MANGROVE BERRY BRACELETS

Mangrove Berry Bracelet

Keith Ousley is a local artist from Islamorada who spends his days getting lost in the mangroves.

When he’s not working on new paintings in his Islamorada art studio, you can find Keith on his paddleboard exploring new trails, searching through the mangroves for lost and tangled fishing line.

After years of collecting miles worth of used fishing line and buckets full of rusty fishing hooks, Keith decided he could combine his mangrove treasures and his art into one. The Mangrove Berry bracelet is made up of hemp cord braided tightly together with one small orange bead in the middle. This orange bead is what Keith calls the Mangrove Berry. Mangroves do not have berries, but in the summertime you are guaranteed to find hundreds of these little orange beads blooming all over our local mangroves.

The bead itself is used to separate hooks from weights on popular fishing rigs. When these rigs become broken off or entangled in the mangroves, it can cause harm to local wildlife. Keith says that for every 10 to 15 lines he removes from the mangroves, one will have the orange bead on it. After years of collecting thousands of feet of fishing line he decided to create the Mangrove Berry bracelet to spread awareness. By turning this once trash into now beautiful bracelets, Keith aims to bring attention to an issue he believes is easy to tackle. The high volume of fishing line and other marine debris discarded in our mangroves is a simple problem to fix. Keith believes that through his Mangrove Berry bracelets, and other conservation artwork, he can reduce this problem in the Florida Keys and coastlines around the world.

Education is the first step to the solution!

(Thanks Marissa)

To order your own Mangrove Berry Bracelet please contact Keith Ousley at keefpaints@gmail.com or via instagram @keefpaints / @therumbrush