Women Mind the Water Podcast

Lisa Kozel Mangione is a mixed media artist who is the definition of artivist. Lisa raises money for charitable causes by either donating her work to the organizations directly or selling her work and donating the proceeds. Lisa is using her art in service of the Perryman Peninsula Project, a rural community in Harford County, Maryland. The land known as Mitchell Farm is under consideration for de...

Blue deGersigny is a plastic artist and designer. Blue lives in South Africa, a country quite literally at the southern tip of the African Continent. It is a country with nearly 3000 km or 1800 miles of coastline, bordering the Indian, South Atlantic and Antarctic oceans. From the beaches near her home, Blue collects colorful plastic and transforms it into eye-catching wearable art. Her intention...

Manaarak of Grey is a visual artist and storyteller who lives in the Netherlands. Maanarak grew up on the Caribbean Island of Bonaire. She believes the ocean and water are a vital part of life for humans and the ecosystem. Maanarak likes to use her platform to talk about current issues and offer solutions from the perspective of someone who has studied international development management. On the...

Margaret Wertheim is an Australian-born science writer and artist who with her twin sister founded the Institute for Figuring. The Los-Angeles-based nonprofit explores the interrelationship of art, science, mathematics, and women’s handiwork. The Crochet Coral Reef is one of their projects and what we will focus our discussion on today. Margaret Wertheim holds degrees in mathematics and physics. B...

Art is an extension of her soul. It’s a way to express her passion and embodies her commitment to preserving our planet. Her hope is that her artwork conveys a sense of swimming in the sea and leads to a connection to the powerful forces within the sea and within each of us. On the Women Mind the Water Artivist Series podcast we explore her sea shell series, images of marine animals she paints ins...

Violet Sage Walker is the chairwoman of the Northern Chumash Tribal Council. Among her many passions and activities, she is an accomplished horsewoman, SCUBA diver, as well as steward of Chumash natural resources, culture and history. Violet carries on the legacy of her late father Chief Fred Collins who had a vision to protect a section of California coastline. He worked to have 156 miles designa...

Lisa’s work demonstrates a woman deeply connected to water. She creates functional art that improves both the environment and people’s lives. Lisa is cofounder of the Scottish-based company Biomatrix Water. Their work involves the creation of floating islands or habitats that restore water quality, ecological habitat, and human connection to nature. Biomatrix Water does this with an interdisciplin...

Colleen describes herself as a socio-ecological artist. Her work is both functional and artistic. Colleen works at the intersection of art, science, technology, and the environment. Colleen has created metalwork in many forms including jewelry and puppets for motion pictures such as the stop-motion animation Coraline, a 2009 film directed by Henry Selick.. Colleen designed and built a sculptural f...

Kim Bernard is a full-time artist based in Maine who creates installations using upcycled trash. She works with communities to share the joy of making things using recycled materials. Kim has over 30 years of experience as a professional artist. She creates works with a range of materials from debris that washes ashore, bicycle inner tubes, plastic bags, even bowling balls. Kim has built a mobile...

Martina Wing is a manta ray and marine life advocate, educator, author, and underwater photographer. She fell in love with the ocean in 1998 after scuba diving with manta rays for the first time. Martina now devotes her life to educating and inspiring others to honor, protect, and support our oceans. She co-owns Manta Ray Advocates on the Big Island of Hawaii, and with her husband James co-founded...

Jayshree imagined that a book from the perspective of a drop of water could transport children on their own journey and along the way they might learn how precious a resource water is. The overarching message from the book is to go out in nature and explore and remember that where there is water there is life. If you are connected with water, you are connected with our whole world.

Marie Maltais, Director of the Art Centre at the University of New Brunswick, uses art to spark conversation about plastic pollution, water and climate change. Through projects like H2O: Liquid Measure, Cascade: Our Plastic, Our Planet, Our Choice and the interactive app H2O – An Ocean of Science, Marie helps audiences see environmental issues in a more personal, visual and participatory way.

Nina’s activism began alongside her environmental activist parents and grew into a global call for accountability. Through speeches, letters, social media and youth webinars, she challenges countries to take responsibility for plastic waste and helps young activists turn observation into action.

Kirsten Carlson’s work is shaped by her love of water, animals and the natural world. From studying marine science in California to diving beneath Antarctic sea ice, she uses underwater drawing to capture the beauty and wonder of nature in a deeply present and intimate way.

Maria Westerbos, founder of the Plastic Soup Foundation, turned her concern about plastic pollution into a global mission. In this episode, she discusses the Netherlands’ relationship with water, the health and environmental risks of plastic pollution, and the hidden problem of microfibers from clothing entering waterways.

Suzanne uses found beach trash from Fiji’s shoreline to create art that reveals the scale of marine rubbish. Through Benu_ni_waitui, she transforms plastic pegs, bottle tops, lighters and other discarded items into visual reminders that small choices can influence others and help reduce plastic pollution.

Noemi Knight’s children’s book Popoto began with a forgotten family photograph from 1986, showing her in a paddleboat surrounded by dolphins in New Zealand. After learning that the Maui dolphin is critically endangered, Noemi turned that discovery into a children’s book designed to raise awareness before it is too late.

Mariah Reading’s Recycled Landscapes project turns discarded objects found in national parks into painted landscapes that reflect the places where they were collected. Rooted in a zero-waste philosophy, her work invites viewers to think about conservation, ecoanxiety and the small everyday choices that help protect the land.

Inspired by the beauty of the ocean, Romina Bayer created OceanSnaps, an online platform to teach the fundamentals of underwater photography. She wants to help aspiring underwater photographers hone their skills and, through their photos, expose others to the beauty and fragility of the ocean. Hear her story on Women Mind the Water Artivist Series podcast.

A multifaceted, talented storyteller and naturalist interpreter talks about many things including her experience living underwater for nine days and some of the amazing things she experienced there. For Cathy Sakasthe experience as “the closest I’ve ever come to being a fish.” Listen to her podcast on Women Mind the Water Artivist Series podcast.

A basket maker who works with kelp talks about how she collects and uses kelp in British Columbia. Cheryl Massey has observed the decline in kelp over the last decade. She believes the decline is the result of climate change and the overall destruction of nature. Cheryl discusses several baskets and a wedding shawl she’s made. Hear her story on the Women Mind the Water Artivist Series podcast.

Comic artist and deep water fisheries specialist from Indonesia explores effective ways to communicate marine science using comic art. Elle Wisibono is the creator of Fishtory, a comic that speaks to fishery science and conservation. Hear Elle's story on the Women Mind the Water Artivist Series podcast.

A multidimensional ocean activist who works in the areas of advocacy, research and community building talks about the varied projects she's worked on. Paulita Bennett-Martin has worked on several oral history projects and through this work knows the value of storytelling. Hear Paulita Bennett-Martin's story on the Women Mind the Water Artivist Series podcast.

Ivy Frignoca, Casco Baykeeper for the Maine nonprofit Friends of Casco Bay, is a full-time advocate for Casco Bay. She is the eyes, ears, and voice for Casco Bay, a body of water in Maine. She discusses volunteers who use their smartphones to provide photographic documentation of pollution, sea level rise, algal growth, and erosion. Listen Women Mind the Water Artivist Series podcast.

Janavi is a mixed media artist who uses watercolors to illustrate her passion for the ocean and her creatures. Hear what she has to say on our Women Mind the Water Artivist Podcast podcast.