Non-profit group turns beach trash into top-notch art

Marine pollution is a massive global dilemma, and some coastal communities fight a never-ending battle to stop the tide of trash washing ashore. In Oregon, there's a non-profit organization that collects discarded materials from beaches and turns them into giant sculptures of aquatic animals.

According to Washed Ashore, ninety percent of the waste they collect is petroleum-based, mostly plastic debris, and they are able to convert ninety-eight percent of this junk into art. A walk-through replica of an ocean gyre; a styrofoam coral reef; a giant fish; a plastic bottle sea jelly; and an oil-spill replica are just some of the pieces they have exhibited in various zoos and aquariums around the U.S.

Check out the video below to learn more about their creative process.

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This installation puts painting robots to shame

In the courtyard of London's Victoria & Albert Museum stands the Elytra Filament Pavilion , a massive glass and carbon fiber canopy fabricated by robots. It is inspired by the fibrous structures of flying beetles and will be open until November in the John Madejski Garden. The futuristic shelter is the brainchild of experimental architect Achim Menges, along with collaborators Moritz Dörstelmann, Jan Knippers and Thomas Auer. While the structure currently measures 200 square meters in size, it will gradually grow bigger overtime, depending on how visitors interact with it.

Anthill Art

Turns out you can make something pretty cool when you pour boiling, liquid metal on top of an anthill. Harsh for the ants, yes, but according to Anthill Art , these insects are "harmful to the environment and their nests are exterminated by the millions in the United States using poisons, gasoline and fire, boiling water, and very rarely molten aluminum."

'Scrap Floats' by Aggie Zed

Virginia-based artist Aggie Zed creates fascinating ceramic and mixed media sculptures, paints excellent visual art on paper and draws rather well. In the art world we would call her a triple threat and she does it all very well. There's plenty of her work I wanted to feature here, but I'd rather leave you to lurk around her website and instead I'll focus your attention to her Scrap Floats . These sculptures are comprised of animals, human parts, and other machine-like scraps. The figures are striking in both their surrealism and their humility: disfigured humans sprout wings, fish live out of water, and horses have intricately arranged metal frames for bodies. They're a little bit steampunk, a little bit classical and a whole lot intriguing. Aggie received a BFA in sculpture and painting from the University of South Carolina. She currently lives with her husband in Gordonsville where she keeps animals in her life, especially chickens, which defy anthropomorphis...

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