Cal State Long Beach senior and sculptural ceramic artist Brittany Waters finds nature to be a key tool for her artwork. Growing up in northern California, where she was surrounded by trees, she now finds herself in Long Beach where she finds inspirations in the beach, the ocean and its inhabitants.
“My art is always really influenced by the nature around me,” Waters said. “I used to live in Sacramento and I would go on a lot of nature hikes in forested areas, and then I moved to a beach town and now I’m inspired by sea creatures.”
Waters’ current art exhibit is called “More Than a Sandbox,” where she has set up a beach scene of over 100 baby sea turtles, handcrafted from clay, making the perilous journey from their nest into their new home the ocean. Waters talks about what inspired her to create this scene and how Californians can witness this miracle on local beaches.
“There actually are green sea turtles in Long Beach,” Waters said. “They are in the mouth of the San Gabriel river and there is a bunch of adolescent and adult sea turtles. They estimate there is about 40-50 of them — but no babies, just adolescent adults. The reason is the power plants on each side of the river expel warm water, and it creates a safe inlet with no natural predators.”
Waters made “More Than a Sandbox” not just because of her love for sea turtles, but as a statement on how a community can clean up their beaches and treat them more humanely rather than as a big play ground. By doing that, communities in the Long Beach area could see baby sea turtles making their journey to the ocean.
“I kind of wanted to remind Long Beach, which is a beach town, that the beaches can be more,” Waters said.
Waters credits her current attachment to sea turtles to a childhood snorkeling trip in Hawai’i.
“This one does have a lot of personal ties to childhood memories of sea turtles,” Waters said. “The first time I was in the ocean was in Hawai’i, my first time being on the beach was in Hawai’i, the sea turtle was the first wild animal I had ever seen.”
Part of Waters’ installation is a wall covered in photos chronicling the process of making the clay turtles, each of which took roughly 40 minutes to complete. Here, her aim is to guide viewers into the larger exhibit step by step.
Waters’ exhibit can be seen in the Dutzi gallery from April 2 – 6, noon to 5 p.m., and noon to 8 p.m. Wednesday.