LET THERE BE LIGHT 1

LET THERE BE LIGHT 1

They wash up on the beach here at Marrowstone

I pick them up, intercepting them

on a journey it seems, to Pihemanu.

They stare at me all winter

Now that spring is here

I saw them as faces

as little lights in the sea.

Last summer out on Pihemanu

I picked them up too,

sometimes plucking them free from a tangle

squid beaks and flying fish eggs, bottle caps and

lighters.

Beach Found Objects. Marrowstone Point. 2010.

Ron Hirschi

Thanks to Matt Hall,

Skookum Recycling for Inspiration

SUSAN SCOTT MASKS

Beach Debris Mask

Susan Scott, Honolulu writer and artist.

http://www.susanscott.net/home.htm

BEACH PLASTIC MASKS -- OR, THANKS SEATTLE FOR ALL THE BOTTLE CAP EYES!!

Sundays are always good for making art. These masks have a base from aquaculture (Penn Cove Mussell Discs that wash up on Marrowstone Island in good numbers); Bottle Caps; Toys (Yes, the hand grenade is a plastic toy); and a big oyster culture mesh bag. Note: The big nose on the whiskered mask is a toy golf club handle and the white marks on its face are scars from barnacles, indicating the disc had been adrift for at least one year.

All materials recycled objects and all the the plastic coated wire hair and whiskers were picked up on January and February beach cleanups on Marrowstone Island.        Art by Fred. 2010.

Created for WSU Beach Watcher Workshop, 8 March 2010. Marrowstone Island, Washington.  

COUGAR TALES --- HELPING OCEANS FROM MOUNTAIN TOP TO THE SEA

COUGAR

Like Cheetahs, Lions, and Orcas,

Cougars are major predators

and they are America's symbol of wild places and healthy watersheds.

This beautiful portrayal of the cougar and its mountain world is from

SNAKE TO THE SEA,

a Big Book created by students of Wilson School

in Wilson, Wyoming.

The book takes us on a journey from headwaters in the Rockies,

through deep canyons in Idaho,

to where the Snake meets the Columbia and flows on to the Pacific Ocean.

Each page unfolds in this magnificent accordion book to reveal

child art and writing that explore history, culture, and ecology

of the entire watershed.

Like any great piece of art, you have to see the book in person

to appreciate its special beauty - but even this small view does

let you look into the eyes of one of its most important pieces,

the cougar staring out from a mountain so connected

to all the rest of the world up and downstream.

Eagle, deer, beaver, people --- all are connected to the cougar

and so,

if we take care of each of their needs,

we can hope for a healthier world, from mountain to the sea. 

Thanks to the students, staff, and parents at Wilson School. 

ART SAVES LIVES

Yip!!! It's Me, Fred!

This serious but way fun stuff here........

Good Good Friend, Sue teach ART!

Here's some art people with her down in Ohio!

They start making Endangered Species Trading Cards!

You know, Art Save Life. Animal need help, like

polar bear, albatross, big buddy whales, little buddy pika,

grizzly and salmon too.

Think Fred gonna learn lot about Ohio Endangered

from kids making cards.

You want cards, make em too! 

All added to Museum and raise money for good people

helping animal.

Aloha nui Sue!!! And all kids and helper teacher too! 

HAITI ENDANGERED

We all send our thoughts, prayers, and funds to help the people in Haiti following this week's earthquake. But longterm help has been needed for this impoverished country for quite some time. It is the most deforested country in the west and that loss of forest has led to major problems for water quality and quantity as well as for habitat needs of many species.

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature lists several species of amphibians, several birds, and at least four mammals as in danger of extinction --- this, before the earthquake. As an island, Haiti, its people, and its natural environment faces unique problems. As in the Hawaiian Islands, species needs are often the result of isolation and all efforts are needed to protect native plants that, in turn, support native wildlife.

It is always good to support the efforts of organizations such as the World Wildlife Fund. But right now, Haiti is in need of help to foster the kind of sustained future supported by groups such as WORKING TOGETHER FOR HAITI. Visit their website at http://www.konpay.org/ to learn more of what they have been doing and what they are doing right now to help the people and the land.

Malama i ke Haiti      Protect Haiti  

PAPAHANAUMOKUAKEA KAPA. LOVINGLY CREATED BY TERRY LEIANUENUE REVEIRA

Birds soar. The ancient whispers of Papahanaumokuakea speak.

All around you, the scents and sounds of Pihemanu beg for attention.

For those of us honored to be with Terry Leianuenue Reveira

on Pihemanu

it is clear that her vision of this special place

borrows from past, present, and future.

She taught us much about how this place figures in all creation.

She shared connections between our relatives here on earth and ocean.

This is a close view of a portion of one of Terry's Kapa prints

created for Papahanuamokuakea. They will hang in the visitor center there.

Terry weaves story as lovingly as she creates these kapa cloths.

She is always a supporter of caring for ocean and land and

encourages place based activities

to link science with culture,

teaching us to understand more deeply,

the richness of Hawaiian ways.

Terry comes from a family of paniolo and fishermen

and is an advisor at the UH in Hilo in

the teacher education program.

Read her own words

about her stay on Papahanaumokuakea

at http://paaprogram.blogspot.com/

Malama i ke kai ame ka aina

Protect the ocean and earth

Help the albatrosses and Papahanaumokuakea

in as many ways as you can.

Mahalo nui

GOOD NEWS. BABY ORCA!

Good news was reported this week by NOAA and others. Candi Emmons of NOAA Fisheries photographed a new born baby orca with its mother on January 3.

The baby, J47, was seen with its mother, J35 in Puget Sound. This raises the total population of the endangered southern resident Jpod to 88, up from the serious declines in past years.

J35 is a young mother, having been born in 1998. Scientists will monitor the well being of the newborn and its mother and anxious whale watchers will too. The Orca Network has been posting photos by Ms Emmons and others. Please visit the network to learn more about the new baby and to learn ways of watching whales while not disturbing their ways. It is illegal to approach at close range and yet the increase in shipping traffic in Puget Sound often drowns out the voices of the whales as they move around inland waterways.

Stay tuned for more information about the newboard orca and how you can help protect ocean waters and the food needs of whales, no matter how far you live from the sea.