Turning Plastic Pollution into Art, Giving Ocean Wildlife a Voice

This year Owens has taken her message, and artwork, to Alaska. "I was specifically looking for outlets that had both a strong science component and a strong art component. The Pratt Museum in Homer, Alaska, is one of those venues. I'm sometimes a little too arty for science venues and a little too science-y for art venues, so I wanted to find an institution that I felt celebrated both."

For that show, she selected pieces from the Entangled and Ingested series that were local to that region. "I have signage that accompanies the exhibition that briefly describe the problem of plastic pollution, how these animals are harmed, and what a regular person like you and me can do to move the needle on this big global problem," she says.

This fall, Owens also traveled to Cádiz, Spain, for MICRO, an international research conference on plastic pollution. There she presented her research and collaborated with Natura Sin Basura (Nature Zero Waste), a local nonprofit that brought approximately 200 Spanish schoolchildren to the event. "I had the opportunity to sew with many of the students, as well as roughly a quarter of the 800 scientists attending the conference, to create an 80-foot-long fin whale, which is the biggest whale on my list of species with records of both entanglement and ingestion through pollution."

Over the years, hundreds of UHart students have participated in Owens's whale-sewing workshops through her classes and campus-wide programs. Harrison Grant recipients and Dorothy Goodwin Scholars have also joined Owens in the community, working alongside residents of nursing homes and local schoolchildren to sew a whale together.

While helping students understand the severity of environmental challenges is essential, Owens recognizes that the weight of these issues can leave them feeling overwhelmed and hopeless. She sees artmaking, particularly sewing, as a way to restore hope and empower students to engage with these challenges in a more positive, creative way.

"Sewing is a very meditative and relaxing practice," she says. "When I bring a whale to my classes, my students report that they feel much better about things after having spent an hour sewing a whale." She says it also offers students a tangible example of interdisciplinary work, demonstrating how science, art and environmental policy can intersect to address complex challenges.

"I think the arts have a special power," she says. "They can connect with people in a way that another data point or another statistic or another scientific article cannot. Art makes an impression on us that lasts a long time. Art is a powerful way to share ideas and to help people understand problems more deeply."