Judith Selby Lang and Richard Lang went on their first date at Kehoe Beach near Point Reyes nearly ten years ago. They had met by chance when Judith walked into Richard’s fine art printing business to get an estimate on a book that she was working on. Walking along the beach, they both started to pick up and collect bits and pieces of plastic out of the sand. As they continued to pluck the discarded items that littered the beach, they discovered that they not only shared a passion for the environment, but also shared a peculiar hobby—making art out of trash.

“On that beach we found each other,” says Judith. “And a lot of garbage.”

Now married, Judith and Richard are still devoted to this craft and the underlying environmental issue, and have made it their life’s work. What began as a fun way to get exercise, get fresh air and find materials for their artwork has turned into an eye-opening and life-changing experience.

“We had no idea when we embarked on this project what would unfold,” says Judith. “Not only in terms of our own creative process, but public awareness about the situation.” She notes that when they first started collecting bits of plastic, they had no idea about the accumulation and formation of a plastic “island” the size of Texas in the North Pacific Gyre, and the environmental impact on the ocean by nurdles—small pellets of plastic that find their way into the ocean as they are shipped to plastic processing plants.

Standing in front of her and her husband’s exhibit in the library of Dominican University in San Rafael, the plastic, green and orange brooch that rests against Judith’s all-black attire is hard to miss. After being asked about her unique accessory, she gestures to a corner of the exhibit where her plastic jewelry is housed, and proudly exclaims, “Just like diamonds, plastics are forever.” Judith says, “My jewelry always catches people’s eyes. It also gives me the perfect opportunity to talk about the issues and what we do.”

Judith and Richard try to get to the beach as often as they can. They still continue to collect plastics where they had their first date, and it tends to get competitive. After a morning’s worth of bending over and sifting through sand, they sit over over breakfast and compare their hauls. “Plastic lighters are big,” says Richard. “Plastic toy soldiers are great too. As are Barbie doll shoes.”

Despite the competition, they all end up in the same place—the Langs’ barn. Before the bits of plastic find new life as works of art, they are first categorized by color, shade and size, before being stuffed in boxes in the barn. The barn and the different categories are necessary because the Langs have accumulated an unimaginable amount of plastic in the decade that they’ve been doing this.

What they do with the plastic is a mix of photography, weaving, and arranging. Their creations range from “Trashmus trees,” a forest of unique plastic figures that resemble trees, to high-quality photographs of colorful plastic on equally colorful plates in an attempt to visually portray what people may potentially be consuming when eating seafood. In the exhibit at Dominican University, they’ve mixed in scientific evidence and facts about the state of the oceans to further educate the public about the issues surrounding the ocean.

While they are making a statement about the environment, the couple see themselves as artists more than anything else. “We’re not cleaning the beach, but curating it,” says Judith. “We’re artists first and foremost.”
The exhibit itself is an onslaught of colors and contrast. The plastics that they collect aren’t altered in any way, and yet the colors remain extremely potent to an almost dizzying degree. The Lang’s artful arrangements and photographs contrast their aesthetic beauty with the disgusting reality of the planet’s oceans.

Judith has a difficult time in explaining how she reconciles the beautiful art that they create and the ugly and harmful material they work with. She appeared to be near tears and was at a loss for words. However, Richard has no such difficulty. “There’s no reconciliation,” says Richard. “The world is a beautiful place in all ways, even in suffering. It’s true that the world is terrible, but it’s also beautiful.”