When Port Townsend artist Karen Hackenberg takes a walk on the beach, she sees a dark yet humorous irony.

The first message was an empty red-orange bottle of Tide detergent found during a low, red tide.

Lots of washed-up water bottles, regardless of the brand, have a wave design on them, she has noted. From one bottle label branded “Laughing Whale,” she learned that proceeds from the sales of that water go to the Whale Museum on San Juan Island. The irony there lies in the fact that studies show only 10 percent to 16 percent of all plastic water bottles get recycled. Where do the rest go? Most often into the landfills, of course. However, those fated for flotsam or jetsam can be ingested by whales and other forms of sea life, putting them at risk for death.

“I see reflections in our culture in what washes up,” says Hackenberg who has found gun shells, Beanie Babies, a silicone “falsie,” cigarette lighters, tampons, beer cans, tires, hats, dishware, rope, tarp, candy wrappers, chip bags, toys, tennis balls, fireworks tips, flotation foam, shoes, foil balloons, scissors, a toy hand grenade and “tons” of plastic bags while on her walks near her Adelma Beach home.

“You name it, it’s endless,” she says. “I could spend my whole day out there picking up junk.”

Sometimes Hackenberg swims in Discovery Bay, too. Afterward, she’ll lie on a towel to dry off, and it is then she gets a microscopic view of plastic’s ubiquitousness.

“As you’re looking in the fine sand, you’ll see little particles of it.”

‘Water Shed’

This beach litter first began to manifest itself in Hackenberg’s work as a series of gouache paintings.

Two of the first paintings she completed – “Red Tide” and “Olympic Organic” – were juried into the Port Angeles Fine Arts Center 2009 exhibit “Envision Cascadia,” a show that later traveled to the Washington State Department of Ecology in Lacey. Since then she has added to the series, and eight more images will be shown at the center’s summer show, “Safe Harbor,” opening on July 11.

The irony is loud and clear in each of them. She names the red Beanie Baby image “Sea Monster.” The toy hand grenade is called “Shell Shock.” The detergent bottle is titled “Red Tide.” And a to-go coffee cup called “Heat Rush” brings global warming to mind.

In each, the trash figures ominously in the forefront while a sparkling sea and landscape spreads out behind it like a beautiful hostage.

At the same time, Hackenberg’s work also took a three-dimensional tack, and she began to create colorful sea urchin sculptures using beach-found fireworks tips and flotation foam.

Then the word “watershed” began to tug at her, and soon she was inspired to make an installation using those plentiful water bottles. For that, she applied for a Centrum artist residency in order to take advantage of a larger studio space.

“Water Shed” is a small structure using a salvaged, burned-out greenhouse as its frame and water bottles strung together with recycled copper wire as its siding and roof. All of the bottles, hundreds of them, were easily salvaged from the beach, businesses, individuals and the Jefferson County Recycling Center.

“It’s recycled material that’s been shed from our culture,” Hackenberg says. “There’s something about the monomaniacal quality of it.”

When finished, “Water Shed” will be part of the annual Art Outside exhibit in Webster’s Woods at the Port Angeles Fine Arts Center, which opens on Saturday, June 19.

“Karen’s always been a realist,” says Jake Seniuk, the center’s director. “She’s always worked in the landscape and with animals and with themes that have a respect for nature. She’s been moving more to having direct political content in her work, where before it was more psychological and personal. These are sort of satirical, overt statements on consumption.”

Runaway train

Even though Hackenberg finds herself becoming more and more aware of plastic’s effect on nature, she doesn’t want to be heavy-handed with her message. For that reason, she’s always looking for the whimsical aspect of the situation and likes using puns to describe her process.

Society’s use of plastic is a “runaway train,” and that can be depressing if one gives it too much thought, she says, but “I don’t want to be sunk by it.”

While she and her husband, artist Michael Felber, try to be conscious of their plastic consumption, she acknowledges that she’s no saint.

“You’re sort of trapped by it. We’re all in the same boat,” she observes and then laughs at the pun.

For this body of work, Hackenberg has been keeping a little notebook in which she writes down new inspiration, insights and other things that might relate to future pieces. Recently, she heard a public radio report that said Dow Chemical’s stock price is a reliable indicator for the health of the economy. As the economy recovers, consumers tend to purchase more preprocessed, packaged stuff. A surge in plastic wrap is also a sign that companies are restocking their warehouses since new pallets are covered with rolls of it, reported the broadcast.

“I want the economy to do better,” she says, but the cost to the environment is worrisome to her.

Naturally, the Gulf of Mexico oil spill weighs on her mind as she works. The fact that some plastic is made from petroleum made her think about filling the bottles of “Water Shed” with oil, but she has since decided that, if she does fill the bottles, it will be with water.

Hackenberg criticizes media coverage of the spill for focusing too much on the economic impact it is having on people’s livelihoods when she wonders, what about the animals? Like many, it rankles her that BP lacked a backup emergency plan, and the environment is suffering from this enormous evidence of greed and incompetence.

But Hackenberg had started this project long before BP became a worldwide villain.

“One of the things I’ve realized is that throughout my art career I’ve always had a sensitivity to environmental degradation.”

Hackenberg considers this current stream a part of a long continuum. During the 1980s, she worked as a designer for the nationally known clothier Esprit de Corp. in San Francisco.

“I worked on the Ecollection line of clothing made from sustainable materials: organic cotton, Tencel, natural wool, wooden and tagua nut buttons, etc. I designed prints, embroideries and designs for painted wooden buttons for Lynda Grose, who was designing for them at the time. I also worked with Sally Fox at that time, who was/is a leader in the organic cotton growers movement. The owner of Esprit, Doug Tompkins, brought in heavy-hitting environmentalists to speak with us all at the corporate office on Earth Day and for other events. David Brower, founder of the Sierra Club, and Dave Forman of Earth First! were featured speakers. That time at Esprit was formative and supported my environmental leanings.

“This all being said, my work is not only or entirely about environmentalism. A lot of what it is about is a passion for nature.”