GREEN BAY (NBC26) — The 'Washed Ashore' exhibit came to the Green Bay Botanical Gardens earlier this month, but before that it had already been in some of the most famous museums and aquariums in the country.
The exhibit features sea animal sculptures made entirely out of debris found in bodies of water. It has been featured at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, SeaWorld Parks in Orlando and the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, just to name a few.
The exhibit all started with , an artist and life long nature-lover from Portland, Oregon.
"I was very fortunate to be raised by two professional artists and also people who love nature a lot so that was always a part of my upbringing and my love of life," Pozzi said.
Aside from being an artist, Pozzi is also an educator at heart. She pursued her Bachelor’s degree in education at the University of Utah and a Masters Degree at Portland State University with an emphasis in Arts Education. In her 30 year career as an educator, she has taught several grade levels from elementary to college.
Then in 2002, Angela's life changed when her husband of 25 years Craig Pozzi passed away after having a stroke.
"I was really bereaved and I didn't know what to do and I always loved the ocean so I decided to move to the ocean and try to figure out what to do with my life," Pozzi said.
In 2010, she founded the non-profit Washed Ashore with the goal of using art to raise awareness about the plastic pollution that harms oceans and lakes. She says for her and other volunteers, the artwork is therapeutic.
"We have volunteer workshops where people come in and work on small parts of the sculptures that then are given to the artists and then put on to the bigger work," Pozzi said. "That is a really healing place for people where we can all come around together and work on something with a common purpose."
More than 14,000 volunteers have worked with Washed Ashore since it was founded. They've processed more than 30 tons of debris to create more than 85 animal sculptures that make up the Washed Ashore exhibit. The Green Bay Botanical Garden currently houses eight of them.
You can visit the Washed Ashore exhibit at the Green Bay Botanical Garden until September 26. You can also visit WashedAshoreDesign on Etsy where you can purchase accessories made from marine debris.
