Michelle Lougee
Fetish Jug All, 2021
Post consumer plastic 15 x 15 x 10 inches
American folk art Memory Jugs commemorate the dead with keepsakes from their lives. My Fetish Jugs instead question the forgettable fragments of day to day life memorialized by single use plastic such as coffee stirrers, contact lens packaging, beverage bottle tops, candy dispensers, and so on. There must be a better legacy.
Michelle Lougee
Onesie, 2023
Post consumer plastic 15 x 12 x 3 inches
Industrial shrink wrap has a ghostly, ethereal, icelike quality that evokes associations between the precariousness of the changing climate and our collective future.
Michelle Lougee
Souvenirs, installation view, 2023
plastic and natural objects Dimensions variable
"Souvenirs" are made from post-consumer blister packaging which encapsulates natural objects to examine our relationship to nature in the face of a changing climate. These fetish-like objects, reminiscent of a Victorian collection, honor what may soon be a memory and emphasize the absurdity of our casual approach to preserving nature.
Michelle Lougee
Souvenirs-Sand Dollar, 2023
plastic and natural objects 8 x 12 x 2 Inches
"Souvenirs" are made from post-consumer blister packaging which encapsulates natural objects to examine our relationship to nature in the face of a changing climate. These fetish-like objects, reminiscent of a Victorian collection, honor what may soon be a memory and emphasize the absurdity of our casual approach to preserving nature.
Michelle Lougee
Souvenir-Crab, 2023
plastic and natural objects 8 x 6 x 2 inches
"Souvenirs" are made from post-consumer blister packaging which encapsulates natural objects to examine our relationship to nature in the face of a changing climate. These fetish-like objects, reminiscent of a Victorian collection, honor what may soon be a memory and emphasize the absurdity of our casual approach to preserving nature.
Michelle Lougee
Discoidea, detail, 2019
Crocheted plastic, post consumer plastic, wire, resin 36" x 36" x 15"
Detail showing the incorporation of collected post consumer plastic into the form.
Michelle Lougee
ONCE, installation view, 2021
Crocheted plastic, post consumer plastic, wire, resin Dimensions varied approximately 500 sq feet installed
ONCE installation of crocheted sculpture features single use plastic formed into sculptural representations of marine phytoplankton. Inspired by the similarities in the shapes of some of the discarded plastics and marine organisms, the discarded plastic became building components in these representations of magical and otherworldly marine life to create an immersive environment of wonder and warning.
Michelle Lougee
Flotsam and Fetish Jugs, 2021
Post consumer plastic 9' x 5'
Ghost nets are lost fishing nets that continue to float in the oceans wreaking havoc on marine life. Flotsam is a net handmade from single use plastic bags. The “catch” in this net is plastic refuse collected in less than two months from my personal use, plastic collection walks, and a group of eco conscious contributors.
