The Crazy Awesomeness of Skeleton Sea

So in my previous post (Playing with Trash) I said I was going to share some of Skeleton Sea's art with you. They had several statues/creations (I don't quite know what to call them!) on display at the entrance to the Volvo Ocean Race Village here in Alicante (plus two more in the VIP area which I didn't get to see). It's amazing at how creative these three guys are, how they can look at all this trash, and find a way to turn it into an art project! It's all a part of their passion for the ocean (all three are surfers), and you can hear it in their voices when you talk with them about previous projects and the crazy things they've found on beaches around the world... Anyhow, without further ado, I give you the Art of Skeleton Sea! (the name of each is linked to their website, where you can find more info on each project, the texts come from the panels accompanying each piece)

MSAMBWENI ARK.

by Jo�o Parrinha, Xandi Kreuzeder

Made of plastic beach sandals and mixed media (size 170x120x120 cm)

"The Msambweni Ark is rising in the sky, saving the last African wildlife from the great pollution on earth and in the water."

keep reading!

Playing with Trash to Keep the Oceans Clean!

You remember me talking about that beach clean I helped organise here in Alicante, as a part of an environmental initiative hosted by the Volvo Ocean Race (story about the Volvo in Alicante here)? I hinted at there being another reason behind the trash collection than just cleaning up the beach... that the trash had a "higher purpose"! Well, it's time (way past it if you ask me! :p) to reveal said purpose: ART!

"Huh? ART??? In the same sentence as TRASH??? Whaaaaaaat???"

I hear you! But let me explain! There's this group of crazy artist surfer dudes who wanted to do something more for the marine environment that is pretty much their home, so they travel around the world collecting trash that the ocean has dumped back on our beaches (or directly abandoned there by man). With this trash they put together some pretty amazing sculptures (which I will share with you in another post) and show them in exhibits in the hopes of raising awareness for the problem of all that damn trash that's floating around in our oceans. Their name: Skeleton Sea. And they're collaborating with the Volvo Ocean Race this year on a project called Keep The Oceans Clean! At each race stopover port they'll organise a beach clean, then with the trash collected (and more "quality" rubbish previously collect elsewhere) they'll organise a series of workshops during which they will create a sculpture with the help of the local population. And Alicante was their first spot! It's a good thing they did bring all that extra beach rubbish with them, because although we picked up a lot of junk during our beach clean up, most of it wasn't "quality" trash, not of much use for the sculpture...




Not much you can do with cigarette butts and lollipop sticks, huh?

keep reading!

Keep the Oceans Clean! starting with Alicante's Postiguet Beach

For the past month or so I've been helping out as a local contact to organise a beach clean here on Alicante's main beach, the Postiguet, and yesterday was the big day! The event was part of an initiative called Keep The Oceans Clean!, a global environmental campaign organised by the Volvo Ocean Race and a group of artists (who happen to be surfers) called Skeleton Sea. The purpose of this programme is to raise awareness of the problems posed by the long-life trash floating around in our oceans, piling up on our beaches... A beach clean will be organised in each of the 10 stop-overs of this incredible round-the-world race, hoping to get as much local participation as possible, starting here in Alicante!

keep reading!