Painting What the Ocean Can’t Say: Sandy Treasures on Plastic Pollution, Trashy Mermaids & Art That Changes Minds

Painting What the Ocean Can’t Say: Sandy Treasures on Plastic Pollution, Trashy Mermaids & Art That Changes Minds

From Junk to Jewels Podcast with Georgette Beck by dreamtoachieve

April 13, 2026 · 46 min · Episode 56

About this episode

Georgette Beck interviews artist Sandy Treasures about the impact of art on environmental awareness and the story behind her transformative work.

What if a painting could make a stranger stop, listen — and cry? In this episode of the Junk to Jewels Podcast, Georgette Beck sits down with Sandy Treasures — artist, author, environmental advocate, and Treasure Coast local — for a conversation about art that doesn’t just decorate walls. It tells the truth. Born in Chicago and raised in Colombia, Sandy spent decades exploring her artistic gifts — from automotive airbrushing and oil portraits to murals, body art, tattoos, and handmade crafts. After nearly 17 years in the tattoo industry, she found herself at a crossroads, throwing spaghetti at the wall and searching for what would stick. Then came the painting that changed everything: the last living mermaid in the Dead Sea — crafting necklaces from plastic straws, wearing bottle cap earrings, sporting a six-pack holder on her wrist, and stringing fish skeletons onto a floating bottle just to pretend that life was still alive around her. People walked right past it. So Sandy started telling the story out loud. And they stopped. And they cried. And a little girl said: “You should write a book.” That book — Trashy Mermaid in the Plastic Pollution Legacy — is now available on…

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