Little Otters and Kelp Forests

While the PNW Community Coral Reef is on display at the Willamette Heritage Center, I will be heading down to Mendocino, California tomorrow for the opening of North Coast Kelp Fest and the opening reception at the Mendocino Art Center where Little Otter will be displayed alongside some absolutely beautiful kelp related art.

Little Otter will not be for sale while at the North Coast Kelp Fest but will be a part of the Art Auction in Newport, OR on September 28th to benefit the Elakha Alliance and the restoration of sea otters on the Oregon Coast. Subscribe to their newsletter to keep in the loop!

Swimming in the Sea

It’s an interesting revelation after working on marine related fiber art for eight or nine years, that I have been slowly investigating the different ecosystems of the ocean as I create my different pieces and facilitate the PNW Community Coral Reef.

Being subsumed by coral reefs for three years + has allowed me to learn so much about coral reef ecosystems and the intricacies of their inhabitants. I do make good faith efforts to be biologically accurate in my work and I will do deep dive research before starting a new creature or form. It made the switch to the kelp forest an interesting adventure as I wrapped up our first coral reef installation and started in on Little Otter. I knew I wanted to speak about the kelp forests but it wasn’t until I saw the call for art from the Elakha Alliance that I considered putting a sea otter into the piece and donating it for their fundraiser this fall.

As someone who knows I will never be able to financially support all the causes for ocean conservation, restoration and preservation that I care about, choosing an organization to help with each of my pieces makes me feel a little more useful in this world.

After doing a deep dive into the kelp forests, I am now heading to the deepest of depths with my Deep Sea Triptych. This is something that I have talked about before and I purchased the three huge canvases three years ago at the beginning of the PNW Community Coral Reef Project. It has been started, delayed, and denied until now. Even with our next installation for the coral reef looming in a few weeks, I managed to finally start the first of the three canvases last weekend. This has not only thrown me into searching out fingering weight yarns for an 18 feet x 5 feet space but also delving into the anatomy of a giant squid and sperm whale, the ecosystem of the deepest ocean, and thrilling imaginings of two colossal creatures doing battle miles below the surface. I have been learning about the threats to the deep ocean environment and again, I have been upset and saddened at the human threat to these darkest regions. I have also been ruminating on the very notion of struggle.

This piece will be enormous. This piece will take many more years to complete. And this piece will narrate the story of a colossal struggle, a fight to the finish, that no human eyes will have witnessed in real time. I have a feeling that I am talking about a squid, a whale, and so much more.

Waking the Reef

I have to admit, after taking the reef down in Lincoln City and packing it away (in my living room), I immediately turned to my own fiber projects that have been sitting on the back burner, some for several years. Since deconstruction, I have accomplished quite a bit on both my Olympic Canvas and my new canvas Nigigoons which will be donated to the Elakha Alliance for a fundraiser this fall.

But time is creeping steadily forward and in just over a month, we will be prepping the gallery at the Willamette Heritage Center for our next installation. I met with the gallery yesterday and laid out our plan for the set up and the marketing.

Since I have a full time job not in the fiber world, I will be taking advantage of the weekend before our set up to bring the reef to the gallery. This means loading up the U-Haul in Corvallis on Saturday, March 9th and taking it to Salem. The hope is to lay things out in their relative positions and get a feel for how it will all come together. The actual installation day will be Tuesday, March 12th. For anyone interested in volunteering to help load the truck on March 9th, please let me know! This is an unglamorous job that can feel very overwhelming for one or two people. For those interested in helping with the installation on the 12th, give me a heads up before hand. The opening reception will be at the Willamette Heritage Center on March 21st at 5:30 PM. The exhibit will be open to the public on Saturday, March 23.

I have had a few people ask me lately if we are still taking donations and the answer is a sly and shy “yes”. While we are not actively recruiting and going around to fiber fairs and yarn stores, if you are interested in making and donating, just let me know. I have already come to the conclusion that I will need to remake our donor sign for the Salem installation as we have had several pieces turned in within the last three weeks. While there is an admission fee to enter the Willamette Heritage Center museum and gallery, all donors will be able to get in for free. If your name is on the list, you are good to go, which is why a new, updated list is so important!

Perhaps one of the most exciting parts of the Salem exhibit is that there will be educational pieces in addition to our reef. Local college students who are doing research on coral reefs will have information available and a history of fishing and fishing gear will also be introduced, with a discussion on the environmental impact of abandoned nets. We will also have a showing of the documentary Saving Atlantis on Tuesday, April 23 at 5:30 in the Dye House, the day after Earth Day.

So after a bit of a reprieve, it’s time to get the PNW Community Coral Reef moving again!

Deconstructing the Reef

The end of our first installation at the Lincoln City Cultural Center is approaching. The reef will be deconstructed and boxed up on Monday, November 20th but before then, folks can visit it during the Plaza Activation Party at the Lincoln City Cultural Center,

It has been a sincere challenge to have an installation at the Lincoln City Cultural Center during their plaza construction and unfortunately, the building has been closed for a portion of our run. To remedy this, the Cultural Center has offered us another installation next year from August to October.

If you haven’t had a chance to visit the reef yet, swing by the party on November 18th. You can also visit the reef in Salem at the Willamette Heritage Center from March to May next year.

If you are in the area of Lincoln City or Corvallis on November 20th and would like to help take down the reef in Lincoln City or unload the truck in Corvallis, let me know!

The Reef is Open!

How do you know when it has been a long week? You wake up on your birthday and don’t clock that it is your birthday until you open your email and see all the yarn store discount emails…because it is your birthday.

Welcome to my morning.

After nearly three years, the past three days have been jam packed and fantastic. Starting at 4:30 am on Wednesday with grabbing the UHaul and packing it with the reef, thanks to the help of packing volunteer Cindy, it has been fairly non-stop.

There was that tense moment when I realized that I should have hired a slightly larger truck when I had to load the cab with some of the reef.

With the help of Krista, Lonnie, Denise, Lori and Shanna, the installation was assembled in a day and a half.

The opening reception was a success and the best part was meeting some of the artists in person. It was fun to watch people search the reef for their corals and get excited when they were located.

And the best ending to the event was being handed this sweet gift from Beth, one of our contributors. Kindness does rock.

Extremely Big and Incredibly Close

It seems quite impossible. I have been working on the last healthy reef vignette and when I finished it, I had to sit back and mull over the many feelings I was experiencing. Making pieces of the PNW Community Coral Reef has taken over my life for nearly three years. While we are planning on having this as a traveling exhibit, the actual “making phase” is winding down. I am both sad, happy and excited. Perhaps “confused” is a more encompassing word.

The last healthy vignette stands at waist height and was created from a large block of recycled foam that I split and carved slightly.

I am still working on the last bleached vignette and I hope I won’t have to make too many emergency bleached hyperbolics to fill in the final cracks and crevices.

My goal, while putting the installation together and seeing it in situ is to create a photo book of the process and the finished product so I have an inkling that I will be immersed in this for some time to come.

Between finishing the last corals and creating our list of donors, there are still a few boxes to check. Counting down the days!!!