spring tides are bringing the issue clearly into view and are spurring me on to search out funding and to record my next Crowd Funding Appeal to take my project forward over the next two years. I am planning to produce an exhibition of work inspired by my research that will tour to five locations around Scotland over the next two years.
My intention is to raise £3,000 over April to produce a ‘Guide to beach litter’ to accompany the show. Copies of the guide and beach litter key rings will be offered as rewards. If you have any ideas where and how I can promote the Littoral Art Exhibition appeal please do get in touch.

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Littoral presentation

This short compilation of project images is a distilled version of the project presentation I gave to participants, residents and pupils at  Ullapool Museum in October to celebrate the end of both my research in Ross-shire and  ‘Future Fossil Collection’ installation shown at the museum throughout the summer.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 My sights are now set on producing a collection of  visual artworks based on my research findings  which  will explore and illuminate the magnitude and nature of litter on our beaches and in the marine environment.

The multi-media artworks will form the basis of an exhibition which will tour 5 venues in coastal locations around Scotland over the next two years.   The exhibition will expand incrementally with specific pieces created with participatory contributions and will include a series of presentations and events that will take place both inside gallery locations and outside on the beaches, ice towers, quaysides. In addition my work in Shetland will include a sci-art educational program .

The project will culminate in a final exhibition in Edinburgh with related performance event on the Firth of Forth on World Environment Day 2017.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  To  enable my ambitious plans to take shape I will soon be launching a Crowd Funding appeal and directly writing to well known people who speak out and support environmental causes. If you can think of anyone I could try approaching please leave a comment at the bottom of the post.

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2014 A Year in the littoral zone

Having completed a year’s research monitoring beach litter on the west coast of Scotland, I have selected twelve images that I feel summarise my findings along the west coast ‘littoral zone’ . The beaches I have surveyed are Grid- referenced and are located between Loch Broom (NH 133 939) in the south and Loch Inver (NC 094 973) in the north.

Ullapool E beach gun copy

Toy Gun Plastic   Ullapool
A poignant find that lay washed up along the upper shore of the north east beach of Ullapool. I have found toys on every beach I have surveyed.

Rhue polystyrene copy

Polystyrene   Rhue point
A common sight on each of the beaches I have monitored. Often large blocks, boxes or takeaway cups break into individual particles that float and litter the rock pools when broken against rocks. They are subsequently ingested by birds mistaking them for food.

IM plastic bottles copy

Bottles Plastic   Isle Martin
Found on every beach. Along the Back Beach (Camas a Bhuailidh) on Isle Martin the nearest of the Summer Isles in the mouth of Loch Broom, I recovered over 100 bottles which had contained drinks, cleaning fluids, oils etc. All the bottles towed from Isle Martin on World Environment Day were recycled.

IMartin melted plastic copy

Melted Plastic   Isle Martin
Hard to see rock-like forms which blend into the cobbles of the Ross-shire beaches. These predominantly grey plastic forms are the result of plastic rubbish that has been burnt on ships/trawlers or on the beach.

Dun Canna strandline mix copy

Strandline mix Plastic   Dun Canna
The strandline of this west-facing beach on Loch Kinnaird is one of the worst I have witnessed . Broken fragments of every type of litter is mixed into the seaweed.

Badentarebt prawn box copy
Prawn boxes   Badentarbet
Unsurprisingly, in a significant prawn fishing area, broken corrugated plastic prawn boxes are common place on every beach survey .

Badentarbet rope copy

Rope, cord, line and nets   Badentarbet
The highest percentage of litter that I have recorded has been made up of commercial fishing related materials such as ropes and cord: none of these at present can be recycled in the Highlands.

Altandu measuring cylinder
Fibres Plastic   Altandu
Close between the cobbles, sand grains or within the seaweed are millions of plastic fibres from deteriorating rope, bags, boxes which could be ingested by birds, fish and sand hoppers. I collected 1/2 litre of fibres  from 1m of  seaweed along   (Camas an Fheidh)

Altandu toy soldier copy

Soldier Plastic   Altandu
I found this soldier amongst one of the most severely littered beaches in the area. I intend to enlist him in my Littoral Art Campaign in the coming year

Rief loch gun catridge copy

Gun cartridges   Loch of Reiff
It was explained to me by two local beach watchers & cleaners in the Reiff area that the opaque splayed tubes that are numerous along beaches in this area are the inner sleeves of gun cartridges. In the water they are often perceived as squid by turtles and porpoise and eaten.

reiff loch cabling copy

Plastic tubing   Loch of Rieff
Evidence of large scale commercial dumping like this mass of plastic tubing is evident on the beaches close to commercial fishing areas. The scale of it takes your breath away

lochinver takeaway spoon copy

Food containers & implements   Loch Inver
On a much smaller scale but equally insidious is the common takeaway litter stuffed/trapped between the strandline rocks of harbour walls

I intend during 2015 – 16 to make artworks to hopefully encourage all of us to keep our seas and littoral zones clean. Please keep reading and supporting this project in any way that you can. Happy New Year