MOUNTAINS of plastic will greet visitors to this year’s Sculpture by the Sea exhibition in Cottesloe, with the artist hoping it will get people thinking about the amount of micro plastics in the world.
Elizabeth Marpole has spent about three hours a day over the past four months knitting strips of plastic bags into a sculpture of mountain-scapes and falls.
“Fibre Falls is made out of found plastic at my work,” she said.
Get in front of tomorrow's news for FREE
Journalism for the curious Australian across politics, business, culture and opinion.
READ NOW“I just want to touch on the environmental aspects of plastic.”
The Greenwood resident said she hoped people would walk away with respect for what they had and being more careful with how they recycled goods.
The sculpture is made from a variety of materials, including plastic, wood and LED solar lights, and Marpole said the plastic used would go back to her workplace, Ikea, to be recycled after the outdoor exhibition.
“It’s quite durable being that it’s plastic,” she said.
“The work has LED lights in it, so there’s going to be some sort of heartbeat in it.”
The sculpture will be installed on the slopes under trees north of the groyne, covering about 5m by 3m of the lawn area.
“I like the challenge and the quirky side of the sculpture,” Marpole said.
“Knitting with dowel sticks that are 1m long is like rowing a boat.
“It’s playful but it’s got that serious aspect as well.”
Marpole said her mother taught her to knit when she was eight years old, and her first attempt at a scarf evolved into a bag using all the colours in the basket of wool.
The Tafe graduate’s biggest sculpture to date was one called K2 Cloud that people could walk through and weave colours into.
Marpole has previously been part of group artworks at the 2011 Sculpture by the Sea exhibition, and Fibre Falls will be her first solo piece for the exhibition, which runs from March 6 to 23.
She said she hoped to increase the profile of craft in the art world.
“It’s not really seen as an art form but it should be,” she said.
“Knitting can be used as a sculptural thing.”
Visit sculpturebythesea.com for more information.