Disney's Project Green

About a year ago, our family visited Disney World. We had a great time, but also thought about ways Disney could be innovative and 'green' the park. I even wrote a blog entry about it. Little did I know that a year later, we would be invited back, as Olivia and Jackson participate in one of their new programs, Friends for Change/Project Green, a terrific initiative to get young people involved in improving the environment. Already a long-standing supporter of environmental groups like the Audubon Society, Disney's conservation program and its senior vice president of environmental affairs, Dr. Beth Stevens, have set ambitious goals in lowering the park's carbon footprint through cutting water use, energy consumption, waste, and emissions. Stevens, who recently won Audubon's Rachel Carson Award for her conservation efforts, has a philosophy about nature that we share--if people are inspired to love nature, they are more inclined to protect it. Like Rachel Carson, Dr. Stevens is helping to shape how our country views its relationship with the environment, a tradition of environmentalism that has had a profound impact on our family, especially Olivia and her fundraising efforts for the Gulf.
Check out Project Green's site for eco-friendly ideas on how to clean up your local environment. I plan on sharing it with my high school students, challenging them to set some eco-friendly goals for the new school year.

Fashion and Feathers

I am so sorry to hear that feathered hats, feathered jackets, even feathered shoes, which use exotic feathers are being seen as fashionable this fall season. I confess a love of fashion, but it is terribly disconcerting to see history repeat itself. Far too many birds were brought to extinction, or near extinction, due to the feathers used in ladies' hats in the 19th and 20th century. The New York Times Fall Fashion section (page 164) and Vogue's weighty fall issue treated the issue of plumage so lightly that I had to double check what I was reading. This move to use exotic feathers is definitely not fashion-forward and compells me to write letters to the editors of the publications which suggested otherwise.

Bay Shore Site Visit

The Bay Shore waterfront home is framed up and looking more like the computer-generated images Bouler Architecture's Nicholas Pfluger animated for the client. The home will use a geothermal system with an array of solar panels to offset its carbon footprint.

Digital Ideas

Where would I be without my digital camera? Of course it's been long discussed how photography transformed the role of painting at the end of the 19th century into the 20th, as the artist shifted from reporter to innovator. But film was still precious, something to be used deliberately. Gradually film became less expensive and processing more instantaneous, hence the Polariod Instamatic; however in the digital age, I hand the camera to the kids and say, have fun, without even a second thought as to how many pictures they'll take. Only in the digital age could someone do an arm's length self-portrait, easily deleting any misfired shots. For me, it's less about the quality of the image, but more about the access. While some folks improve their apparatus, I instead go for cheap and easy, carrying my camera as a sketchbook instead of the finished product. True, the iphone has potential in this department, but my snappy, point n shoot Canon suits my needs perfectly. Here is a pic I took in Maine, intended to make its way into a painting, not a finished photograph.
For those photographers out there, both professional and novice, I'd love to hear about your relationship with your camera(s).

Oh that Blogger!

Oh dear. I can't get my images to load properly-- a bit of a problem when I am planning on a wordless entry. It's kind of a cool, David Hockney type of effect as the image splices itself; however when it happens across my face, I am less than enthused. Fellow bloggers, tech heads, anyone under 14, please feel free to offer your insights.

Meet the Sea Tuckers!

Plans for the Seatuck fundraiser on September 4th are moving right along with bird postcards arriving and the press releases being sent out. Don't worry though, there's still a week to participate in the open call for artwork. Send your postcard-sized bird images to Seatuck, PO Box 31, Islip, NY 11751.
Meanwhile, the jazz band, aptly named the Sea Tuckers, has been holding weekly rehearsals in my living room-- love that! Every living room should be able to host a nine man band at least once in its life. With musicians Jesse Neuman and Jon Pierra directing, it's been amazing to see how quickly the group pulled itself together and worked through their playlist.
Looking forward to a fun event and to raising money for a great conservation organization.

Childhood Aesthetics

Edward Gorey

Yoshitomo Nara

Searching for Moongirl litho


My Blythe alter ego



I've always felt that childhood provides aesthetic imprinting that manifests itself for a lifetime. We purchase houses whose shrubs remind us of Grandma's and we reminisce about the cereal we always coveted for the toy in the box. Just yesterday, I went to someone's house and saw her Barbie airplane from the seventies, in all its plastic glory, and I was transported back in time.
My own aesthetic, 'scary funny' a term someone once said, teeters on dark and brooding, but has a surprising foundation in my otherwise happy childhood. Enter the Blythe doll. I recently rediscovered her in a Ports 1961 post on facebook and whammo-- I was back in Jersey City, 1972. Pull the string and her eyes changed color. What was lost in the recesses of my memory emerged clearly as I realized that I have cultivated a taste for scary little girls. Emily the Strange, Edward Gorey, Yoshitomo Nara, and my own work, all have that scary funny quality of the Blythe doll, who has now emerged with an international cult-like following. Of course, I had to have one. Unwilling to fork over thousands for an original on ebay, I bought a limited edition reproduction who, though intended as my Christmas present, arrived yesterday. I just had to see her before I sent her off to the closet for under the tree. Don't worry, I'll act surprised all over again.

Studio Time Continues

Sunday's New York Times ran a cover story about the volitility of weather patterns these days-- the flood in Pakistan being another in a long list of natural disasters this year.
It's something I had been working through myself in my Angry Landscape series, where the landscape strikes back against humanity. Not unlike the mutant Godzilla, nature can only put up with so much, and I was sad to see our hand in disrupting the balance of nature once again. With these ideas in mind, it became a productive weekend in the studio. Setting up on the screened in porch at Potic Cottage, malm stove burning to ward off the dampness of the torrential thunderstorms which passed through the Hudson Valley all weekend, I was able to work through some Angry Landscapes in preparation for the Ripe Art Gallery show in December. The more finished paintings are oil on paper-- an odd combination I know, but I love the way the oil is absorbed into the thick paper. It gives a richness that gouache, which I use for the collages, simply lacks. The top image, titled Evergreen Terrace, is loosely based on my childhood house which was situated across the street from an envelope factory which was dumping glue into the ground in tubs. Needless to say we were on well water, and my parents became the whistleblowers who ended this practice. With the ground safe from toxins, I wonder if the evergreens ever returned. Meanwhile, let's hope Nature's balance can be set right before she gets too angry.

Hog Island, Maine

Audubon, Bremen, Maine

A view of Hog Island

Crow's Nest exterior





It's the sort of place you conjure when you think of summer camp from the childhood of your imagination. Hog Island, a stone's throw off the coast of Bremen, Maine, is the perfect spot for bird watching and kayaking. This 330-acre island situated in Muscongus Bay is home to Audubon's summer ornithology for adults and teens, with a focus on seabirds. Crow's Nest, the aptly named building, is home to the camp and is due for a bit of renovation. Bouler Architecture is working with Audubon to revamp the open space into ones with more privacy, without losing the building's charm. Hopefully the new structure will encourage campers from all over to do some birding, or perhaps even an artist/writer retreat, which could use the picturesque setting for inspiration.

Diner a la C'arte

What had been a self portrait became a hot dog. I'm ok with that.
Actually I'm happy about that. In an open call for postcard-sized art dealing with food, Diner a la C'arte, in France, the bastion of cuisine no less, I was stumped for days. Then I remembered Ray Johnson's foot long drop over Long Island, a performance piece were Johnson rented a helicopter on his gallery's tab, and dropped foot-long hot dogs to the waiting crowd below. Off my collage goes airmail to France, and as they say, 'bon appetit.'

Studio Time

Finally I found myself with enough time and concentration to finish some work I started before Olivia's fundraiser. It's hard to believe that these bird images were started before the fundraiser. The top painting, Bird House, is for the upcoming December show at Ripe Art Gallery, where collage artist Louise Millmann and I will share the space since most of our friends are the same anyhow. The two collages below are for postcard exhibitions-- the Seatuck fundraiser in September and the Book About Death show at CW Post in Brookville, NY in October.

Big Bambu at the Metropolitan Museum

It's a sculpture. No, it's architecture. No, wait, it's a jungle gym. Suffice to say that Big Bambu, an installation on the rooftop of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC fits all criteria, while offering museumgoers a unique summer experience. The tangle of branches reminded me of a three-dimensional Jackson Pollack, as their seemingly random placement actually provided a climbable structure, provided you were properly attired with sneakers and shorts, which I was not. Even those who prefered to see Big Bambu without climbing it were given a breathtaking, panoramic view of the Manhattan skyline. The installation by artists Doug and Mike Starn will be up until October 31st, so that gives you at least two months to get there and see it-- just remember your sneakers.

Potic Cottage: Painted!

Rarely does a house project take less time than budgeted; however painting the first floor exterior of Potic Cottage this weekend was rather straightforward. The kids even helped out, making the project quick work. The color choice kind of chose us, don't ask, but Jackson said, "It's a country house, after all," so we decided to go for it. Now all you need to imagine is a second story deck off the back, large enough for a tent.