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In Pictures: Plastic art with a lesson at Tennessee Aquarium
By Tom Adkinson
July 15, 2022
CHATTANOOGA, Tennessee – An art installation of a silvertip shark at the Tennessee Aquarium may look fearsome, but its meaning is positively scary. The shark and more than a dozen other aquatic animal art pieces are made of plastic litter pulled from America’s waterways. They are trash transformed into an artistic lesson about the permanence of plastic and the need to use less of it, recycle what we can and properly dispose of the rest. Washed Ashore, an Oregon non-profit, created the plastic sculptures, which will be at the aquarium through October 30.
Sylvia, the silvertip shark
Two boys inspect Sylvia, the silvertip shark, on the plaza of the Tennessee Aquarium. From a distance, Sylvia looks almost real. Up close, Sylvia is a collection of trash found in the ocean. Image by Doug Strickland/Tennessee Aquarium
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Jelly Bloom
Installers from Washed Ashore position pieces of a work called Jelly Bloom. Each of the small pieces in Jelly Bloom a danger to several aquatic animals, especially sea turtles, that mistake them for food. Image by Doug Strickland/Tennessee Aquarium
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Seeing more of Seemore
A youngster takes a closer look at Seemore, the sea lion pup, outside the Tennessee Aquarium. Artists assembled hundreds of pieces of plastic trash to create Seemore. Image by Doug Strickland/Tennessee Aquarium
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Flip Flop Fish
Of course, there’s not a creature in nature called the flip flop fish, but it was unfortunately easy for artists to create one from beach shoes vacationers abandoned. The panel with the piece explains that plastics are forever. Image by Doug Strickland/Tennessee Aquarium
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Beach toys galore
Swim fins, plastic netting, bottle caps, eating utensils and other discards that became litter came together in this colorful collage. According to Washed Ashore, mankind produces more than 300 million pounds of plastic every year but that less than 10 percent is recycled. Much of the other 90 percent becomes trash. Image by Doug Strickland/Tennessee Aquarium
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Trip-planning resources: TNaqua.org, VisitChattanooga.com and TNvacation.com
(Travel writer Tom Adkinson’s book, 100 Things To Do in Nashville Before You Die, is available on Amazon.com.
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