National Aquarium

Commissioned by the National Aquarium for Artscape, A Ripple Effect is a low-relief map of the Chesapeake Bay fabricated entirely from single-use plastic drinking straws.

I used more than 125,000 straws, hot-glued to a plexiglass and wood frame and lit with programmable LED lights.

The whole relief in black and white, the Chesapeake Bay and its rivers branching across the straw surface

Detail of the straw surface, the cut ends forming the ridges and channels of the bay

A couple silhouetted face to face against the blue light of the piece

Close view of clustered straw ends stepping across the surface in low relief

Soft raking light across the straw relief, the shoreline reading as a pale ridge

Straw ends fanning out from a tight circular burst, the tubes packed close as honeycomb

Layered bands of cut straw ends stepping across the surface in low relief

The straws seen side on, their cut ends catching the light along the lower edge

Looking down across the relief, the straw clusters massing like cloud

A man in a white cap reaching out to touch the piece, lit deep blue in the dark

A small girl with beaded braids pressing both hands against the glowing blue surface

The lit surface filling the frame, blue and white light breaking across the straw relief

The prototype panel lit from behind, thousands of straw ends glowing green through to blue, LED strips and wiring on the bench beside it The prototype we built before the full piece.

Straw ends massed across the surface, the cut tubes fanning out from a darker channel

The panel propped in the studio window, the straw surface glowing against the trees outside

The straw ends in warm light, ridges and hollows stepping across the relief

The straw surface in cool grey light, the channels reading dark against the pale tubes

Building the piece.