Bringing Awareness and Social Change – Alumni Katie Peck Passion for Ocean Conservation through Sculpture

Last spring Mulberry alumna Katie Peck, Class of 2006, embarked on a sculpture project to bring awareness to the problem of pollution along the California coast. She is focusing on beach trash and the devastating effect it has on the ocean.

When designing her sculpture, she went back to her Mulberry community. She called in a friend and fellow alumni, Reed Gunsalus to help her calculate angles and corners for her the steel frame that holds the 10-foot-wide wave-shaped sculpture. She named it Weaving the Tides.

This project has allowed her to move beyond just art for art’s sake. Her installation brings awareness and social change. She’s had many conversations with people about where the trash comes from. People expect to find bigger pieces; plastic water bottles and straw, however much of what is found are snack bags, wrappers, and smaller clear pieces of plastic that are hard to see but just as detrimental to the environment.

To engage children in the conversation, her sculpture included a treasure hunt of items. There are 8 different shoes, a small plastic scorpion, and a Barbie all found on one Orange County beach. All are contained in Katie’s installation.

Katie just finished curating an art exhibit for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association’s (NOAA) International Marine Debris Conference. Her installation was on display with eight other artists from around the world who use repurposed marine debris to create art.