Dodd Holsapple, an American artist who will replace California’s Santa Monica with Bukovica for a month, will arrive at the residence at OPG Pueblo Escondido in Lončari on Friday, September 8th.
As an artist whose artistic solution Sea Glass Again was selected as the best in the international competition “On Accepting The Undesirable”, Holsapple will participate in a series of activities in the coming weeks as part of the projectIt’s not too late.
The glass waste that was collected in several eco-actions in the canyon area of the River Bijela will be used by Holsapple to create a drywall with a mosaic of eels in the shape of a ring that will form a space for sitting, socializing out or talking.
“Creatively developing the concept of the project, I considered how to best use the collected glass waste in a public art installation. The difficult question is how recycled glass scraps can be effectively used in art while maintaining the spirit of environmental protection and public art. I focused on a design that would avoid creating a wasteful process that is wasteful or requires additional significant resources,” said Holsapple for the portal Morske livade.
Dodd Holsapple is an artist who creates unique contemporary visual artworks in a wide range of media. As he says, he has previously worked with glass in his sculptural work.
“At the beginning of my professional artistic career, I wrapped living plants and organic materials in glass panels to create wall-mounted living sculptural works. However, this is the first time I will be creating public artworks with collected shards of glass,” says Holsapple, emphasizing that ecology, environmental awareness and climate-related issues are the backbone of the works he creates.
The topics that occupy him professionally concern water resources, air and endangered species. His work was recognized at the level of the USA and thus he was chosen for the next 5th National Climate Assessment in the USA.
“The fifth annual US climate assessment is scheduled for late fall 2023. As I understand it, this is the first year that artists have been asked to submit artwork related to environmental themes and environmental awareness. The considerations that support this idea are the inclusion of original creative visual artworks in the climate awareness discussion to further emphasize the importance of the message. Approximately 90 artists will be featured in the climate debate. Let’s hope that the message will resonate strongly”, said the future resident of Lončar.
Dodd’s stay will be accompanied by a series of public events, about which we will inform readers in time.
About the project:
Ecological project IT IS NOT TOO LATE in its focus has seagrass beds and their importance for the overall ecosystem, at first glance and undesirable elements in our environment. For this reason, the knowledge transfer of those who know the role of seagrass beds for the ecosystem and the quality of life of fish is important to us in order to change people’s awareness and perception of this natural phenomenon. Namely, the knowledge that 1% of seagrass in the sea produce 12% of the oxygen we get from the sea, can connect residents, associations and all interested participants with the goal of preserving the ecosystem. The project deals with changing the perception of seagrass beds, its valorization and protection. In addition, the focus of the project was the removal of a significant part of pollution from the area of the River Bijela basin, during which 1.5 tons of glass waste was already collected. The glass will serve as a resource for the creation of an artistic intervention, which will be placed in a public space and thus permanently point to the problem of environmental pollution.
The creation of an art installation is part of the project „#itIsNotTooLate – Seagrass beds: Zostera marina, Zostera noltei and Cymodocea nodosa, their significance for fish life and the overall ecosystem of the three seas area“.
The project was approved through the Three Seas FLAG competition under Measure 2.1. Support for the evaluation, protection and promotion of the natural resource base – rivers, seas and coasts” in order to implement activities removal of waste/pollution located in the watershed, mapping the state of seagrass surfaces and making people aware of their footprint on natural resources with the aim of valorizing and protecting seagrass as a source of marine life and with the aim of raising the quality of life of the fish stock.
The project is co-financed by the European Union from the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund. The total funds allocated to the project amount to € 25,084.61.
