WICKED MONSTROUS DIALOGUES: Part lV
Thursday, April 19 Timebuddy
United States: 10am HDT, Noon PDT, 1 MDT, 2pm CST, 3pm EDT
Europe: 19:00 GMT, 20:00 CET, Australia: Friday, March 20, 6:00am AEDT
Elizabeth McAlpin
Felipe-Andres Piedra and Sayaka Ganz
Kim Bernard
This spring we are exploring through a series of dialogues, works that our members are making today that engage plastics as a material for reuse, research, and aesthetic inquiry. Artists invited are included in the upcoming ecoartspace book titled Wicked Monstrous, that will launch fall 2026.
For this fourth Dialogues, we will hear from Elizabeth McAlpin, who will share her ongoing Plastic Fossils series, including Pawn Game, which is a large-scale interactive chess set inviting reflection on single-use plastics consumption, and Felipe-Andres and Sayaka Ganz, who will present Plastihenge, a proposed contemporary monument that will function as a scientific research site for discovering microbes with a 'taste' for plastic. And Kim Bernard, who will share her mobile educational upcycling unit that she uses to create plastic sculptural installations in schools, art centers, neighborhood communities, and public settings, known as the PopUpCycler.
Each presenter will have approximately 15 minutes to discuss their work, then Q&A with audience participation following.
Member presenters:
Elizabeth McAlpin is an eco-artist whose work explores the intersection of environmental awareness, material culture, and public engagement. Her work reimagines disposable materials as enduring artifacts, reframing waste as both cultural evidence and a call to action. Her single-use plastic chess set, titled Pawns Game, has been exhibited for public participation at annual NYC Earth Day events in Morning Side Park (2024), El Museo del Barrio (2025), and this year at Museum of the City of New York (April 22nd, 2026). Expanding this practice into participatory public art, McAlpin created the Eco Art Treasure Hunt, an interactive project that blends sculpture, poetry, and environmental storytelling. Inspired by the idea of hidden treasure, she conceals ceramic “plastic fossils” in natural and urban landscapes, accompanied by poetic clues shared with the public. Participants who discover the works are invited not only to keep them, but also to engage with their deeper message: a collective responsibility to reduce plastic waste and protect local ecosystems. Her work is rooted in eco-art and social practice, often combining tactile craft, narrative, and community interaction to foster environmental consciousness. By transforming discarded cultural symbols into meaningful artistic experiences, Elizabeth encourages audiences to reconsider what we leave behind—and what we choose to preserve. eternalnarrative.com
Dr. Felipe-Andrés Piedra is an Assistant Professor at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. He is an eco-microbiologist focused on developing microbial biotechnology for the conversion of plastic waste, including micro- and nanoplastics, into life-giving biomass. Sayaka Ganz was born in Yokohama, Japan. Her formative years were spent across Japan, Brazil, and Hong Kong. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Indiana University Bloomington and a Master of Fine Arts in 3D Studies from Bowling Green State University. Ganz has mastered the art of finding beauty in the overlooked. Her distinctive sculptures transform discarded metal and plastic objects into dynamic animal forms and natural elements that pulse with vitality. She describes her approach as "3D impressionism"—creating the illusion of solid forms using plastic objects as brush strokes that reveal their true nature only upon close inspection. Her acclaimed traveling exhibition "Sayaka Ganz – Reclaimed Creations" has been featured in 21 venues throughout the United States since 2017, with additional showings scheduled through 2027. https://sayakaganz.com
Kim Bernard creates sculpture that is recycled, interactive, publicand involves the community. She creates installations upcycled out of trash and is currently focusing on transforming plastic waste into sculpture using her portable recycling machines. She shows her work nationally and has been invited to participate in many exhibits, some of which include the Portland Museum of Art, Farnsworth Art Museum, Fuller Craft Museum, Harvard University, Art Complex Museum and UNH Museum of Art. Her work has been reviewed in the Boston Globe, Art News and Art New England. Bernard is the recipient of the Artist Advancement Grant, Kindling Fund Grant, NEFA grant, 7 Maine Arts Commission Grants as well as funding from the Ellis-Beauregard Foundation. She was an artist-in-residence in the Physics Department at Harvard University and at the University of New England. She received her BFA from Parsons in 1987 and an MFA from Mass Art in 2010. www.kimbernard.com/popupcycler
This event is free for members + one guest. $5 for non-members. All participants MUST REGISTER.
