jeanne marie

Made from primarily postconsumer plastic packaging, my full collection of artworks is to be debuted November 2022

The big idea

My subject is our plastic trash legacy. Nature is a closed loop system, all waste is transmuted, all is precious. Plastic waste isn't organically broken down, this loop is ours to close. Plastic is made from the energy of our prehistoric plant, animal, and other organic ancestors and it’s our role to bring our waste into balance. My artwork asks: How do I create by taking only what is given in a way that supports our life systems? How might I see possibility, use, and beauty in my waste? How do I take responsibility? Allowing stone to remain home in the earth, each of my pieces stars postconsumer plastic waste (personal/found) I’ve re-sculpted. Uniting synthetic substance and ancient craft, both my reformation of plastic and its treatment emulate natural materials: marbling, high heat & pressure, carving, molding and gilding.

My Process

1. Collecting and documenting: I have collected hundreds of pieces of plastic from my own waste, off the streets or on beaches, in multiple countries, and from friends and family. With the help of several paid Maryland Institute College of Art grads I am first photographing and documenting every piece of plastic that comes my way and getting to know it. What type of plastic is it? Where did it come from? What was its use in its previous life? Each bit of data is saved into a registry we’ve created. This phase of the project places material in context and maps its current relationship to the people it has traveled between.

2. Reverence: Once the plastic’s relationships are identified there is a liminal space between what the plastic was, what it is now, and what it will become. In this space how might I honor the natural beings this plastic was made from as well as the life it led as disposable packaging? How have I imposed meanings onto this plastic? How does regarding it as “bad” or “trash” color my relationship to the genius material through which so much of my life today is made possible? I believe that deep change is made possible when current reality is fully accepted. How might regarding this material with reverence expand my ability to accept and love reality and from there transform it? How can the way I relate to these objects and this material parallel the direction I’d like all my relationships to move in?

3. Design: With a new relationship being practiced, I am working closely with the plastic in an intuitive way as a medium for it to realize its own dreams. I believe that everything has its own dreams and desires. In many of the world’s oldest cultures all beings, animate and inanimate, dream. In the ‘Dream Tending’ dream work approach dream images are regarded as alive, they have their own desires and make requests of us. I am here to listen and help this plastic realize its wildest dreams. So of course a material discarded and treated as cheap trash would dream of reincarnating as beautiful precious objects!

4. Production: Similar to the earth forming diamonds, I too use heat and pressure to remold these pieces of plastic “trash” into beautiful newness. I am making custom molds for this project and employing the power of hydraulic presses! Additionally I am learning metal smithing and embracing metal as companion material that is playing a literal supportive role to the plastic works.

💸 As of right now I am entirely self-funded paying for a variety of expenses such as studio & workshop rental, studio interns/photographers, all kinds of equipment, and classes to learn new tools and craftsmanship skills.

I believe in the power and responsibility of the artist to stimulate exchange, bloom community relationships, and create opportunities for others so I am working primarily with local and diverse artists, teachers, facilities and vendors for my process, tools and equipment.

If you want to support me or this project please donate!