What Are You Working On Now? Ailene Pasco

What are you working on now? is a Couch in the Desert series where we ask artists what they are making and thinking about in and outside the studio.

Ailene Pasco

Plastic is everywhere. At a young age, I believed that the plastic waste issue had become out of control. In my country, we had a dump site coined the Smokey Mountain due to over 2 million metric tons of waste so toxic it was constantly burning and smoking. By the time I was born, there were 30,000 squatters living within the dump scavenging for a living. Families with children made homes amidst the mountains of trash. Majority of it were plastic waste. Plastic waste from overseas manufactured food. Smokey Mountain didn’t close as a dump site until 1995, three years after my family migrated to California. It wasn’t until 2000 that the Philippines established a waste management system. They passed the Republic Act No. 9003 which is known as the “Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000.”

In America, recycling happened as early as 1905. But it wasn’t until the 1960s when people started recycling for environmental concerns. The system helps, but I feel like we need to do more. There is still so much plastic waste in our neighborhoods, in the city, and especially in our bodies of water. Locally, Boulder Beach is littered with plastic waste. The slime can be seen where the water touches the beach. Yet, I see so many people wading in the water. The parks have plastic bags caught in the trees instead of kites. Our street gutters are clogged with plastic food packaging and drink cups from casinos and bars. Every time we throw an outdoor event, some attendees disrespectfully trash our environment.

With the Plastic Earth Project, I wanted to find an alternate way to decrease plastic waste. The project consisted of workshops, community engagements, and amazing events with a final installation. The project was a success. It fueled my passion for my cause. I started researching different ways to use plastic waste more efficiently than just recycling them.

Ailene Pasco. Plarn Pottery. Lulu. July 2023.

Currently, I am collecting plastic soda bottles to make eco bricks. These eco bricks can be used to build lightweight furniture like stools, tables, and shelves. They can be used to build larger structures such as garden sheds and even homes. My first build was a stool made of seven 2-liter soda bottles stuffed with one 30-gallon garbage bag filled with plastic scraps. I arranged them in a hexagon-shape, made a cardboard frame around the whole thing, and crocheted a giant doily to lay on top of it. I am currently sitting on it now as I type these words.

The stool is my prototype. It came out very sturdy and useful to have around. I now have collected different sizes of plastic soda bottles. They have been handwashed and air dried. Their next step will be to get stuffed with plastic scraps. Once all the eco bricks are made, I will be assembling them to create different types of furniture. My next project is a nightstand.

Ailene Pasco. Plastic bottles drying and waiting to be stuffed with plastic scraps. October 2023.

I don’t have any specific plans for this furniture yet. I’m hoping to maybe do another exhibit to showcase them and hopefully get the community inspired to make their own. There may be eco brick workshops in the near future.

Besides the eco bricks, I also do smaller upcycling projects. I use cardboard packaging, paper ads, aluminum cans and fabric scraps as mediums. I create artwork with found objects. Some of the pieces I make can be purchased through my social media account, but majority of my pieces are personal and stay in my private collection.

Ailene Pasco. Mini Aluminum Altars. Upcycled aluminum cans and found objects. October 2023.

Ailene Pasco was born in Cavite, Philippines and raised in California. Finally settling in Las Vegas in 2005, Ailene started a family in 2010 and a business in 2017 (Ozzy Olly and Ox). She is a mother of three boys whom she has homeschooled since 2014. Ailene holds a bachelor’s degree in Sculpture with a minor in Art History. She is a public art coordinator / educator for the Clark County Public Art office and volunteers at UNLV as a Sculpture Monitor. Ailene is an advocate for public art and uses her pieces to raise awareness of environmental issues.

See more of Ailene’s work on her website, as well as on Instagram and Facebook.

Images courtesy of the artist.

Posted and published by Ellie Rush on November 22, 2023