Plastic Forever, Couple Makes Lovely Art Out of Beach's Plastic Trash

In 1999, Richard Lang and Judith Selby Lang started Plastic Forever, a project to collect plastic objects found on Kehoe Beach in Northern California’s Point Reyes National Seashore and make art with it. They are using to the art to promote awareness of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, an ocean gyre of plastic marine waste estimated to be twice the size of Hawaii. One Plastic Beach is a 2011 documentary on the couple, their mission and the beautiful art they create from trash. The film is by Eric Slatkin and Tess Thackara.

Each piece of plastic Richard and Judith pick up comes back to their house, where it gets cleaned, categorized and stored before being used for their art. The couple make sculptures, prints, jewelry and installations with the plastic they find washed up, raising a deeper concern with the problem of plastic pollution in our seas.

Ms. Lang currently is exhibiting Lawn Bowls, lawn bowling art balls made from plastic bags, at the Palo Alto Lawn Bowls Club.

Inspired by the sport of lawn bowling, environmental artist Judith Selby Lang’s Lawn Bowls features thousands of recycled plastic bags put to an artistic purpose…

Lawn Bowls is made possible, in part, by support from the Palo Alto Art Center Foundation. Lawn Bowls is co-presented by the Palo Alto Lawn Bowls Club and co-sponsored by the Palo Alto Public Art Commission.