Cap It

 4' x 6'
In the top left corner of ‘Cap it’ I have written, ”All 93 bottle caps on this painting were collected from a patch of Hull’s bay beach no bigger than 10 sq ft”

I have been throwing out bottle caps for longer than I can remember. I find them in pockets constantly because I pick them up automatically and unconsciously. Data complied by National Geographic and many other institutions equate 8% of the estimated 5.25 TRILLION pieces of plastic in the oceans as being bottle caps.

I find bottle caps all over beaches but the largest concentrations tend to be in bay areas where debris washes in and becomes trapped in dead marsh grass and lumber. Because of the buoyancy of bottle caps, they wash up readily and all together.

While exploring the craggy coves of Squantum point in Quincy, I happened across one such debris pile strewn with an endless assortment of bottle caps. The sun shone down upon them and in a moment of inspiration, I imagined them lined up upon a painting. I collected fervently, filling my pockets to empty this time in my studio, not in the trash can. And thus began my bottle cap collecting.

The particular bottle cap on, ‘Cap It’, came from a spot deep in Hull’s bay along George Washington Boulevard and the Truro neighborhood. Cars rush by, maybe noticing me, maybe not, stooped and collecting. As I wrote on the painting, these caps came from just a small patch of wash-up. I only had to stand and reach around me, plucking the colorful caps from the top layer of marsh grass to fill my bag. As each tide rises, then falls again, more caps will be deposited. Along with caps can be found syringes, plastic bottles, tennis and golf balls, Styrofoam, among many many other things.

I have seen birds washed up, decomposing on the beach, their innards exposed to reveal stomachs full of the buoyant bottle caps that look to them like tantalizing bits of food waiting to be scooped up. Cutting down on plastic bottle consumption (over 600 billion bottles are produced annually) has the double benefit of cutting down on plastic cap pollution.

It speaks to the transformative ability of art that this plastic pollution can not only be removed from shore areas but can be created into something beautiful that will also remind us all to do our part.