“The Ocean Friends collection is an extension of my alter ego. My mixed media watercolor marries fun with a serious cause—ocean and plastic pollution. Each marine animal is named using alliteration as my guide, and I want my creature’s names to be fun and playful, like Octavia the Octopus, Shelley the Shrimp, Fina and Fineas the Sharks, Juneau the Jellyfish, and Telly and Tango the Sea Turtles.
I created the first marine animal, the purple-haired Octavia, the Octopus, in February 2020, during my cancer recovery. The previous April, I was diagnosed with life-threatening liposarcoma. When my hair began to grow back, I needed some fun in my life, so I dyed my hair purple. About the same time, I was gifted a set of watercolor pencils, a medium which I wasn’t familiar with—I had always been a charcoal and pastel artist, inspired by the Kentucky woods and wildlife surrounding me.
In this watercolor series, I pair traditional materials, paint and brush on paper, with common everyday elements—single-use plastic, sewing threads representing a ghost net, or a Jellyfish tentacle, a plastic straw, and colored acrylic beads representing microplastics. Sometimes the message is subliminal—other times, unmistakable. My goal is to encourage people to think about their choices and actions, that those choices affect marine life and the oceans. My hope is that these whimsical creations and stories involve and inspire children and adults.
For the last ten years, my message has been to help people learn about the benefits of buying and eating responsibly sourced seafood regardless of where they live. Now, my art complements and expands on that message.”
Maureen C. Berry (@maureencberry) is the author of Salmon From Market To Plate cookbook, host of the podcast Green Fish Blue Oceans, and a national speaker on the benefits of eating responsibly-sourced wild and farmed seafood. She creates one-of-a-kind, nature-inspired, mixed media watercolor, and wearable art. Reach out to Maureen for more information to commission a piece of art, buy her book, or have her speak at your next educational event. http://maureencberry.com, http://emcberry.RedBubble.com.
This piece was prepared online by Panuruji Kenta, Publisher, SEVENSEAS Media