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[juliestein]

Turning Old Fish Nets into New Carpets

                                                                                                                                                   Mangrove Red Snapper © E. E. Dumalagan Jr/PSF

As people flock to the beaches this summer to escape the heat it is hard not to be reminded of all the threats facing oceans globally. It seems more bad news washes ashore with each wave from mysterious marine mammal strandings and contamination by medical and human waste, to the Pacific garbage patch. So when good news surfaces it deserves some air play. On World Oceans Day Interface, the world’s largest manufacturer of carpet tile, and the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) announced an innovative new pilot project, dubbed ‘Net-Works,’ which will take old fishing nets and turn them into carpet tiles.

        Discarded fishing nets, often made from the same nylon used to make carpet yarn, are a growing problem in some of the world’s poorest coastal communities. Damaged nets are considered disposable and when torn are frequently discarded on the beach or directly into the sea where they can languish for centuries as a source of pollution but also, tragically, continue to catch or injure marine life. 

  This pilot phase of the Net-Works project will take place on Danajon Bank, in the Philippines. This is a good place to begin since the Philippines is considered the centre of the centre of marine shore fish biodiversity, and Danajon Bank is in the centre of the Philippines. Formed over 6000 years ago, it is one of the few documented double barrier reefs in the world. The discarded fishing net problem is acute here. The Bank sprawls across nearly 130 kilometers and it is estimated that the nets discarded each year here could cover the length of the Danajon Bank 400 times over. This rich and rare resource is considered in crisis ecologically and with 4,000 fishermen dependent on the marine resources of the reef for their livelihoods, both innovative thinking and swift follow through are crucial.

          And luckily (although this project is its first foray into the world of international wildlife conservation) Interface is no stranger to either. Interface was founded by Ray Anderson who was crowned “the greenest CEO in America” in his Washington Post obituary. Anderson experienced an environmental epiphany in 1994 when he realized he was one of the corporate bad guys. Carpeting is notoriously dirty to produce requiring enormous amounts of petroleum and leaving behind mountains of unrecyclable waste. To his credit Anderson turned his company around by instituting what he called “Mission Zero” to make Interface fully sustainable by 2020 through the use of recycled materials and renewable energy sources, changes which, when instituted, reportedly saved his company hundreds of millions of dollars. 

         Dr. Nick Hill, the project manager for Net-Works admits that the business model will be challenging to implement but believes that bringing together experts from different sectors will have positive impacts. “Our objective is to create a sustainable business model with environmental, social and commercial benefit that can be replicated in other areas of the Philippines and beyond.”

  And in an increasingly complex world this just might be the wave of the future. Business partnering with biologists to green their supply chain so that rather than producing waste, they consume it, converting it into raw materials for production.  Because a local organization, Project Seahorse Foundation for Marine Conservation, is working to develop the nylon net supply chain through organizing beach clean ups, the silver lining is that all much needed income from collecting and processing the nets will remain locally in the community truly supporting the triple bottom line of people, profits and planet.

                                                       Tiger Tail Seahorse © E. E. Dumalagan Jr/PSF

[juliestein]

Trophy Buckle Dreams from behind Bars at the Angola Prison Rodeo

                The closer you get to New Orleans the blurrier things become on pretty much all fronts.  A visit to the Angola Prison Rodeo and Horse Sale, which take place a two-hour drive from the murmuring heart of Bourbon Street, is no different. This rodeo is like a good Cajun Filé Gumbo. There is a lot to digest. If you visit the Rodeo bring an open mind and an open checkbook because Angola offers you the opportunity to be the first on your block in a number of categories. If you are inclined you can bring home an ‘offender’ trained sport horse with a Louisiana State Penitentiary registered brand on its hip. For collectors of prison ephemera there is a wide variety of prison art you can purchase directly from the inmate artists. You can sample fried Coke while listening to a gospel band of ‘lifer’s’ play “Knocking on Heaven’s Door.”  During the main event you can watch prisoners enjoy a few seconds of freedom on the back of an air bound bull. Featured on a list of 100 must see’s for German tourists visiting the US, Angola is now a bucket list destination for off beat southern culture vultures. The Angola Prison Rodeo is nothing if not a spectacle.

        Angola Bound

The Tunica Trace is a two lane that winds through tangled trees, country churches, and trailer homes to dead end at the Louisiana State Penitentiary. Sprawling on 18,000 acres of fertile former plantation land, it has the highest number of prisoners serving life sentences of any prison in the country. If you happen to be driving the Trace on a Sunday morning in October or the 3rd weekend in April traffic will be picking up because it’s rodeo day at “The Farm.”  2011 marked the 47th anniversary of the longest running prison rodeo in the south, in the country, and heck we might as well go out on a limb and say in the world. Once known as the “bloodiest prison in America,” Angola is on the verge of becoming better known for hosting the “Wildest Show in the South.” 

         Passing under the slinky’s of razor wire at the guard gate means you have entered the ‘70712.’  Naturally bordered on three sides by the Mississippi River and on the other by the 100-foot cliffs of the Tunica Hills, this is the domain of Warden Burl Cain.  “You are entering the Land of New Beginnings,” proclaims a billboard just inside the chain link. But in actual fact over 90% of the men who enter here will die here. In Louisiana ‘life’ means life.

          Angola is singular in many ways; with its own area code; its own Bible College (training inmate Ministers); its own prison run FCC licensed radio station (KLSP the “Incarceration Station: Kicking it from Behind the Bricks”); it’s own prison museum (where you can buy a souvenir T-shirt deadpanning “Angola: A gated community”); and its own inmate run TV station which broadcasts the rodeo live throughout the prison including to the men who live on Death Row.

         Fast Horses and Freedom

There does seem to be something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man and when I reference Churchill to Warden Cain, who is media savvy and charismatic in the style of the best evangelic preachers and Louisiana politicians, he nods in agreement. He believes that horses provide non-judgmental teachers helping offenders learn two important things: “The first thing they learn is patience. The second thing they learn is that aggression is not an option.” 

  At the pre-sale inspection I talk horses with inmate Israel Ducré who tells me he worked with racehorses in his life on the outside. With 22 ½ years of time served under his “All Around Cowboy, Angola Prison Rodeo, 2003” belt buckle he says that training horses makes serving time more bearable. I ask him if he has a favorite and he points towards a bay tied to the side of the arena. Mr. Ducré tells me he will be especially sad to see hip #703, the gelding he named “Little Pen” (short for “Little Penitentiary”), leave. 

       Eighty Angola horses sold at auction this year going for between $300 and $3500. Some are sold to police for mounted patrol units throughout the US. A Dutch Warmblood cross from last year’s sale has become a ribbon winning show jumper, and this year foxhunting folks from as far away as Maryland leave with Percheron/Thoroughbred crosses (of the sturdy type we call ‘husband horses’ back in Virginia) in tow. 

          Guts and Glory

The rodeo commences with a procession of white winged angels on creamy quarter horses and an inmate prayer circle but quickly degrades to a chaos of man, beast and dust as eight chutes open simultaneously releasing as many bulls and prison striped riders into the arena. Angola’s rough riders are ¼ cowboy and ¾ gladiator; natural born risk takers with nothing to lose and a trophy buckle badge of honor to win. Perhaps these men ride to tame their inner demons and to help blur the line between life on the inside and life on the outside. But waiting to have your trunk searched as you exit the facility it’s hard to say if the lines been blurred or sharpened. No matter. The Farm is a place where sinners mounted on horseback can become winners again, cowboys and heroes before a sold out crowd, if only for a moment. This is a place where you might expect hope and dignity to be at their lowest ebb, but like the next beat up and broken bronc rider coming out of the chute, dignity and hope somehow rise again.

        Music and Film inspired by Angola

Angola is a reflection of the human heart and of the story of the South stimulating the creative juices of artists, musicians, and filmmakers.  Aaron Neville penned “Angola Bound” with his older brother Charles, who as it turns out, had some first hand experience to draw on, having done a stint in Angola himself. Other musicians who did their time at The Farm include Huddie Ledbetter, known as Leadbelly, and Freddie Fender.

  From “Angola Bound”:

  “I got lucky last summer when I got my time, Angola bound

Well my partner got a hundred, I got ninety-nine, Angola bound

You been a long time coming but you’re welcome home, Angola bound

And go to Louisiana get your burdens on, Angola bound

Oh Captain, oh Captain don’t you be so cruel, Angola bound

Oh you work me harder than you work that mule, Angola bound”

  With Warden Cain’s open door policy to visitors, the prison has attracted the interest of television as well.  Major media visitors at the October 2011 Rodeo series included Animal Planet, who had been living at the prison for the prior four months while filming their next series titled “Life on the Farm,” and The Learning Channel. Oprah’s Documentary Network, OWN, recently premiered “Serving Life,” a film produced by Forest Whittaker, looking at Angola’s volunteer inmate hospice program.

       Two excellent documentaries have been made about the prison rodeo. Pineville, North Carolina based Oasis Films, made the award-winning documentary “Six Seconds of Freedom” and Simeon Soffer’s "Wildest Show in the South: the Angola Prison Rodeo" won the International Documentary Association's Distinguished Achievement Award in 2000 and was Academy Award nominated.  Other films have looked more broadly at life inside Angola. Oscar nominated and two-time Emmy winner, “The Farm: Life Inside Angola” and it’s follow up film, “The Farm: 10 Down,” compellingly tell the stories of six Angola prisoners through the themes of reconciliation and forgiveness.  Angola continues to inspire courageous mixed media storytellers in song and on film. 

To find out more about the Angola Prison Rodeo and Horse Sale please visit: http://angolarodeo.com/

               All Photos copyright Aaron Raitiere 2011

[juliestein]

A Parallel Equine Universe: The Maker's Mark Secretariat Center

                                 When two Nashville songwriters discovered that they each knew a women who was a songstress, a yogini, and an explorer of alternative approaches for improving the human / horse bond a blossoming friendship was just about inevitable.   Leslie had recently earned her certification in Equine Structural Integration and I had a two decades old equine massage certification with Equissage.  Two peas in a pod.  So when Leslie asked me if I could help her reach out to Nashville horse folks to see if anyone was interested in having their horses worked on I told her I’d be delighted. 

As fate would have it I had just been e-introduced to Lara Knight whose Canterway Farm is based in White’s Creek, TN.  Lara adopted her superstar eventing horse Shooby Dooby Doo from the Maker’s Mark Secretariat Center at Kentucky Horse Park in 2009, and is now the head trainer at the Center.  I shot Lara a note to see if she was interested in loosening up the gorgeous fascia of the new class of 2012 and we got an immediate ‘heck yes’ response. The weekend was already in the planning. Leslie’s bodywork would be added to the already extensive individually tailored menu of  ‘Spa Services’ offered to each horse coming off the track, or out of the layup field, for temporary residency at the Maker’s Mark Secretariat Center as they transition to their new lives.  

There are so many positive and heartwarming things going on at the Center that I’m not sure where to begin.  Early in my career in wildlife conservation I was told by a prospective boss [may he RIP] that there were no ‘win win’ situations in life or in conservation.  I begged to differ, availed myself of another job, and have been positively overjoyed at the number of times I’ve been able to prove him wrong over the years.   The Maker’s Mark Secretariat Center is more like a ‘win-win-win-win-win’ situation.   Talented and well bred Thoroughbreds are repurposed for ‘civilian’ life, buyers can access athletic prospects and companion horses at reasonable prices, current owners can feel good about relinquishing horses they can no longer take care of, the public is educated about one of our few remaining quality exports and home grown industries of value - the American Thoroughbred industry– and at a handful of correctional institutions inmates are helping by providing care and rest for off-the- track horses while at the same time learning a new vocation.  As you can see, the ‘win’ list happily goes on and on…

Susanna Thomas, the Director of the Center, greeted us with a huge hug when we arrived. I’ve been in a lot of barns in my life but rarely do strangers get such a warm welcome!  It is also rare to find a holistic, collaborative and interdisciplinary approach being put into action in the horse world. Susanna describes their approach as ‘horse centered’ meaning that the horse must be viewed as a whole entity: mind, body, and spirit.  She explains that each part of this trilogy “must be taken into consideration, respected, and nurtured to give a horse a solid foundation for a new second career.“

                                            Lara and Susanna gave us some background on the horses that they felt could benefit most from bodywork with the hope that it would relax muscle tension, and accelerate training progress. A detailed ‘baby book’ is kept on each horse which contains the often ‘black type’ pedigree and racing history, records of chiropractic and other treatments for each horse [now including Structural Integration!], and ‘horse-onality’ traits.  

As prospective owners contact the Center to inquire about horses, Susanna and Lara play matchmaker to ensure that a ‘love match’ is made for each potential adoptee and one of the Center’s special horses.  The care that is taken on the front end helps ensure a long and productive relationship between horse and owner.  In a society that believes everything is disposable, Leslie and I felt like we had entered into a hopeful parallel universe where horses were given a second chance for a productive life, and with that, everyone wins.  And while I managed to visit the Center without coming home with a new horse myself [at least this time] that does not mean I didn’t fall in love.

                                  As of April 1 the Maker’s Mark Secretariat Center has gained non-profit status and is completely supported by donations. To learn more about the wonderful things happening there, or to make a donation to support this great organization visit their Facebook page and their brand new website (which goes live Monday, April 9): www.secretariatcenter.org 

[juliestein]

Twenty Hours in Marfa

                                           Sometimes you just have to hit the road for the high Chihuahuan Desert with your best girls and see what fate serves up.  Now I’m not necessarily advocating spending 14 hours on the road and 20 hours at your destination but with a trusty vehicle, a fearless driver, and 10 years of catching up on the agenda it was a formula that worked.

We set out to prove Ray Benson correct and can adamantly say yes there are miles and miles of Texas and we saw those stars up in the sky.  Why? Because after arriving in Marfa we set up camp in our yurts at El Cosmico which is a story within a story. El Cosmico is less of a hotel and more of a herd of free-ranging organic living units from tee pees, safari tents, and yurts to airstreams all served by a communal Lake/Flato [they WILL be designing my dream home] designed potty facility including solar heated open air showers for the green exhibitionist Marfa visitor dwelling deep inside us all.

                                        Our night in Marfa did not include the Marfa lights because I had not fully done my travel homework before we got there.  Instead we slaked our thirst at the Lost Horse Saloon with a gang of cowboys and one Australian Cattle Dog. A nice man at the bar wearing a red t-shirt told us the place to be that night was the Marfa Ballroom for an art opening followed by a [free!] dinner and drinks for everyone in town at the new Thunderbird Hotel space. Drifting [i.e. drinking] our way slowly across town and towards these activities we set off for the recently reopened Cochineal where the chocolate soufflé is sublime and our busboy looked like he should have been cast by the Coen Brothers as Javier Bardem’s only slightly less menacing-yet-intriguing younger brother in “No Country for Old Men.”  When I cheekily asked him if anyone had tried to cast him in a movie he said “Well actually yes….” 

At Chochineal we were charmed by an older gentleman with flowing white Colonel Sanders hair who turned out to be none other than poet laureate of Marfa and ex-oilman Ken Whitley.  A Louisiana native who claims to have introduced himself to each of Marfa’s 1,981 residents and is now applying his meet-and-greet skills to those who are just drifting through like ourselves.  He told me he believes Marfa is a 'thin place' and that I should look that up which I'm going to do right after I finish typing this. We learned a lot about Mr. Whitley in a short time and we encourage interested readers to do their own research.  

Moving on to the Marfa Ballroom we engaged in some first rate people watching and were in our yurts by 8:30 pm.  We had to get those heating pads turned on before the temperature reached its low of a gusty 27 degrees.  We adored our yurt experience overall and didn’t get stung by a scorpion even once. El Cosmico hosts a bunch of interesting events throughout the year and it turns out we missed the songwriting workshop with Kevin Welch and Jimmy Dale Gilmore by a month or two and Natalie Chanin’s southern stitched designs graced the gift shop as she has hosted workshops there as well.

                                      In the morning while grabbing coffee and reading the casting call announcements at Frama [where you can also do your laundry] we met friendly fellow DC native “Oslo” Kolker who now splits his time between LA and Marfa. Coincidentally he told us he would be interviewing our new friend Mr. Whitley from the night before for his Marfa Public Radio broadcast.  Recognizing the serendipity of this we politely demanded a shout out during the interview [and got one!] proving you can be in Marfa for under 24 hours and still make news.

After stocking up on Mr. Whitley's excellent poetry, a field guide for Poisonous Snakes of the Trans Pecos, and a ‘Sasquatch Sightings’ Calendar at the Marfa Book Company we headed for Prada, Marfa which is just outside of Valentine, Texas [driving the main drag we saw two dogs sleeping on a car roof behind a chain link fence and a horse parked like a car in someone’s front drive but not a living person], which is just outside of Marfa.  I am not going to expound on the meaning of Prada, Marfa because you really must experience it for yourself but here is what the NY Times said. 

                            We’ll end this story of three girls in Marfa with the caption for this photo of the town hearse, which of course, like everything in Marfa, happens to be a work of art too:  ‘When you’ve got to go you might as well go in style”

[juliestein]

From Sea Shore to Sea Floor: Interview with TED Fellow & Biorock® artist Colleen Flanigan

Colleen Flanigan is a TED Fellow, artist and Biorock® underwater reef sculptress. I am hoping to collaborate with Colleen on a number of projects this year the first of which is the song Aaron Raitiere and I co-wrote, called Cancun Kiss, which is currently supporting Colleen's Kickstarter page for this project.  You can read more about Colleen's eco-artistic journey below....

Julie: Colleen can you describe what combination of factors in your life and work lead up to you going to Bali to become the first visual artist certified by the Global Coral Reef Alliance in Biorock® mineral accretion  (a technology for coral reef restoration), and getting certified for scuba?

   Colleen: My background is in metalsmithing, design, and mixed-media sculpture, and collaborating with kids on larger public pieces. I had just returned to living in California in 2003 (until 2006). Life in Portland was not moving forward at the time, and I wanted to be near to my family, especially since I was close with my grandmother and she was turning 80. A family friend, Laura Tugwell, told me about a sustainable architecture conference, Ecowave, happening in Oakland where Wolf Hilbertz would share his work with Biorock® mineral accretion. “You should go! He makes metal sculptures in the ocean and they grow cement.”  That instant I knew I had to go.

So I went and learned that corals are endangered, that there are some predictions that they will be gone by 2050 due to climate change and other human impacts.  I realized that I could use my metalsmithing, love of nature, and art skills to help the corals.  I was moved to tears and inspired by seeing a creative interdisciplinary solution to a dire situation for these beautiful animals. That was a life-changing epiphany! I learned to SCUBA in Monterey and joined the Biorock® workshop in Pemuteran, Bali January, 2004. Obsessed ever since.

   Julie:  A friend of mine is involved in what she calls ‘bioremediative eco-art.’  Would you categorize your Biorock® work in the same way?

  Colleen: Yes, I would fit in there, most def. I also describe myself as a socio-ecological artist because of the interplay of society with ecology.

Titles are challenging because they attempt to give structure and cohesion to organic and dynamic processes...a bit of a word game.  {I'm happy that others with more objectivity, like art historians, weave the threads of artistic evolution into their tapestry to create another art form of order and analysis.}  Back to “Bioremediative ecoart”: it translates into “corrective/life supporting ecological art.”  I like how it has action in its meaning. Through this art, we can aim to reveal underlying universal principles and take personal action to aid the environment. I am fascinated by the paradigm shift from art about ecology to art as ecology.   

       Julie: Right now, as I understand it, this technology needs to be on the grid to function.  In your dreams will these Biorock® reefs eventually be fueled by green renewable energy and how would that work?

  Colleen: No, they do not need to be on the grid.  Some pilot projects in the Maldives and Bali are not. Also, a previous project in Mexico and some in Florida are to be powered by solar.  Solar, wave, wind, tidal are all possible.  The amount of power for the project in Cancun will be approximately equivalent to that of a laptop or beach light. 

  Julie: You are a TED Fellow, and TED Fellows often get the help of the best minds in the world to have their dreams come true.  Can you explain what lead up to you becoming a TED Fellow and how that has aided your creative process but also the more practical aspects of your work?  And one follow up question – if you had a TED wish that could come true what would it be?

  Colleen: It has been an incredible experience!  One day I jokingly said, “I want a PhD in life,” maybe this is a piece of that.  By association with all these achieving activists, artists, teachers, scientists, tech innovators...I have made a huge leap to adjust to the non-stop mind-blowing abilities of the TED Fellows.  It is a hugely humbling and inspiring honor to be part of this interdisciplinary community that stays connected through online groups and real gatherings when we can.  The TED Fellowship keeps everyone on a sort of updraft of peer mentoring. We cheer, support, connect and energize each other. 

What led up to it: I was working on the movie, Coraline, when a few friends there, as well as my web designer, Rex Rose, kept saying, “you need to check out TED Talks.”  So I watched a few and got so positively charged.  I found out about the fellowship.  Applied.  Put it on the calendar as if it was happening.  When I heard the news, I screamed and cried with joy.  Apparently I knew that to accomplish Living Sea Sculpture dreams, I could not do it alone and wanted to be immersed in a think tank of “ideas worth spreading.”  TED helps to get my work into the public and they have a coaching program, SupporTED, where I receive high level coaching to break out of my comfort zone.  It is intense and all about innovating your life.  So with the other Fellows acting as peer mentors, the TED Fellows team and TED attendees as mentors and networks, being a Fellow exponentially gives you connections and community to manifest big dreams. TED pays for your attendance to a TED conference.  As a Senior Fellow, you get to develop a project, for me the Living Sea Sculpture, and attend more conferences, which means you have time to grow relationships and some depth with the TED community and Fellows. I have received a bit of publicity through the Nokia responsiveness campaign, gained the courage to launch a couple Kickstarter campaigns, basically, TED enabled me to take bigger risks.  Having TED validate my multi-faceted life gives my work more visibility, credibility and reach, and strengthens my resolve to follow my authentic path and commit to decisions. This year I am giving a TED U talk on March 1, which means  that talk could reach thousands of people through the TED website. 

Wish:  In the moment, I wish for this project in Mexico to be funded and installed so that it can lead to more collaborations for coral restoration and art as ecology. 

TED wishes are usually broad and inclusive- with that in mind, I wish that everyone in coastal areas facing threats from sea level rise, lack of fish or other marine life, climate change, pollution...would be invited into the solution and have ease of communications. Create a hub for information sharing with other individuals to democratically co-design these global/local solutions.  (no idea how to implement this wish!)

I have a fantasy, perhaps TED wish, to create a Biorock® coral conservatory that is beautifully planned and designed to be both a coral refuge, as well as a place of study, propagation and contemplation.  Not in a rush rush snorkel or dive location.  More like a Japanese garden, a place for underwater meditation and quiet coral gardening, a creative, relaxing, beautiful space for wonder and discovery.  All of the elements will be powered by wave, solar, tidal and it will be a seascape that complements the environment with its undulating natural forms.  People can visit this intimate conservation site that serves coral ecosystems and people seeking a peaceful retreat off the beaten path.

        Julie: Describe what is it about the sea that inspires and informs your art and your eco-art?

  Colleen: I was raised along the Monterey Peninsula where the ocean was my native environment feeding me as a child.  The sea is a colorful place with organisms that are almost magical. I enjoy the dreamy, surreal, otherworldy reality of the ocean. My jewelry and many other sculptural pieces have had sea inspiration sometimes without my being conscious of it. I like that the sea is fluid.  My eco-art contains the desire to keep the ocean and the land always united in our lives: I think about how whatever I do on land affects the sea.  I carry that knowing every minute even though I am based in Portland, OR right now. Learning about Biorock® was the moment when all my previous work seemed to snap into relationship with oceans and corals.

  Julie: I had someone tell me recently that its ok to make art for yourself but you must realize it really is for yourself and not expect others to buy into your artistic vision.  If you make art you expect others to buy with actual money than you have to make art that speaks to other people’s values and lives.  How do you feel about the tension between being ‘purely’ artistic and making art for the public?  Do you make a distinction?

  Colleen:  People have all sorts of explanations and rules for other's motivations. I hope there are more options! Creativity is filled with paradox.  Usually we are aware of something “pure” and much greater than we are able to achieve once it is filtered through the system, and simultaneously we as creators are being transformed and adapting to our world values unconsciously.  I am re-reading the book: The Grace of Great Things, Creativity and Innovation by Robert Grudin. On p. 15:

“To think creatively is to walk at the edge of chaos.  In thinking the original, we risk thinking the ridiculous.  In opening the way for a few good ideas, we open the way for many bad ones...” 

As an artist, I think just making something without having to explain in words is a wonderful gift and important activity to discovery, yet to function in the world, learning to assess and articulate to yourself and others the intention allows for larger concepts to emerge and be realized. Art is a product (whether temporal or permanent) of observation, inspiration, imagination, intuition, analysis, skills, translation.  Currently I carry visions of projects that are for others, as well as myself. They are grand scale and need other people to participate to bring them to life because they require collaborative process and public interaction.  These works are multi-media, interdisciplinary and tie human health with ecology and coral health.  That said, I still love to make things just to be in the zone without worrying about someone's opinions holding power over my creative play. 

Julie: Describe your current project in Cancun and how folks can help you reach your goals for this project?

  Colleen: We made a steel sculpture in a form inspired by DNA helices.  It's fascinating that corals and humans share similar innate immunity genes, according to this source.  I think that concept led me to making two helices fusing into one.  The large sculpture is waiting to be deployed into the ocean in the waters of Punta Nizuc.  It will become a coral refuge and tourist attraction to help divert attention away from the nearby natural reefs that need a break.  MUSA is a 2 year old underwater museum and since it is in part of the National Marine Park, this project will serve as the first Biorock® scientific study for their labs.  People can donate through our Kickstarter campaign and help us get the word out. We have till March 14th to raise $35,000. All donations are tax-deductible.

What I love about Kickstarter is that it is like a new economy, a place where people give to realize creative projects and in exchange, they become a part of personal and collective hope and dreams being realized.  And for me, I like being able offer experiences and creative rewards to supporters.  Coral restoration may be a reward in itself, but all causes are!  I like being able to give people that choice of getting something tangible too.

        Julie: What do you wish I had asked that I didn’t?

Colleen: What about Miss Snail Pail?!  What is she up to? 

The other day a friend, Allyson Schutt, said in a facebook thread, “I keep expecting to see Miss Snail Pail on Portlandia.”   I would love that! 

  If you are interested in Colleen’s work you can support it on Kickstarter here.

To follow Living Sea Sculpture on facebook

and on Twitter: @livingseasculpt

You can learn more about Colleen’s eco projects  at www.colleenflanigan.com

[juliestein]

Riding Spiritual Utility Vehicles with "Conscious Riding" Guru Paul Striberry

This past October I had the good fortune to spend a weekend riding with Paul Striberry in Southern Pines, NC.  We rode, and in between rides we talked about horses and life in front of a crackling fire in Paul's log cabin which is tucked away back in the pines.  What resulted from the weekend was a reawakened rider in me, and the promise that we both wanted to work together again soon.  Paul has a great sense of humor, a twinkle in his eye, and a unique approach to riding which he calls a "moving meditation."  A quote from Paul's new book Conscious Riding:

"Horses live in the here and now. Ridden with awareness, the horse becomes a Spiritual Utility Vehicle that brings us back from where we are stuck in the past and retrieves us from our fears of the future."

Below is an excerpt from some of our wide ranging conversations. Stay tuned to this space as I'm currently working to organize clinics with Paul into 2012. [If you know of the perfect facility to host us please get in touch with me! julie@scentmark.org]

                                Julie: In the world of academia it’s all about being interdisciplinary these days but I’m not sure the equine world is there yet [although I’m hopeful!]….so until we get there I have to ask – how would you describe your 'discipline' within the world of riding, training and competing horses?

  Paul: I am currently training some riders and horses that event, show jump and foxhunt. Good work on the flat that produces thinking riders and athletic horses is the core of the program.

  Julie: You’ve had lots of experience riding, training and competing around the world, can you hit what you consider to be the highlights of your life with horses so far? 

  Paul: I have trained the Chedrauis who were show jumping in Atlanta and Beijing for the Mexican Olympic Team.  I have shown jumpers and two Grand Prix horses in California. I have raced over fences, evented and foxhunted in England and Ireland.  I have some credentials from the British Horse Society.

  Julie: You are a person with a limitless curiosity about the way the human mind and heart work and about the human/horse bond.  Can you talk about why you call your program “Conscious Riding” and what sets this approach apart from other approaches?

  Paul: For me horses always find the shortcut to happiness.  I think of them as Spiritual Utility Vehicles that bring us back from where we are stuck in the past and retrieve us from our fears of the future. 

  Julie:  I really like your ideas about what holds us back from reaching our best selves on horseback [and in life] and how horses can take us in that direction...

  Paul: Riding represents our evolutionary urge to overcome fear.  Bliss is our natural state and the reason for living.

  Julie: For a clinician in the horse world you’ve taught at some pretty interesting venues – can you talk about some of your typical and not-so-typical clinics and clients?

  Paul: I do clinics for The Kripalu Yoga Center and the Omega Institute.  Here the clients are mostly ready to accelerate learning, improve performance and increase enjoyment.  At Apple Knoll Farm there are young eventers who want to win, At The Huspa Equestrian Park its mostly foxhunters and Trail riders.  At Hunter's Rest there are first flight riders who want to get their horses under control.

                               Julie: You have a pretty idyllic life – can you describe your version of a perfect day when you are at home in Southern Pines?

  Paul: I dissolve my protein powder in a cup of coffee and I'm off to train some horses, give some lessons and school my jumper Mr. Pibbs.  We hunt here on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

  Julie: You’ve recently published a book about your story and approach – where can interested people pick up a copy?

  Paul: I have a stack of them on my desk!

  Julie: What is your vision of success for Conscious Riding looking forward?

  Paul: When its all over I just want to thank The Universe for the good ride.

                              You can learn more about Paul and Conscious Riding at www.consciousriding.com and Facebook or by email at striberry@earthlink.net

[juliestein]

Cave Bears

                               I have had recurring dreams about bears throughout my life. As symbols bears are powerful and represent so many things to our prehistoric psyche.  I watched Werner Herzog's movie Cave of Forgotten Dreams last night and there they were again, skulls and scrapes and bones gnawed on by cave bears who lived with our ancestors 26,000 years ago.  Just this morning a new cub was born to a bear in a cave in Minnesota while people on Facebook watched. Bear 71 is a sow living in the Canadian Rockies whose life has been chronicled in an interactive film which premiered at Sundance this year blurring even further our conception of what is wild.  Even now our lives are entwined with bears. Some of my thoughts about bears came out this year here and here  But I've been working on a bear poem for about 20 years and its still not ready to come out of hibernation. Instead I am birthing this little blog. It is ready to come out of the cave and into the still weak mid winter sun.  So many things incubating and spring is just around the corner.....

photo: Denali Alaska, copyright 2012 Aaron Raitiere  and I was there too