Conversation with Michelle Vania Beattie

Please enjoy my conversation with Michelle Vania Beattie. 

Michelle is an intuitive artist known for her striking sculptures made from beach-found plastic, inspired by a lifelong connection to the ocean. Growing up in Plettenberg Bay, she collected what she called “mermaids tears”—a childhood fascination that returned years later in Kommetjie, where she discovered these were actually nurdles, raw plastic pellets. This revelation ignited her commitment to addressing ocean plastic pollution. 

Since 2020, Michelle has transformed the plastic debris she collects during beach cleanups into conceptual sculptures that raise awareness about environmental damage and consumer impact. Her work gives a voice to the ocean and calls for urgent change.

https://www.instagram.com/mishvania_art/?hl=en

https://www.manzart.com/collections/mishvania?srsltid=AfmBOoqzpU1CwX7EUrJXYeZ28X8tPcfZh2bGGc34HBKGWlG9YGZW14wr 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nurdle_(bead)

https://www.inkbox.co.za/

https://www.facebook.com/p/Relevant-Art-Gallery-61573709015808/

https://woordfees.co.za/en/ 

https://openstudioskommetjie.com/ 

This podcast was created by Natalya Khorover. It was produced and recorded by Natalya, as well as researched and edited by her. SALVAGE is a product of ECOLOOP.ART.

If you enjoy this show, please rate and review us wherever you’re listening—and be sure to come back for another conversation with a repurposed media artist.

Music theme by RC Guida

Visit Natalya’s website at www.artbynatalya.com

Visit Natalya’s community at www.repurposercollective.com

Visit Natalya’s workshops at https://www.ecoloop.art/

Transcript

Welcome to Salvage, a podcast for conversations with artists about the repurposed materials they use in their art practice.

Please enjoy my conversation with Michelle Vanya Beattie. Michelle is an intuitive artist known for her striking sculptures made from beach found plastic. Inspired by a life long connection to the ocean. Growing up and Plettenberg Bay, she collected what is called Mermaid's Tears, a childhood fascination that returned years later in Kommetjie where she discovered these were actually nurdles raw plastic pellets.

This revelation ignited her commitment to addressing ocean plastic pollution. Since 2020, Michelle has transformed the plastic debris she collects during beach cleanups into conceptual sculptures that raise awareness about environmental damage and consumer impact. Her work gives a voice to the ocean and calls for urgent change.

Thank you so much for joining me, Michelle. I'm excited to finally talk to you. We've just been communicating via Instagram. Yes. Very well, thank you. I just came back from vacation and back to freezing cold Cape Town. Oh, and and it. Yeah, it's relatively. I actually have the fire going in my studio. Stay warm.

Wow. And. Yeah. Yeah. Back to cleaning beaches and, making us, amazing. Your. What's, with winter?

Oh, I'm just going to stay with winter now. We have a lot of plastic washing up. Oh, really? So lots of. In the winter, there's more plastic washing up than in the summer.

Yes. Oh, how definitely with the with the, storms and sea surges and, the different currents. A lot of, microplastics and usual suspects like lights and bed sticks.

Yeah. Just coming up and drains. Really? Yeah. That's fascinating. And it never occurred to me that the pollution fines might be seasonal. Very interesting. Yeah. Yeah. You do? I do find some out of winter, but, not as much as now. Now is definitely the worst time of the year. Yeah. It's so interesting to be speaking to you.

You're in South Africa. I'm in New York and we're dying of heat here. It's so cold and it's so strange. It's just, you know, it's amazing our planet and how large it is. And it's just so fascinating to be talking to someone on the other end of the world and and completely different conditions. Yeah, I couldn't imagine this.

And it's a different time. I mean, it must be morning with you now. Yeah. It's, 11:00 am, 11:00 in the morning here. And it's what time for you. It's 5 p.m.. Oh, yeah. Cooking dinner and getting cozy. Right. Well, luckily, not too late, though, for you know, it's all good. It's okay. Wonderful. So, I wanted to ask you, were you an artist as a kid?

I've always been a creative. I've always sort of dabbled in painting. Embroidery. Anything, really. Anything that I could get my hands on or. I was inspired by. And, by trade, a graphic designer. And it was only at the end of 2020 that I started working with plastic. Oh, wow. So it's really quite recent for you,

Yeah. And before that, you were a graphic designer strictly. Or were you making other kind of sub art? Well, I was I had a little brand that I had created where I designed kids t shirts with different types of bunnies at that. They could buy a set with paints and a paintbrush and painted yourself little t shirts.

Oh how cute. And so I would so would do things like that. I was mostly inspired by my children, who were both also very creative and sort of whatever they were wanting to do. I would create with them and come up with ideas. Also had the little brand that I was making, like sensory toys, like cuddly toys with different fabrics and like a little wooden ring.

And, I was selling those, and at one point I was making little kids embroidered booties. So various things, anything that I could feel so that my kids needed, I kind of got into and made it the business on the sideline. Right. Oh that's wonderful. Yeah, but I've been doing graphic design for about 20 years. And what all of a sudden brought you to working with plastics.

Like how did that happen. Well it's a, it's a bit of a long story, but I'll tell you, when I was a kid, I grew up in a small town called Plettenberg Bay. And I used to find these. What I called back then, Mermaid's Tears. So there were these tiny little pellets, and I had no idea what they were.

And then about 16 years ago, I was walking with my kids on the beach here in Comiskey in Cape Town, and I spotted these Little mermaid's tears. Having the advantage of Google, I started investigating to what these things were, and I discovered that they, the raw form of plastic before they get manufactured into items. So they are plastic.

Nurdles and they get carried on their, on this, you know, on the ocean in large shipping containers. Anyway, then I found out about the plastic gyres and the plastic islands, and then my whole world opened up to plastic in the ocean. And I started then seeing how much plastic was actually washing up on our beaches. So I started collecting plastic and it was just becoming more and more.

And I just thought, like, I've got to tell people about this. So I was kind of posting pictures on social media, trying to get people's attention, to this plastic. It wasn't really getting anywhere. And then during the pandemic, our events industry was shut down here in Cape Town, and I wasn't really doing any graphic design work.

So I started playing around with art. I had also come across a few artists on Instagram who inspired me to do something with this plastic that was now growing by the mountain mountain full in my home, in my garden. And yeah, it was just incredible. The reaction I got from family and friends when they saw my art.

I was just like this. This is brilliant that, you know, that, I can actually give the ocean a voice through my art. So I would create something with, altered plastics and, you know, make it look pretty, use colors in a certain way that would draw people in. And once they came, kids, they would start recognizing, you know, items that that they use in their day to day lives.

And then I got invited to exhibit some work. So my first piece. Oh, wow. And I just thought this is, this is brilliant. And I just I haven't stopped and it's just opened so many interesting conversations and I've just been making art and, you know, hoping that the conversation will continue in people's homes. And yeah, it's just been an incredible journey and actually something that I think it's been a decent journey for me.

Yeah. Just to raise awareness and like change people's mindsets on especially using single use plastic. And you know, how we, as consumers impacting the ocean, right. And then I'd also we'd find the baby turtle. Turtle hatchling. Oh, on the beach one day and they've washed up and got stranded. And we took it to the Two Oceans Aquarium where it was going to get rehabilitated.

00:09:52:26 - 00:10:18:24

Unknown

It was getting to know about that rehabilitation that was also discovering through them how much, plastic the turtles were ingesting. And then I really I was like, okay, this is that. I've seen it with my own eyes. Plastic is impacting marine life. It's not just about us, you know, as consumer is. And and, you know, what are we doing with the trash?

00:10:18:27 - 00:10:48:07

Unknown

It's actually really impacting the sea. And that. Yeah, it it just it just becomes this huge conversation. You know, like the production of plastic and the burning of fossil fuels and how that's impacting the climate change. And the oceans are warming, coral bleaching. So it's just like it's such a big message that I want to give to creating the art that I do.

Yeah, absolutely. No, it needs to be, I am heartened to discover a new trash artist almost every day on Instagram. Just there's so many of us now who are talking about the problems of plastic pollution and creating the art from the plastic that we find or collect. It's just our numbers are growing. It's true. It's so true that.

And it's everywhere. Yeah. Yeah. It's you can't get away from it. In the world now you can't. Yeah. And the the strangest thing to me is that we're all collecting the same things. Yeah. It's like the earbuds and the letters and the bottle caps and the nurdles and, like, it's a real problem. Yeah. No, it is. And I, you know, I live not too far from the beach, but I don't I'm not a beach person.

So I walk in the woods and I'm finding that plastic in the woods. But, you know, I talked to so many artists who do live, live near a beach, and everyone is finding the same thing, whether they're in Cape Town or in Bermuda or in Massachusetts. If they're on the beach, finding all the same things that everybody else has found, you know, is half a world away.

They're finding the same thing. So it's it's, it's disheartening. But at the same time, I find it empowering. Yeah. To be able to talk through art. Right? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I definitely think there's so much of a message through art that it's, It is. It's a powerful, powerful. Yeah. So actually, I was I was going to ask you this question at the towards the end of our conversation, but here we are smack in the middle of it.

And we kind of started with the heavy subject first, which is totally cool. What do you think is an artist's role when it comes to dealing with plastic pollution? Like what? What are the most important things an artist can do?

Well, I think a lot of people, sort of tunnel visioned at the moment. And where they see, for instance, a turtle with a plastic straw stuck in its nostril, or there's a seahorse with its tail linked around an earbud. And I think people are shutting down to the reality or they're feeling really overwhelmed. So I think through art, we need to gently educate and and, you know, really help people see and not be overwhelmed by the

Catastrophe, catastrophe and, make it a hopeful thing and make it make art something that gives you hope. And also, yeah, it's just like a message that can just keep inspiring people to change and in one way or another. Yeah, you know that. You know, if we all just do a little bit, you know, together we'll we'll, you know, like a butterfly effect creates an impact together.

Absolutely. Yeah. That's just it. Yeah. That's one of the let's just see, you know, see what it is. You know, when you throw something into the bin it's not going away. No. You know. Yeah. There there is no way. Because it's going to be in somebody's beach or backyard eventually. Unfortunately. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I, I sometimes, you know, get really down, and upset about when I, you know, do a lot of reading and, doomscrolling on Instagram or whatever and, and seeing all these photos of devastation and all the plastic issues.

And it's, it's just so heartbreaking. But I always come back to the fact that if I do a little something and I inspire somebody else to do a little something, all those little somethings do add up and they make a difference. I do, yes, exactly. Yeah. I mean, I know like I'll walk into like a pharmacy, for instance.

And I look around and I just see everything's plastic. Yeah. And I'm just like, oh, you know, how is this going to change? But they are other things that I can change, you know, certain items in my kitchen or things that I've eliminated, you know, for birthdays and celebrations, balloons and glitter and, and things that are not necessary.

You know, plastic has its place in some industries. But, like, single use is such a big stuff. You know, if people can just really be mindful about something that's only one year and you chuck it away, like find an alternative that challenge yourself to find something different. And that would be such a big stuff. And then also in this industry leaders, to also like take responsibility.

Yeah. Well I think the for what the yeah the big corporations really need to take responsibility. And that's the difficult part is getting them to take a responsible I guess that's when, we really need to rely on legislature and government to laws that would make to hold those big corporations accountable. Absolutely. Like the other day, I was thinking like this ban.

Yeah, that sticks. I'll show you my packets. I'll just quickly put it in front of the screen. I mean, this is just like my earbuds like to ride the Q-tips. Yes. Oh, wow. Blue. White. Yeah, yeah. We only have black. Oh, really? Yeah. We've got. I'm starting to see pink and green and yellow and purple. That's. So the interesting thing about that is you actually have the option of buying the ones that are completely made out of paper and cotton.

We have that option here in the studio. Yeah. They have the they can be wooden or there's a paper inside so you don't have to buy the ones with the plastic stick in it. That that's a choice somebody can make in the end. Purchasing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. So it's just small steps like that, you know?

Really. And people, flushing the Q-tips down the toilet. Yeah. I don't understand that. And I'm just like, what is your thinking? It's getting pumped straight into the sea. And like, every beach walk, I will come home with a handful. Wow. Every time. That's that. That's. And lollipop sticks. Yes. Lollipop sticks too. Yeah, I find those as well.

Yeah. Well, thank goodness that at least we can get to use it as a free art material right? Yeah, yeah, it's a new discovered art medium, but. So it's colorful. Yeah. Go ahead. What? I just said it's a colorful. I've got, like, a whole palette, and that's it. Man. I can see your palette behind you. You're so good at separating it all by color.

00:19:20:28 - 00:19:50:25

Unknown

Mine. Mine gets separated by color when I'm working on a project, but then it becomes a mess again. Yeah, I it does start like that. So depending on what I'm making I have like a box that's just a jumbled mess and stuck working out which colors I want to use. And then I put them into jars. Yeah. So yeah, I think you called, your work sculpture.

Do you? But yes. Contained in a rectangle or a square though. Right on some kind of a space. Right. So I've been through this journey trying to pinpoint exactly what I'm doing.

And, a friend of mine actually said, let me show you, because I'm using mostly unaltered plastics and I'm actually building my art, that it's essentially a form of, of sculpture. The fact that a lot of the time it's, it has a 3D aspect to it, but so I, I would say some, I would say they're like sculptural compositions.

Right. Yeah. Yeah. So like I guess I tend to potentially. Yeah I think yeah. The thing heard for them is assemblage I guess. Yes. It could be called that as well. No, it's you achieve some really, really beautiful compositions and the color gradations, and you do not add any color to the plastic. You find. I don't. Yeah, it's exactly the way I find it on the beach.

And like I said, I, I try not to alter the plastic. When I create my coral reefs, I'll chop up the lollipop sticks and the bad sticks just because that's the best way that I can use them in my work. Otherwise, I'd like people to see a plastic just as I found it right now. Do you clean it in some way before putting into into your sculptures?

00:21:43:27 - 00:22:18:15

Unknown

Oh, definitely. Definitely. I have a whole process, so I've got a couple big, sieves outside. I bring the beach, I soak it in bicarb and vinegar and hot, soapy water. So, so good for a couple days. I will then sieve it and rinse it, and then I leave it outside in the elements for another few days, and then I'll lay it out, dry it out, and then before I actually make out with it, I clean it again.

Oh wow. And yeah. So I'll scrub it and clean it and make sure it hasn't got any sort of, eggs or Yeah. Any marine debris. Yeah. Because I do, I do frame my pieces. Frame them behind glass, so. Oh, okay. I want them that need to be clean. Yeah, yeah. No, you don't want it to start growing something back there.

Oh, no. Definitely not. Yeah. Yeah. No, that's go ahead. But I was just going to say you're like trying to determine, you know, what I could call my art. And leaning it towards being more fine art, I've really had to, you know, separate it from being a craft. So yeah, I think assemblage or composition sculptural compositions is putting it more into a fine art, category.

Yeah. A great. Yeah, yeah. That's interesting. Getting back to the cleaning of the stuff, I went through a period of soaking my finds and soapy water and then taking them out and drying them off. And then I wonder, I worry about whether I am spending too much precious water cleaning these things. Yeah. I gotta go back and forth.

I don't want to put it dirty into my artwork, but at the same time, I'm trying to minimize the amount of water that I use to clean it, because that feels wasteful, too. Yeah. Yeah. So I often, use my pool water. I'll just skip buckets back buckets of water out of my pool. And or if it's been raining quite heavily, then I'll use rainwater.

Yeah. Or. Yeah, we'll just collect some water in buckets outside my studio. Yeah, yeah, but that's also something that's top of mind. Yeah. Going to be wasteful or. Yeah. Add to the pollution, right. With any toxic, thick toxic stuff. Right. I guess you could always put the water into your garden unless it's got too much soap in it I suppose.

Yeah. I don't know. It's a, it's a, it's an issue to be dealing with. Yeah. Yeah, yeah I think it was good that we're mindful about it. Yes. Yes, absolutely. How do you attach your plastics to the substrate. What is the substrate actually. Is it paper. It's kind of hard. It's I, I use Fabiano I don't know if you know the brand.

Fabiano it's an art board. Oh okay. Water. Yes. It's essentially for watercolors. But I quite like the texture. So it holds the glue really well. And then I use glue okay. And it like a glue. Excuse me. It's, it's like a gel, but stick. Gel, could show you. Wait.

An all purpose clear gel adhesive. Yeah. That's not a brand I’m familiar with. But. Interesting. Okay, so I like it because it dries quick enough, but not fast enough. So if I need to just move something slightly, you can. Can. Yeah. Yeah. What's that? Ripping the paper off or something. Oh that's great. Yeah. So okay. And then so that's just it, that's very simple that you're just using glue and a board.

Yeah. But that's really. And then you, when you frame it, you put, I guess you have to make sure that there's space between the glass and the surface. Or do you put the plastic right against the glass? So, my frame has a variety of, box frames. So depending on what sort of, piece I want to make, like, if I'm using toys or if I'm building quite a large, coral reef, I will work to a certain heights that I know will fit into the frame.

And then the frames are custom. Custom made for me. And then, I invest in art class, which is a non-reflective glass. Just so people can see the detail better. Yeah, yeah. So it's not open to the elements at all once it's all framed. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. No they're just, they're stunningly gorgeous. Do you ever work with any other materials these days.

No. Mainly just plastic I like I'm swimming in it. I've got boxes and trays and I've got everything hiding in various nooks and crannies in my studio. Yeah, I kind of dabbled in it, but it's, embroidery. I was, oh, cut up Q-tips into beads, and I stitched them onto fabric. And so that's something I was playing around with, but, it's very, very time consuming.

Yes. Not that the work that I do isn't, but, I thought, let me not let me just stick to what I know and what I enjoy. Yeah. And your compositions are mostly abstract from what I have seen. Right. Yeah. So because I'm working with, unaltered plastic. So I'll come up with a concept and sort of, colors and I'd like to use, and I will then, because it's almost like building a puzzle, like I'm letting my, piece grow organically.

So I have to kind of find the right piece to fit in this specific place. Sometimes that will also, be wanted a piece of plastic color changes, and I just let it organically grow. And I don't always know what the outcome will be. Yeah, I think I did, and I start with the concept. Yeah. You said you were an intuitive artist.

Which I kind of think that I am as well, so I understand that. But when you say you come up with a concept, how detailed is your concept or how okay, is it so yeah, a lot of my pieces I want to. Bring up like a topic, for instance, like a conversation point. Like if I do a, a, coral reef, that's all white plastic.

My concept there is, the fossil fuel industry and the burning of plastics is impacting the coral reefs and causing coral reef bleaching. So there's, like, a conversation, you know, Quint, what's that concept behind it? Or, I think trying to think of all the pieces I've made, but I'm going blank now for it to. Well, I did, I did a piece, made up with lollipop wrappers and a foil balloon, for balloon that a friend of mine fished out of the ocean before it got swept out to sea.

And that piece was also to visually show, you know, celebrations with sweets and and balloons, impacting and ending up in the ocean. So that's kind of, you know, where my, my concepts lean towards. But, and then you just kind of play with color and decide which which way you want to go. Yes. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah. I've been discovering those, foil balloons myself. I find them in the woods, and sometimes I find them pretty fresh in the woods. And other times you can tell that they've been around for a long time, because all that foil begins to fall away, and it's just the plastic left behind. Yes. Yeah, yeah, but it's amazing how.

I mean, that's just people discarding their trash into the forests and the woods. I think they're just not taking responsibility. I mean, that's not I think it's I think they have a choice, right? Like. Yeah, if, you know, I don't my kids are grown. But even when they were little, I think it was only once or twice we had balloons, you know, with, I'm blanking out on the name, but, you know, they they float the floaty balloons, not, you know, what's that?

The helium. Helium. Thank you. Helium balloons. Yeah, but you got to make sure that it doesn't fly away, because that's exactly how it winds up in the forest. It flies away. It's release. It's, you know, everything that goes up, comes down and it's. No, no, the balloon releases are just awful. Oh, yes. Oh, gosh. I know it's heartbreaking.

It's suck. Go. Why? Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. I mean, I get yeah, I get it. Not that I'm educated about how to what's happening. Yeah. And yeah that they, Yeah. Polluting polluting the earth right before it was like, oh, wow. It's so pretty. Yeah. But as as the lanterns that they set off in some countries for celebrations and.

Yeah, until I actually knew what it was doing to the environment. Yeah, yeah, it was oblivious. Yeah. No. Because it is pretty and you get swept up in how pretty it looks. But yeah, you got to think of the consequences. I think at least if it's lanterns, I think there may mostly made out of paper. So at least the, the paper bio degrades I hope.

Yeah I think it's I've, they have a little wire frame and I believe the wireframes what can end up in the sea or in, in the woods and. Oh, okay. Yeah. Impact animals. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I've, one of my finds I kind of started finding these last winter is plastic bottles. You know, plastic water bottles, and they're all chewed up.

Oh my gosh. Yeah. And I wow them all the time. They're chewed up at the head or at the bottom, or they're completely torn apart. So clearly they, my theory. And this is just a theory. I'm not a scientist. Is that they they are floating around so long that some kind of a small box bacteria starts growing on them.

And perhaps the animals that are out there are attracted to it, and they start chewing it, thinking that it's food like, I don't know what else it could be. Not a bad theory, but really unscientific. And then you kind of look at it and it's like, well, it looks basically clean. I don't see I mean, some I find that are like they're sort of brown and green, but a lot of them are fairly clean.

So I don't understand what makes them attractive to be chewed up like that. And they say uses toys like dog toys with owners throw them back. Okay. I suppose that's possible. But man, that's that's not good for the dog. No, no. Definitely not. I'll show you some in my chew. That plastic.

You know, I mean, this has been found on the beach. Oh, yeah. That's totally chewed up. Yeah. So that's definitely fish or turtles or something. Eating. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's shocking. It is. It is shocking because you think it's one thing for a bird to pick up a little piece, or it's one thing for, you know, a turtle to swallow a piece of plastic that's floating around that looks like a, jellyfish or something like that.

But it's quite another to take a bigger piece and actually to add it, to break off small pieces to eat. Yeah. That's that's really it's sad. So sad. Well, yeah. And there is something else I also wanted to bring up, and that is like the fishing industry away, that I just find it so perplexing that t

And you know, these that I don't know if you've seen those glow sticks that they hang on the edges of the of the nets to live fish in. And those large trawling nets and bleeps and like, pick up so many things that's related to the fishing industry and I just think it's perplexing because it's like that's a livelihood.

And what they're actually doing is also polluting the same place where they are fishing from. Yeah. And like, like industry that like individual industries need to start educating and working on. Yeah. Working on educating and the people that work for them and absolutely manufacturer. Yeah. No, I think about that all the time. I was actually talking to a friend recently about it because, you know, the trash, I find out my walks are sometimes it's a gum wrapper or a bottle cap.

I understand some of the trash. You know, this little piece of land that I walk in is between two major highways. So I understand some trash just flies in. But other trash, I find it's clearly been dropped because sometimes I find, you know, just a fresh, empty water bottle that somebody just dropped. There are garbage. Yeah, at the end of the trail, but I find.

Yeah. And I, you know, people go out drinking in the woods and I'll pick up these things. And I always think about, you know, most people do not throw trash all over their beds at home and then go to sleep at night. So why are you doing this? Yeah, I feel like it should be common sense. Yes. I think people say to me, no, it should be education.

And I'm like, but how educated do you need to be to see beautiful, clean forest versus your trash lying all over the forest floor? It's not the same. No. Or is it the mindset that, oh well, somebody else will come pick it up? Like, what is it. Yeah, I think it's a lack of stewardship. I think we all kind of not not we all obviously, but I think there's a lot of people who who don't take ownership of the, natural space around them because I think if they did believe that this was something for them, they wouldn't drop their trash.

There. Yeah, if I'm afraid I'm saying that very clearly. But I think when you think that something belongs to you, it's part of that. You're part of a community. And this, let's say park or beach belongs to the community and you're a part of that community. Then you would have you would want to keep it clean because it's like your home.

Yeah. Like you would like with your hand. Yes, yes. Exactly. Yeah. It's a different mindset. Completely. Okay. I don't know how to help foster that mindset. Yeah. I'm also stumped. I mean, we have that in a lot of the disadvantaged areas where constantly getting cleaned up by council because it's just the streets are just filled with rubbish.

Yeah, just packed with it. And some people say no, it's because they didn't have the right. You know, disposal rubbish collector system and which I agree with. But, it's still like each in your own make a decision, not a one that lives in a community that looks like this. Yes. You know, thinking how they should think like, you know, on your doorstep.

There's so. No, it's true that outside some communities and like the town where my studio is, there's some streets that are fairly clean. And then you'll turn a block and this one street would be just strewn with trash, and they're all like family homes on the street. They're not like, it's not a city. It's not a big city.

It's there's not tons of apartment buildings. And industry. They're all family homes on these streets. And I'm like, why do you want to live where you step outside your home and there's trash everywhere? I just, I don't yeah, I don't understand. No, I don't know. I, I want to be respectful and I don't want to accuse anyone of anything, but I just I don't understand that mindset.

Yeah, yeah, I'm on the same boat, and I agree, I also don't want to be disrespectful, but I just want people to live in beautiful environments. Yeah. Because also it brings happiness when you are surrounded by that dulls the vibration. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I, you know, if I walk my dog on my street and I see some trash, I'll pick it up even if it's not in front of my house.

But I'll definitely pick up if there's trash in front of my house, whether it's mine or not. Yeah. So, yeah, I just I wonder if there some way. That. People can be talked to that makes it could make them understand. Could make them want to clean up in front of their own home. I don't know, I don't have an answer for that.

Yeah. Yeah, we need that.

I think that's a big jump on its own. Yeah, it's a big jump on its own. Yeah, yeah, definitely the kind of. Oh, boy. All right. So I know that you have a gallery, right? You have a, gallery. Is that a gallery in your town that's showing your work? I wasn't sure where that gallery was.

Yeah, there's a small gallery in a town called Kalk Bay. Ka l k and Bay. And the gallery's name is Ink Box Art Gallery. So they exhibit majority of my work. And, and then there's this, town called Franschhoek, which is in the Winelands. They also exhibit some of my work. And now recently, I've been invited to, exhibits and relevant art.

00:44:15:09 - 00:44:50:13

Unknown

They focus on art that's relevant to, I guess, artists who want to, you know, create a message through, through their work. And, yeah, I'm in three galleries now, which is wonderful. Yeah. So can I ask a question? A lot of times galleries have, you know, a certain type of art in their, in them, let's say paintings or drawings.

So how do you convince a gallery that has paintings or drawings to take on your sculptures and assemblages that are made from plastic, trash? Gosh. I have been fortunate to be approached, actually. Oh, by the galleries. So I haven't had to try and convince anybody. So yeah, I do feel really lucky. But all these three galleries, I have a bit of quirkiness to them, and they really do enjoy a different kind of art.

And, that is something that just stands out. So they're not necessarily seriously the galleries who would do your normal sort of landscapes and botanicals or, they like classic art. That's a bit out there. Yeah, yeah. No, I think that's key. And I think there are more and more galleries like that in general. It's. Yeah. So they're not.

Yeah. As ubiquitous as the, you know, a more traditional, shall we say, galleries. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. True. Wonderful. So do you have any exhibits coming up? In the next few months. So this podcast will probably be out in about 3 to 4 weeks. So sometime in August. So any galleries where somebody can any specific shows that you want to tell us about where someone who can see the your work,

busy working with the two of the artists who I actually spoke to today.

There's a sort of a festival fair that happens in October in Stellenbosch. It is called Woord Fees, like Woord Feestival. Oh, okay. In English. WoordFees And yeah. So, looking at potentially doing something with them, which will be sort of an interactive installation and I'll have some of my work on display. Fabulous. Otherwise I have nothing really planned.

But at the end of the year, at the beginning of December in Kommetjie we've got about 30 different artists, that consist of like ceramicists and printers and painters and, illustrators who all open up their home studios. Oh, wonderful. To the public. It's called Open Studios Kommetjie And that will run out of, three days and beginning of December.

And, so I will be working on a body of work for that over the next couple of months. Oh, wonderful. Is your studio in your home? Yes. Yeah it is, yes. Yeah. We've done a few renovations during the pandemic and nobody was really sitting in the lounge. Sounds like, I think I'll take that as my studio because I was working off the dining room table and, you know, like, every evening I had to clear the table and know, have dinner together and the next morning bring everything back.

So it's nice to have a dedicated space. No. Absolutely. Yeah. Work. Yeah. Yeah. I used to have my studio in my home, too. And it was too, it's, First it was a little garage space next to my kids playroom, and then eventually they stopped playing in there. So I moved into the playroom and took over the entire basement.

That's like, could. Yeah, it's nuts as a creative to have that space that just have everything around you and what you need on at hand. Exactly. Yeah. Yes. Yeah, I, I kind of sometimes I miss that space. That was a lot of that was big space. But now I have an outside studio which has its other benefits.

You know, there's artists working in this building and I get to have interactions with other creatives during the day, not every day, but a lot of the day. So that's always a really nice. Yeah. That's wonderful. Yeah. I'd love to see your work too sometime. Like have a good look. I'll be very busy. Come on over. Yeah, I'd love to.

New York is on my list. Well, if you ever make it on my list. Yeah, definitely. Please. Let's connect. If you're here. I will definitely. My sister lives in Canada, and we still working on a trip. I've been thinking we would have to go by new New York if we do. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I well, I have never been to South Africa, or Africa in general.

So that would be an exciting trip. Oh, Maybe someday. Yeah, definitely. So for audible, for anybody out of out of, South Africa. Say you should you should put it on your list of beautiful. All right. I will, I will, yeah. Someday. Well, thank you so much for taking the time to have this chat with me.

I really enjoy. It's been really wonderful. Thank you. Thank you so much for the opportunity. Absolutely, absolutely. Our work needs to be seen, so I figure I'll do my part in getting it out t

Have a lovely. Have a lovely day. Thank you. Okay. Okay. Bye. Bye

That was a lovely conversation. I really enjoyed speaking to Michelle. It was wonderful to get to know her and boy. We covered some heavy subjects. But I think important subjects to talk about.

I hope you enjoyed our conversation.

Please take the time to review it, to like it, to share. Any and all comments, likes and reviews are highly, highly appreciated. And please share this podcast with anyone that you might think would enjoy listening to it. I think we are covering some interesting topics. And artists who may not be repurposed media artists would also enjoy these conversations.

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This podcast was created, produced and edited by me, Natalya Khorover. Theme music by RC Guida. To find out more about me, go to art by natalya.com ,to find out about my community. Go to Repurposer collective.com and to learn with me. Check out all my offerings at EcoLoop Dot Art. Thank you for listening