Coastal Trash is Being Transformed into Beautiful Art in Bristol, Maine

It’s a sad reality that you seldom go to the beach or spend time out in nature without finding trash and pieces of plastic where they shouldn’t be. We’ve turned the world into one big garbage can and some inherently lazy people can’t be bothered to put their trash and recyclables where they belong.

This is no breaking news and at this point we are probably desensitized to photos of turtles with straws up their noses, state-sized piles of trash in the middle of the ocean, and animals with six-pack rings around their necks.

In an effort to not only clean up the coastline but also bring more awareness to this issue, a local store near Pemaquid, Maine has welcomed an artist from New York to create beautiful art using trash collected from local beaches.

The Good Supply in Bristol, Maine

The Good Supply is a homegoods store in Bristol that showcases and sells curated art and homegoods created by artists inspired by Maine’s natural beauty using recycled and renewable materials. The store itself is beautiful, situated right inside of a restored barn from the 1850s.

To celebrate their 10th year anniversary, artist Cindy Pease Roe is creating a whale sculpture out of local Maine beach trash. In an effort to “Breech the Beach”, they are collecting piles of trash from the coastline to be transformed into a beautiful work of art.

Pease Roe has been traveling the world for 12 years to publicize the mission of her non-profit, UpSculpt, where she creates different ocean-related works of art and sculptures all made from trash found in the ocean and on the beach.

This is one way to turn something sad and ugly into a work of art that can be shared positively to others while bringing awareness and action to an environmental crisis.