Trash Art – Page 2 – Dr. Plastic Picker
 

Tag: Trash Art

My latest piece. “Ocean Plastic Dinosaur Fossil on a CD Case, Mixed media beach plastic and electronic waste, drplasticpicker August 2020.”

August 2, 2020

by drplasticpicker

I really love making trash art. I’m coming up to a year anniversary of Dr. Plastic Picker and there are many new identities I’ve tried on. I’m definitely a blogger now with over 270 blogpost. I’m an environmental activist. I’m a litter-picker and ocean beach cleaner. I’m an occassional plogger (picking up trash and jogging). I’m an Instagrammer with almost now 1100 followers. I didn’t even know what Instagram was before all this. I’m still a Pediatrician, HMO Middle Manager and mother. But the role that has been most delightful is that I’m a trash artist. I really like making trash art.

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Screenshot of this great quote, from “Story of Stuff Project.” Great account to follow for inspiration.

July 22, 2020

by drplasticpicker

It’s funny how one can read quotes and understand them conceptually, but until you experience that stage of destruction and growth than that is when you understand it viscerally. From great hardship and tragedy can come tremendous growth. What I wanted to add today, is that what enables one to grow and recover and be reimagined is connections, community, bonds and relationships with the other living lifeforms around us. There is a resiliency in being connected.

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First rendition of the anti-vaping trash art that I posted on Instagram.

June 10, 2020

by drplasticpicker

Yesterday I was at home like millions of other people, working remotely. I finished the Assistant Boss Leadership Manifesto and the end product was collaborative and well written. I reread it several times last night and there was only one minor error. My old undergraduate instructor Dr. Amy Slatton would have been proud https://drplasticpicker.com/blacklivesmatter-the-stain-of-slavery-colonialism-apartheid-extends-to-science/ and https://amyeslaton.com/. She always admonished me to edit edit edit. If you are a reader on this blog, you know that is not one of my strengths. I mostly finished the Girl Scout Financial Forms yearly submission. I always turn it in about a week late without shame. I think interacting with Girl Scouts management is the only time I ever pull the working mother card https://drplasticpicker.com/leadership-opportunities-are-everywhere-dont-just-go-to-the-blue-light-special/. I think my fellow Girl Scout Troop leaders and those at the central office are used to dealing with prima donna mothers and just humour people like me. It is all volunteer of course. And yesterday and this morning my sister is sad because one of her close friends has a very sick child going through complicated abdominal surgery. My sister is an empathic person. Likely in that pediatric intensive care unit that child is dying. I texted back to my sister what I hope was words of comfort. When a child is dying there are waves of grief to all those adults that surround that child, and all those adults that surround those adults. My sister is caught in that cocentric circle of grief.

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Seeing the world from a different perspective.

March 1, 2020

by drplasticpicker

This blog series is monthly, and again I think the least popular. I have mentioned this every month. But for me, it is the most important because it keeps me accountable for making real changes in our lives that are important for the environment. I am responsible for reporting out monthly 15 changes that I have made in my family’s daily life that help the environment.

Above is a picture I posted on Instagram #drplasticpicker. The Instagram, Facebook and blogsphere worlds don’t really intersect. Instagram is super fun but more for my own amusement. I think I have a decent number of patients following my Instagram account as I accumulate more and more ocean plastic bags . Otherwise it is other #litterpickers that are following each other. I’m almost at 550 followers. I think I’m pretty good at Instagram. For the series of pictures above the caption was “I tell everyone at work #litterpicking#trashart #plogging has helped me be a more creative problem solver. I literally look at this beautiful world differently. Picture from my seated perch done with my bag.” And what I posted in Instagram is true and certainly the most powerful Secondary Environmental Net Positive for me. My worldview has changed and it is at times a very dire and ominous one, but also hopeful and challenging. Dr. Plastic Picker has always been up for the challenge.

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“Plastic Buzz Found on Tourmaline” – third piece in my trash art collection. My goal is 10 pieces for my entry to the Del Mar Fair.

January 29, 2020

by drplasticpicker

Usually the Hopeful Wednesday posts I have been slowly working on throughout the week, and adding bits and pieces and will publish right when the new blog day arrives. This week, my Facebook and instagram feeds did not have as many positive wins. I think it’s probably that I have more instagram “followers” – up to 328. I’m trying to follow more individuals who are litter picking, plogging, plalking and doing beach clean ups rather than newsfeeds. Also I’ve been living in the real world trying to make more changes and organizing more as a climate leader, so maybe it’s a good thing I haven’t been on facebook/instagram as much. So it’s 240am on a Wednesday morning, and I’m starting this post. But my body feels good and I have many reasons to be hopeful.

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January 16, 2020

by drplasticpicker

This is Chirp Chirp, the second piece in my trash art series. Honestly, the first few times I posted about Chirp Chirp – I was joking. I had been mistakenly kicked off Instagram and the virtual world of looking at other people’s trash hauls was gone. Through Instagram I was able to jet all over the world and see interesting trash finds from Germany to South America and especially my young friend from Nepal who is almost on his 100th bag. But without Instagram, I began doing more Trash Art and actually my writing became more productive. Instagram is fun but I only ever get a trickle of traffic from Instagram, less than the traffic directed by my comments on Retireby40 which is an early retirement blog. I just read Joe’s blog because I like it and I post sometimes. One Facebook commenter on a environmental group I joined really summed it up, Instagram can be an echoing chamber. You feel like you are influencing people more than you are, because you are preaching to the choir.

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Chirp Chirp going to work on Friday. Photo credit by drplastipicker.

January 4, 2020

by drplasticpicker

Instagram’s loss is Chirp Chirp’s gain. I have no idea why I have been banned from instagram but I am going with it https://drplasticpicker.com/trashy-art-poor-chirp-chirp-the-joy-of-the-unexpected/. I am taking it as a sign to refocus on the blog and actually again advocate for reducing plastic pollution in the real world. Without my Instagram friends and the virtual Instagram world, drplasticpicker decided to return to the physical dimension. I have returned to Chirp Chirp.

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Poor Chirp Chirp. Photo credit and art credit by drplasticpicker.

January 3, 2020

by drplasticpicker

This is Chirp Chirp’s bad side. She is the second piece in my “Trashy” art series. Our daughter named her. I was going to name her Birdy, but our daughter thought Chirp Chirp was better. It seems an appropriate name. “Trashy – Whale in Blue” is turning out much better. I love the different blue hues of the plastic I find, and that piece is coming together quickly.

Trashy Whale in Blue as of January 2, 2020. Photo credit by drplasticpicker.

Chirpy is not going as well. I really think Chirp Chirp is more beautiful in person. If you see her, you can appreciate the interesting pieces of plastic that make up her body. It’s not quite harmonious yet. I’m trying not to alter the plastic pieces, but letting them really speak to me about where they should go. She is like that junk drawer in your kitchen with all the important bits and pieces you don’t want to throw away but you need. I think in the end she will turn out fine, as long as I layer pieces of plastic like feathers. It’s harder to find “cleaner” looking white pieces of plastic because I don’t want Chirp Chirp to look like a dirty bird. But if you look at her carefully she has such interesting pieces as part of her plastic form.

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My “Trashy” bird project. It’s not turning out as well as the Trashy whale in Blue. I probably need to work on it more. Maybe the Instagram deactivation is meant to be?

January 1, 2020

by drplasticpicker

I was having too much fun on Instagram. I was up to almost 200 followers and then my account was deactivated because I violated some rules. I’m pretty sure it was because the word I was trying to write for Korean New Year’s soup is maybe a bad word to someone. I don’t know. I haven’t learned how to type in Korean and Vietnamese on the internet yet. It’s on my to-do list for 2020, along with saving the earth. I’m just a middle-aged pediatrician trying to pick up trash! Anyway, I’ve emailed back the Instagram team and we’ll see what happens.

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