UMass Dartmouth 'monster' sculpture, made of 32,000+ nip bottles, has a message

Matthew Ferreira, The Standard-Times
Updated ·5 min read

DARTMOUTH — There's a certain irony to the "performative sculpture" being worked on at UMass Dartmouth's main campus, to be featured during this month's AHA! Night in downtown New Bedford. As much pride and effort as the project's many artists and volunteers are putting into making the 60-foot long "monster" look its best, everyone involved would agree it's a piece of art that shouldn't exist.

Incorporating 32,885 plastic alcohol "nip" bottles found littered throughout local beaches, parks and other sites, the piece, titled "Sculpture Monster: Creature from the Plasticine Era," will make its debut as part of the "Earth Eve" parade during the "Sustainable South Coast" themed AHA! Night scheduled for April 11.

"It's going to be about 60-feet long and take about 30 students to carry it," said Rebecca McGee Tuck, the artist brought on board by UMass Dartmouth to lead this project, given her specialty in making art out of waste to deliver environmental messages. Tuck said the piece — which she describes as depicting a long "sea serpent-like creature" made up of individual sections — will stand as a campus-wide UMass Dartmouth collaboration, with involvement from multiple departments.

"Think of something kind of in the vein of the dragons you see during Chinese New Year celebrations," Tuck said. "It won't look anything like that, but just to give you an idea of how it'll work...."

UMass Dartmouth students Mason Cabral and Mathieu Dundas help string together over 32,000 discarded nip bottles into a piece titled "Sculpture Monster: Creature from the Plasticine Era." The project is being led by UMD sustainability artist in residence Rebecca McGee Tuck. The "performative sculpture" will be marched by UMD students in the upcoming AHA! Night Earth Eve Procession in downtown New Bedford.

Beyond being a message about the amount of plastic waste found in communities and the environment, Tuck says the piece is also meant to garner support for Bill S.2104: An Act To Expand The Bottle Bill, which would expand what types of beverage containers are included in the state's recycling deposit system, and increase the deposit from five to 10 cents per container. Currently, state law calls for deposits only for carbonated beverages like soda or beer.

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Tuck estimates the entire sculpture will weigh just under 700 pounds when complete.

Where did the nips come from?

The 32,885 nips were supplied by New Bedford-based grassroots group Be the Solution to Pollution, led by Mary Lou Nicholson. Nicholson says "a couple years ago" the group began storing the nip bottles volunteers would collect during cleanups of various local sites like the beaches of New Bedford, Fairhaven and Dartmouth. She said her group was graciously offered space at UMass Dartmouth's main campus to store the ever-growing collection, which came to include drop-offs from other environmental groups around the area.

Then, realizing how many nips had accumulated, Nicholson said it was decided the time had come to do something with them, and Tuck began brainstorming with UMD students and staff this past summer.

While Nicholson says she didn't make any specific requests of Tuck or anyone at UMD around design for the piece of art the nips would become, she knew she wanted it to be "ugly."

"I didn't want it to be some beautiful piece," Nicholson said via phone from the State House in Boston, where she'd been advocating for the bottle bill legislation on Tuesday. "This single-use plastic garbage is ugly and I want the message out there that we've gone way over the tipping point on this."

UMass Dartmouth student Mason Cabral strings together over thirty two thousand nip bottles into a dragon sculpture by sustainability artist in residence Rebecca McGee Tuck. "Sculpture Monster: Creature from the Plasticine Era," which features over 32,000 discarded nip bottle, will be marched by students in the upcoming AHA! Earth Eve Procession in downtown New Bedford.

The real monster remains

While the sight of almost 33,000 nip bottles may be rightfully perceived as monstrous, Nicholson says it should be considered that this represents but a minute fraction of what remains out in local neighborhoods, parks, shorelines and waters.

"I have a volunteer who got a couple thousand just from Brooklawn Park, where there's signs that say 'no alcohol,'" Nicholson said.

DNA of the monster

Nicholson said she and other volunteers cataloged the 32,885 nip bottles that make up "Sculpture Monster: Creature from the Plasticine Era," finding the top three brands are:

1. Smirnoff (10,000)

2. Fireball (8,500)

3. Dr. McGillicuddy's (3,750)

Artist residency

After spending time around Greater New Bedford since work on the UMD project began in August, Tuck, a Natick resident, says she's taken a liking to the SouthCoast and has accepted an offer to be the artist-in-residence for the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park this summer.

"I've been loving the area," she said. "Most of my work is done with debris I collect along the ocean so I'm interested in areas with coastline.

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"For my residency, I'll be doing a lot of work with weaving marine debris — ropes, traps and lines that wash ashore, ghost netting and things like that."

SouthCoast communities take stand against single-use plastic

Single-use plastic waste has been a hot issue in SouthCoast communities in recent years. Here are some of the local actions that have been taken.

New Bedford: City Licensing Board voted to ban nip sales in 2023. The ban would have taken effect on Nov. 1, 2023 but has been pushed back to Aug. 1, 2024. In January 2020, a city ordinance was signed banning single-use plastic shopping bags.

Fairhaven: Town Meeting voters in May 2023 voted for a bylaw change banning nip bottles from being sold in town. Changes also included a ban on "thin film" plastic shopping bags, Styrofoam food containers, and restrictions on items like plastic straws and stirrers.

UMass Dartmouth students, Katie Erwin, Kayleigh Williams, and Maddie Gonzales, work on covering the framework of the head of the dragon with pill bottles and discarded nips. "Sculpture Monster: Creature from the Plasticine Era," which features over 32,000 discarded nip bottles, will be marched by students in the upcoming AHA! Earth Eve Procession in downtown New Bedford.

Dartmouth: Dartmouth Town Meeting voted to ban businesses from distributing single-use plastic shopping bags back in 2018. The rule took effect in 2019.

Where to see the nip monster

The "Earth Eve Parade," featuring "Sculpture Monster: Creature from the Plasticine Era," starts at 5 p.m., Thursday, April 11, on Market Street next to the New Bedford Public Library. The procession will go along William Street, Acushnet Avenue, Union Street, and Pleasant Street.

The sculpture is set to make a second appearance on Saturday, April 20, at the "Light + Fashion 2024" event, 6:30 to 9 p.m., presented by the UMass Dartmouth College of Visual and Performing Arts.

Want to help clean up?

To find out about upcoming local cleanup events with Be the Solution to Pollution, visit and follow www.facebook.com/pollutionsolution, or www.instagram.com/marylou4oceans.

This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: UMD 'monster' sculpture composed of over 32,000 nip bottles