Monthly Statement:
January 2006

January brought a lot of rain to the Bay Area, and with the rain lots of interesting things get washed into the bay, including gum. Every year it’s the same but still shocking to see the shoreline after a heavy rain, it looks like a bomb went off, debris scattered everywhere. But being January and rainy and little light it was hard to get out to collect. I accumulated a total of twelve pieces during the month.

Process: I've been collecting detritus from the San Francisco bay for four years, and have noticed that it sorts itself into two categories: top floaters and bottom floaters. Gum is a bottom floater meaning it can only be found at low tide on shorelines with a very wide inter-tidal region. I carefully plan my collection visits according to the tide schedule, in locations I've previously identified to be rich in bottom floaters. Back at the studio I wash the collected items and place them in bags for later use.