Saturday, February 8, 2025

Climate Progress

Many thanks to the Fairfax Climate Action Committee and the San Anselmo Climate Action Commission!!!

Last evening was just the boost we needed to lift us from the despair of politics gone awry.
CA State Assemblymember Damon Connolly is a fighting champ. So glad to have him representing us in Sacramento.
 
The earnest young people with their thoughtful questions gave us real hope for the future.
And applause for Renee Goddard and her graphic exposition about the contents of our garbage can. 

We always happy to be the “plastic people” and share our One Plastic Beach movie.
We are ever delighted to watch people make art and have a hands-on experience with the problem of plastic pollution.

We are grateful to be included in the engaging and important program; 
giving us an opportunity to do what we as artists/artivists can do.

ONward…
With love…













Wednesday, January 22, 2025

Up and Coming

We are off to a whiz-bang start to 2025 with two important events coming up in Fairfax, CA.


On February 7, we are pleased to join with Damon Connolly our CA State Assemblymember 
for a meeting with the Climate Action Committees of San Anselmo and Fairfax.


On February 28, we will be joining in the Q&A with director/producer Kate Schermerhorn and colleague/collector Rudy Contrati. 





Hope to see you there!!!



Sunday, November 3, 2024

Books By Their Covers

We are avid readers. We love books.

So it is a special thrill to see photographs of our beach plastic featured on book covers. Plus, we appreciate the many features, articles, and mentions: HERE in our bibliography.


Pandian , Anand (2019) A Possible Anthropology - Methods for Uneasy Times 

Durham and London: Duke University Press 

Cover and pg 91-97

ISBN 978-1-4780-0375-5


Ghosh, Ranjan (2022) The Plastic Turn 

Ithaca NY: Cornell University Press

Cover and pg

ISBN-13. 978-1501766268




Moffett, Rosalie (2025) Making A Living

Minneapolis, MN: Milkweed Editions

Cover

ISBN 9781571315656









Friday, October 11, 2024

In the blue bin, In the Light

Art Rogers, photographer extraordinaire, forgot his phone, so this is what happened......


Since he had to drive back to our house, 
he thought he could take advantage of the trouble 
and get us in the bin as a pic for his weekly feature Family Album in the Point Reyes Light.  
It made for an unexpected and super fun photo adventure.

Thanks to Art for his brilliant idea and the professional way 
he approached the challenges of such a zany shoot.
And thanks to Art for bringing to light the problem of plastic pollution.




It wasn't the getting in the bin that was difficult, it was the getting out.
But we did it!!!
We are far more flexible than we had imagined.

Once in we were squished and it was very hot. Plus, it was already a sweltering day.

We know that Marin is notorious for its hot tubs, we intend to make Marin famous for its hot blue bins.

Thursday, October 10, 2024

Ranjan Rocks




Esteemed scholar Ranjan Ghosh, Professor in the Department of English, University of North Bengal in India presented Plastic Nature (9/23/24) at the Environmental Forum at the Mahindra Humanities Center at Harvard. Not only does he talk rocks (plastiglomerate), he posits a new way of talking about language itself and brings to mind a plastic way of thinking.

We are pleased that he uses our graphic chart to describe the geological age in which we now live. The age that we named The Plasticene Discontinuity in 2004 for our exhibition at the Bay Model.


THE ENVIRONMENT FORUM

THOMPSON ROOM (BARKER CENTER 110)

SPEAKER: RANJAN GHOSH

MODERATED BY ROBIN KELSEY

About the Event

What kind of a negotiation and home has nature built with plastic, a material that is a travelling and transformative genius? In a neo-materialist and an interobjective presence, plastic and nature have built a deeply entangled relationship – the problematic connection between the nature of plastic with what Ranjan Ghosh calls “plastic nature”. Within the material democracy of plastic, nature has been the object of change, but hasn’t nature through its own rounds of plasticity changed the way we see nature today? Hasn’t nature changed itself and plasticized plastic in ways that are startling and unique? The subject-object position has undergone massive revision as also the philosophy of seeing a material and nature. What, then, is this plastic nature?


Sunday, October 6, 2024

NOW is the Time

With so much discord and so many catastrophes in the world, we are grateful for moments of creativity, community, and connection. 

Never again will there be a better time than NOW to take action to ensure an enduring place for humanity on this precious planet.


Hourglass with Nurdles, Kehoe Beach


Nurdles are pre-production plastic pellets, the raw plastic material that is shipped to manufacturers of bottles, car parts, toys, almost anything made of plastic. Nurdles are almost impossible to see until one learns what they are and how to differentiate them from a grain of sand or a fish egg. Once known, one sees numbers of them scattered across the sand. 



Thanks to Reiko Fujii our Hourglass has joined forces with an awesome group of activist artists in "Voices of Freedom"  October 6 - 26, 2024







Curated by Pallavi Sharma 
Artist Reception- October 6, 2024
Sunday 2 pm to 5 pm
Featuring Dance Performance by Rewire Community 
Exhibition Dates – October 6 -26, 2024,
Monday through Friday, 8 am to 5 pm
At Lindsay Dirkx Brown Gallery,
Located inside the San Ramon Community Center
12501 Alcosta Blvd, San Ramon, CA 94583




Monday, July 29, 2024

The Ghost Net Monster — do and redo

Company is coming!!! On August 10, we will be hosting the Tamal Road neighborhood potluck picnic party. So we are on a mission to get our place ready, which means not only cleaning the barn and corral but also making sure that our artworks are up and at 'em. Plus, it prompted the writing of this Ghost Net Monster resume documenting the journey.

2012 The Ghost Below at The Marine Mammal Center, Sausalito, CA

In 2012, we were asked by  The Marine Mammal Center if we could "do" something with netting that had been extracted from the stomach of a whale that had washed ashore on a beach near Tomales Point. After the scientists had done their forensics, they wanted an exhibit to educate the public about the impact that derelict fishing gear can have on marine mammals. We took to the task with guidance from Anne Veh, curator, and Alex Treu, who fabricated the armature. We created the Ghost Net Monster.

Here's a short video about the project.





2013 Ocean Art Walk   Hong Kong   Stanley Bay    April 9- May 15

Hong Kong, once a thriving fishing village, has a problem with bottom trawling, overfishing, and the dumping of used fishing gear. Doug Woodring from the Ocean Recovery Alliance invited us to come to Hong Kong to create artworks to address these problems to be presented during their Ocean Art Walk. Constructed with nets gathered in a buy-back program to benefit out-of-work fishermen. Net Man loomed large on the plaza overlooking the harbor. 







2013 Hong Kong Maritime Museum May 10- July 10

After the inaugural presentation along the Stanley Waterfront, Net Man was moved to the Maritime Museum at Pier 8 in Central Hong Kong. Thanks to Doug Woodring from the Ocean Recovery Alliance and the Hong Kong Shark Foundation, the exhibit showcased art related to sharks, fishing, and plastic pollution, all in creative, colorful, and fun ways.




2013 America’s Cup Village at the Marina Green, San Francisco

The Ghost Net Monster held sway at the Healthy Ocean Project Lounge serving to give the ocean a voice.

Here's a short video about the Project.

"Through the America's Cup Healthy Ocean Project, The Marine Mammal Center, along with other Bay Area ocean conservation organizations, provide education and advocacy on three core issues - Marine Protected Areas, Sustainable Seafood and Marine Debris/Plastics - with the aim to inspire millions of people to CARE about the ocean and its inhabitants, encourage public ACTION to benefit ocean life, and leave a positive ocean LEGACY for the benefit of future generations."




2021 to Tamal Road, Forest Knolls

The Marine Mammal Center closed during COVID and decided to use that time to do a revamp and remodel. Our Ghost Net Monster had graced the courtyard for almost nine years. In December of 2012 when the Ghost Net Monster was installed, we never imagined it would be there for so long. We thought 3 months, then 6 months, then the years rolled by…When they called to ask if we would like the metal armature, it took us by surprise, especially after so many years. They wanted to keep the netting to reconfigure into a different educational display. Of course, we said YES to saving the armature and put GNM out to pasture in our front field. GNM has taken its place at Art Mind Park.






2024 The Ghost Net Monster was looking a bit bedraggled so we decided it was time for a facelift…and even a face since, somewhere along the line, the head was lost.


Thanks to Francisco Chan we were able to get the head on straight and add ropes and netting to the armature. 








The GNM is lookin' good, real good, and is ready to get this party started.