Journey to the Sea: An SOS from our Oceans

Faculty-Student Collaborative Installation at the Peoria PlayHouse Children’s Museum

This semester-long collaboration with students from the Art and The Environment course included extensive research into ocean acidification, coral reef bleaching events, plastic pollution, and the species affected by these symptoms of the climate crisis. Working closely with the staff of the PlayHouse, we developed an installation that included multiple rooms and outdoor space. Working together with the public, Peoria PlayHouse families, Peoria Recycle Center, and the Bradley University Panhellenic Society, we sourced plastic recyclable materials with which we built the majority of the installation including a 3000+ soda bottle waveform that hung from the ceiling in the underwater installation room. We also created large-scale sculptures of a sea turtle, albatross, octopus, and jellyfish. Students re-designed the sandbox feature in the PlayHouse space into a dying coral reef by printing a large-scale drawing on Photo-Tex fabric which was then applied to the outside of the sandbox. Students also designed 3D printed toys for the visitors to play with that resembled the good (fish) and bad (soda cans, plastic bags) items one might find on a coral reef. This exhibition was funded in part by grants we received from the Community Foundation and Illinois American Water. The Peoria PlayHouse estimates that 25,000 visitors interacted with the installation between May-Aug 2018.