Sweet and Sour

The conclusion of an exhibition always brings to the fore what we call the “sweet and sour” —  the joy of the showing/sharing (sweet) and the sad (sour) of putting everything in a box then back into the barn/studio.

The Great Wave was composed of powerful images with promise for the health of our oceans. Thanks to curator Ann Trinca there was a great line up of artist activists: Brandon Anderton, Tess Felix, Peter Hassen, Liz Hickok (and collaborators Jamie Banes and Phil Spitler), Hughen/Starkweather, Luc Janssens, Josh Keyes, Richard and Judith Lang, Courtney Mattison, Allison Watkins and Angela Willetts. Thanks to Mirka Knaster for her insightful review Art About and for the Ocean.

Unfortunately, because of the Coronavirus pandemic the City of Walnut Creek had to close all city agencies before the show’s end date so no events could take place in the gallery while the order was in place.

Now, months later, restrictions are finaly being lifted and we were able to pick up our work. When we arrived, the gallery was stacked with packing boxes, in the mess of transition with the deinstall of The Great Wave and the install of Grid Nest Nature opening on July 12 with new visitor guidelines, with timed entry.

It is has been and continues to be a fraught time but artists and galleries are learning to navigate during this turbulence. With a measure of good luck, good health and with the upwelling of interest in plastic pollution, we are grateful to continue to ride the waves.

We are struck by the rightness of Hokusai's enduring image — tiny fishermen holding fast in their small boats against the tumult of that gigantic wave, all the while Mt. Fuji forever and strong. 

Abrigado

These days with so many big issues vying for attention we were afraid that the Oceans might get short shrift on World Oceans Day. With beaches just beginning to open up and with programming shifted to online, we feared that audiences might be distracted and not tune in.

Route Global in Brasil, Portugal and the USA is an international NGO focused on beach clean-ups, education and ocean advocacy that uses art as an activator. To celebrate World Oceans Day, they did an awesome job of organizing 3 days, June 6-8, of panel discussions with some 24 ocean related topics. And people tuned in — they watched and commented on chat and sent emojis.

The programs were recorded and are now archived on The Ocean Day YouTube channel. 

When Rubem Miranda from Route USA and Simão Filippe Route Brasil asked if we would be on a panel themed Blue Vision we were thrilled. Our cohorts included Mauro Figueiredo,(from Brasil but zooming in from Australia) a doctor in environmental law and one of those responsible for writing the law of the sea in Brasil, Sebastian Copeland (from Munich) an adventurer and fine art photographer, Captain Charles Moore (from Long Beach) who discovered the Pacific Garbage Patch and Barbara Veiga (from Amsterdam but zooming in from London) photographer and co-founder of the League of Women Across the Oceans. We were honored to be featured with such an esteemed group of ocean experts.

During the discussion we were reminded of and introduced to many ideas that are worthy of further investigation. Here are links to just a few of the mentions: 

Fritjov Capra: PDF of The Tao of Physics  about the parallels between physics and Eastern mysticism. 

Amsterdam re-envisions its public policy based on the doughnut economy.

We have long admired Captain Moore for his pioneering work in oceanography and his commitment to environmental education but we just learned about his interest in Urban Gardening. We share this love of gardening on our RanchoD blog.  

James Lovelock author of the GAIA theory 

Surfers are establishing Surfing Reserves to protect coastlines. 
M.S. Merwin's poem Place.

Obrigado to Route Global for a job well done!

Enough!

Although we have been staying home, only going out every 10-14 days for essential supplies, when we got the news about a march in Point Reyes Station in protest against race-based violence after the killing of George Floyd and countless others, without hesitation, we painted our signs (after a consult with Amelia about messaging) and headed out.

Over the years we have attended many marches in front of the Wells Fargo Bank but this march to protest racism and police brutality, even in spite of the sheltering and distancing restrictions, had the biggest crowd ever.

We are so proud to stand together (6’ apart) with our neighbors and friends.

We were brought to tears with the chant Say Their Names then the roll call and response with the hundreds of names of people who have been killed by police. It really brought to heart that #Black Lives Matter and that each and every victim of police violence is an individual human being with a name.