Take Two, upcycled plastic, 24”x200”x8”, 2024
A collaborative reitteration of The Shape of Things to Come with students at Milton Academy in Milton, MA.
Interdependence
upcycled plastic, 32”x50”x2”, 2024
Dendrite
upcycled plastic, 38”x38”x2”, 2024
I Will Not Use Plastic
upcycled plastic, 34x32x4, 2023
In addition to the irony at play of using plastic to make 'I will not use plastic', this piece is inspired by John Baldessari work titled "I will not make any more boring art"
Washington County Community College, Maine Arts Commission, Percent for Art Project, upcycled plastic, 72x300x4, 2023
As part of a this commission, I created a wall of upcycled plastic words in English, Spanish and Passamaquoddy that reflect the college community, along with some meandering lines that represent the nearby Saint Croix river.
Treehugger
upcycled plastic, height 72”, circumference 165” Highfield Hall & Gardens, Falmouth, MA, 2022
100 multi-colored, upcycled #2 plastic milk, water and juice jugs in cursive words all pertaining to sustainability, snuggly wrapped around an old beech tree using stainless steel wire
Making Waves
upcycled plastic, 120”x300”x10”, Colby College, Waterville, ME, 2021
In the summer of 2021, I engaged participants from the Waterville community in a trash to art workshop, upcycling plastic into a sculptural installation. Participants met weekly to clean, cut and shred #2 plastic milk jugs, water jugs and other plastic containers using her portable recycling machines to shred the plastic. We then added pigment to the shredded plastic and used an extruder to make waves. The group estimates that it took at least two milk jugs to create one wave line. We chose to represent flowing ocean waves as a reminder that our discarded plastic often ends up as ocean trash. The reality is that plastic does not decompose, but instead breaks down into micro plastics, taking approximately 450 years to break down.
The Shape of Things to Come
upcycled plastic, 36”x144”x6”, Cove Street Arts, Portland, ME, 2020
After a plastic collection campaign, I shredded and extruded plastic, transforming it into a colorful and malleable material which use to create sculptural installations. My goal is to engage, create, educate and inspire by turning trash into art. The Shape of Things to Come was the first such project.
Bring Your Own Bag
144”x30”x 8”, Rockland Public Library, Rockland, ME, 2018
Composed of 300 colorful, reusable, nylon shopping bags, this sculptural installation celebrates the city passing a ban on single-use plastic bags in an effort to reduce plastic waste. The installation will be on view until the ban passed when all 300 bags were given away for free to the public. This project was made possible with a grant from the Maine Arts Commission.
Amphibious Tiny House
10’x8’x24’, University of New England, Biddeford, ME, 2017
In the fall of 2016, I presented a challenge to a group of students at the University of New England, where I was the artist in residence, to design a tiny house that would not only float, but could be trailered or parked anywhere. A collaborative team of students met weekly. We brainstormed ideas and made contributions based on interest, skills and abilities. This multidisciplinary project required input from about as wide a range of departments as one could imagine: Marine Science, Ocean Studies, Aquaculture and Aquarium Science, Environmental Sciences, Business & Entrepreneurship, Math, Physics, Boat Building, Creative Writing, Communications, Education and of course, Art & Design.
Collectively, we conceived of an Amphibious Tiny House with a footprint of 8' x 16' that is totally off the grid, complete with solar panels, battery storage, a composting toilet, rain collection and filtration system, a sun shower, aquaponics and a see through bottom panel. Considering the limited volume, every square inch would be utilized efficiently, be multi-functional, be well designed and aesthetically pleasing. Other guiding and limiting factors to consider have been building codes, harbor restrictions, vehicle size restrictions, DMV requirements (like lights and blinkers), the availability, sustainability and cost of our building materials. In 2017, we built the Amphibious Tiny House and donated it to the College of the Atlantic.
This project has been made possible with support from the Ellis-Beauregard Foundation, the Maine Arts Commission and the University of New England.
COWS: Clean Ocean Wave Sculpture
ocean debris, stainless steel wire, 2016
One of my big projects as the artist in residence at UNE was to create a clean ocean waves sculpture. The idea came about when I learned of an International Coastal Cleanup Day and a Marine Pollution class picking up ocean debris at local beaches. Instead of disposing of the trash properly, they gave it to me for a sculptural installation. The goal of the project was to engage the UNE community and raise awareness about just how much ocean debris washes up on our shores and how vitally important it is for us to keep our ocean clean. The Clean Ocean Wave Sculpture is now on permanent display at the Marine Science Center.
Wave Phenomena
wax, dye, steel, disc diameters range between 18” and 60”, commission for the University of New England, 2016
The Wave Phenomena installations were inspired by images of sound vibrations in the book Cymatics by Hans Jenny. Jenny, a Swiss scientist, meticulously recorded sound vibrations at various frequencies made visible through the use of powders, pastes and liquids. With a particular interest in the natural phenomena of the movement of sound made visible, I have attempted to capture this vibrational matrix of sound patterns in motion as an installation of floating discs that one can view from above and below.
Hydrogen Atomic Orbitals
ceramic, paint, nails, wood, sizes range between 24” and 72” in height, 2015
An arrangement of thousands of 1” diameter black and red ceramic balls, clustered in patterns, hanging from the gallery walls. Typically known for her kinetic sculpture, informed by the basic laws of motion, Bernard finds inspiration for this installation in the beauty of mathematical functions. Having chanced upon patterns made by hydrogen atoms while conducting a Google search on Quantum Mechanics, Bernard offers the viewer a simple and tangible way of visualizing submicroscopic behavior of electrons in matter. Imagine cross sections of hydrogen atoms, protons and electrons orbiting around, magnified a bazillion times, following an orderly natural system as familiar to us as the Fibonacci Sequence or Golden Mean.