FLow is finally installed!

FLow is an art installation made of 2,511 hand-painted Lucine seashells, with each shell representing one gallon of raw sewage spilled into Florida waterways every hour. The impact I’m seeking with the piece is to raise awareness of the water quality issues in the state, and to also raise money for Ocean Conservancy’s Protecting Florida Project, which supports legislation that protects and improves the quality of our water.

Last November, this 2,511 seashell installation was accepted into the H2O Exhibit at the Bailey-Mathews National Shell Museum in Sanibel, Florida. Due to COVID-19, the installation plan has changed multiple times in order to keep everyone safe during install. When I applied to the show back in August, we hoped that we’d all be vaccinated by the time installation rolled around, but unfortunately that’s not the case.

Thankfully the museum approved my alternate install plan, which allowed me to attach the shells to canvases in the safety of my studio. Enter my husband Jason, my amazing install assistant, who built a custom rack for the canvases so they could all fit in our Kia Soul without any shells getting totally squished. I’m happy to report that we successfully delivered six 36” x 48” canvases to Sanibel covered in unharmed and intact seashells. The canvas panels were installed by museum staff after we left, so unfortunately I haven’t seen the completed installation yet. I’ll share images as soon as I can!

Was this my original vision for FLow? Oh SHELL no. This piece was originally created for my Creative Pinellas emerging artist grant and was designed to be hung from the ceiling in over 600 square feet of gallery space. Thanks to COVID-19, here we are eighteen months and seven versions later and the piece has moved to a new venue and is installed on 72 square feet of wall space. It’s cool, though. I’m so excited and grateful that the piece finally found it’s way into view and can now be safely experienced in person.