Every Day

What a glorious finale to our Earth Day days — 

We were with Grandson Reed and an energetic jumble (some 40)  T-K (transitional kindergarten) and kindergarten cohorts assisted by 4^th graders at Coleman School in San Rafael.

We brought a big bin of bright and colorful plastic that we poured on to the carpet. With no instruction needed, the kids knew just what to do. On a piece of tag board they arranged and rearranged the pieces until they got them just right, then we snapped a pic. Even at age 5-6 individual predilections were already apparent in their choices of color and composition.

After the activity, the kids had gained a new awareness. They were out and about, bringing back pieces of plastic (including a turquoise crocodile) that they found on the playground. Hey, it's not trash, it's free art supplies! Hey, it's Earth Day, Every Day!

What a find — trash into treasure.

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Earth Day Marin

 

Hey, you climate champs, sure was great to celebrate this wonderful planet we call home.

It was a spectacular day — we are all in for any event that serves up free scoops of Straus Family Creamery ice cream. And especially fun during the last flurry of moments as artists/friends picked up their artwork —  it was a wonderful love fest to see everyone.

Thanks to Freddy Hahne, Vickisa and Green Change for bringing such a great group together.

In the black shadow boxes we presented:

Simulacraceae

These plastic leaves and flowers washed ashore on to Kehoe Beach in the Point Reyes National Seashore. They are part of our prized collection of Simulacraceae, a satirical taxon given to faux plants by ethnobotanists from Cornell and Yale. They’re plastic so they will last forever. 

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Climate Fest

 

There was pole dancing aplenty with aerial performances supported by Shannon Gray and her awesome team of talent. 

There was pole dancing aplenty as the afternoon breezes activated our Trash Castle.

In the gallery, for the community art show, The Elephant in the Room, we presented four panels of black beach plastic cast with resin onto sheets of plexiglas. We call this Black Gold, Texas Tea. Richard fiddles with the remote on our SeaSpan TV. It seems that there is nothing but junk on the tube, just a live feed from SEA-SPAN. 

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TC on SFD

 

Project Proposal

“Trash Castle” created by San Geronimo Valley artists Richard and Judith Lang was presented on Huntington Beach as part of the California Department of Transportation’s (Caltrans) Stormwater education campaign for Coastal Clean Up Day on September 17, 2022. The Langs are thrilled to present “Trash Castle” closer to home, on the corner of Sir Francis Drake and Lagunitas School Road, April 20-24 in conjunction with the Greenstitch Climate Action's Climate Fest. Each pole of the castle has a distinctive theme representing categories of items they have collected from Kehoe Beach in the Point Reyes National Seashore: water bottles, straws, caps, drink cups, food wrappers, cutlery, balloons, toothbrushes, and foam.

Caltrans has committed to a three-year project designed to raise awareness about the sources and pathways of California stormwater pollution with the message of connecting-the-dots from street to the tideline; from the gutter to beach. 

It is estimated that 15 million metric tons of plastic flood into the world’s oceans every year. That’s the equivalent of two garbage trucks filled with plastic entering the water every minute. The Lang’s hope that visitors to their “Trash Castle” will marvel at the variety and amount of plastic on their castle towers and will be moved to take action to help stem the tide of plastic pollution.

Project Reality

We've said it before and we will say it again, as an artist one of the great rewards is to have a vision then be able to realize it. For years we have driven by the mound of the hill on Sir Francisco Drake Blvd. that fronts the grounds of the Lagunitas School and the San Geronimo Valley Community Center. We've looked longingly at that grassy slope, imagining how great it would be to mount a sculpture there. Finally, this dream has come true.

For Earth Day 2023, we've been working with Cory Van Gelder and her Next Gen Greenstich Climate Action Interns (high schoolers) that helped with the planning and the install. They pitched in and got 'er done and who doesn't love a gal with a sledge hammer?!?

On Friday we hosted field trips for the middle schoolers. After a day of it, we were sure tuckered out and marveled at the dedicated teachers who, five days a week, deal with the raging hormones and inexhaustible energy of teenagers and agreed that you could not pay us enough to teach 7-8th graders and hey, you couldn't pay us enough to be a 7-8th graders again!!! 

Kidding aside, it was so fun to see what caught their attention. Tops was the tower of hat visors. So many questions — just the brims on the beach? what happened to the rest of the hat? where's the fabric? was that once mine?

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