Celebrate World Oceans Day with SeaWorld San Diego
For more than 60 years, SeaWorld has helped preserve the world’s oceans and protect the extraordinary animals that live in them. Year round, we work to advance marine conservation in and outside of our parks through science, education and exceptional animal care.
Did you know that with your ticket or Annual Pass, you are directly supporting vital conservation efforts? Isn’t that AMAZING? With just one visit, you are giving back while enjoying a day filled with marine animals, coasters and non-stop entertainment.
This year for World Oceans Day, our partnership with The Salvation Army, OTIS Fashion School of Design and Santa Monica College brings something extraordinary and special to the park.
Students and faculty created themed murals entirely comprised of end-of-life textiles, which were provided from The Salvation Army.
I met and spoke with Jill Zeleznik, Chair of the Fashion Department at OTIS and Allison Arjarun, proud Alum from Santa Monica College, to learn more about their process, what this project and collaboration meant to them, and how sustainability plays an important part in all matters in life, especially in fashion. In addition to speaking with Jill and Allison, students from both schools were asked to submit video interviews that provided more insight into their experiences and work.
Jill Zeleznik has been the chair of the Fashion Department at OTIS for 28 years. She is no stranger to working with end-of-life textiles as she has done on numerous other upcycling and sustainability projects with other companies. She is truly committed to emphasizing sustainability through her fashion and art.
A Chair’s Perspective: A Conversation with Jill Zeleznik
The Salvation Army presented this project to Jill, who she had previously worked with for Denim Day, where they upcycled 300 pairs of denim jeans.
After she was presented with this project, she brought the idea to two of her alumni, Zhiyou Pan and Ran Tian, first, and they shared their excitement about this collaboration. Jill was originally concerned with the timeline because May is an incredibly busy time for their team as they prepare for their annual student Fashion Show and graduation, meaning this project could be tricky for them because of timing. But after speaking with Pan and Ran, and hearing their enthusiasm, she shared the project with the other students and the fashion department. They were intrigued with the idea of this project. Despite being a part of many other upcycling projects, they had never done one like this before in which they create a mural from these materials.
The project was presented to the students on a volunteer basis, emphasizing the need for their commitment outside of their schoolwork. From a classroom of 125, only 16 students volunteered for the project, including one senior and two careers while the rest were sophomores. Two faculty members also joined in to help.
Once they had assembled the team, they got to work! Jill showcased the concept art for the mural and tasked every student to pick a sea animal from the art that they would have to recreate using textiles. She also mentioned asking The Salvation Army for LOTS of color, because that’s what the mural needed.
Volunteerism and Collaboration
Jill spoke very fondly of her students, alumni and staff, and emphasized their hard work and dedication, calling it “a labor of love”. Altogether, the team put in over 1,000 hours of work into the mural. I was fortunate enough to receive a sneak peak of their mural, and their work was unbelievable. It truly represented a labor of love with the amount of detail they displayed.
It is apparent that these students pride themselves on producing art that is also sustainable.
The Power of Art and Conservation
With their numerous projects with upcycling materials, I asked Jill in what ways does integrating sustainability into art benefit students, both creatively and professionally. Jill emphasized that the Fashion Department at OTIS is an advocate for sustainability, which is evident in her work and partnerships. She wants to enforce the idea of zero waste on her students, and she does this by bringing in fashion industry professionals to mentor them. Jill believes it demonstrates real world efforts as they work alongside them as assistant designers and learn about the company, its culture and how they integrate sustainability.
Through these mentorships, students learn that the ultimate goal for a designer is to think about their waste, to draw a big emphasis on whatever cuttings will be used. Students also learned that these methods of designing with sustainability in mind may be more labor intensive, but it teaches them about how fabric choices not only impact your design, but your community.
Working with SeaWorld San Diego was perfectly aligned with them to show these young creatives how their fashion impacts and to create awareness about waste, but most importantly to inspire change. And that is what we aim to do with every visit!
An Alumna’s Perspective: A Conversation with Allison Arjarun
In addition to speaking with Jill from OTIS, I also had the pleasure of speaking with Allison Arjarun, a proud Santa Monica Alumni, who has worked very closely with the project. She describes herself as a lifelong learner, strong and a survivor, battling cancer on and off since 2018. She also has previously worked on upcycling projects, including her recovery jacket from scrap clothing provided by Lucky Brand—a project that was incredibly meaningful to her and her journey. For this reason, she accepted this project with The Salvation Army.
Allison expressed nothing but gratitude for this project, stating that it has been so rewarding and it’s almost bittersweet as they are nearing the end of the project because they’ve become a little family, working to complete this mural.
The Power of Doing Good
For Santa Monica College, they had about 10 to 15 students participating. But in addition to the students who volunteered, Allison said that as they work with their classroom doors open, other students would wander in and ask about what they were doing. Once Allison and the team informed them of the project, these onlooking students also were invited to join, and some students accepted!
Listening to her say that almost made me tear up—it is beautiful to think about and encapsulate the purpose for movements like these. To welcome anyone to join and create something that will inspire and move people.
I also loved the name of their mural, “Make Waves, Not Waste”, a clever take tying the overall message together. Allison highlighted the importance of keeping clothing tags, allowing people to recognize what they’re wearing and consider where their clothes ultimately end up. This small action encourages mindful consumption and makes people think twice before purchasing new items. She also made a powerful point—just because something is discarded doesn’t mean it’s truly gone. Unfortunately, many of these items find their way into our oceans, contributing to pollution and environmental harm.
Messaging with A Smile
Despite the heaviness of their main message, Allison stated that they kept their mural cartoonish and light-hearted. She loved the shared moments everyone had because it truly brought them closer together as a team of designers and artists. They all worked so collaboratively, adapting to one another. As someone would start a piece, someone else would finish it. Allison spoke about the divide that remains present after the pandemic, where everyone isolates themselves. But with this project, it taught everyone to lean on each other. How powerful is that?
Sustainability and Art
Similar to Jill, I asked Allison why it’s important to integrate sustainability into art and the benefit to students. She brought up the same points as Jill. The importance of sustainability in art is to make the students think twice about their career path and what they are creating. They now have the power to ask hard questions about how their materials are sourced and if they want to work for a company that does not share these values of sustainability. It’s an incredibly important conversation to have, especially when it affects you and the world around you.
Allison hopes that with this collaboration, the mural reaches people and changes mindsets. For people to become more mindful and inspired to create this change.
After answering my questions, Allison gave me a sneak peek at their mural, and it was truly stunning. Art carries a special kind of beauty when it speaks to a deeper message.
The World Ocean Day Mural Unveil
It blows my mind the amount of talent that these students have at both OTIS and Santa Monica College. And you will equally be amazed by the murals. Not only by their beauty, but by their message. How art can be created from articles of clothing that are no longer usable.
This project is one of the many that SeaWorld San Diego has worked on to create awareness about conservation efforts and how the community can be a part of these conversations. SeaWorld San Diego hopes to continue building these relationships and doing these projects to continue driving our mission.
We hope to see you at the unveiling this Sunday at 10:15 AM! Jill, Allison and a host of the students who put their hearts into this project will be in attendance with us!