TODAY….AT 12:30PM MONTANA TIME….my statement paragraphs about my involvement with sea turtle conservation and my sea turtle artwork went public on the NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC WOMEN OF IMPACT Facebook site. This is a closed group of 45,000 plus, so I cannot send all of you to see it there….BUT OH WHAT A FEELING!!!! It is my hope, that some one will have a connection so that Cycle of Life: Sea Turtle Glass Sculpture – can come out of storage and find a home. A place where the parts of the sculpture can teach all about the perils sea turtles face. HAPPY TURTLE DANCE….viewings world wide magnified. WOW!
Woman of Impact First Statement July 4, 2018
Thank you for setting up this site, and for Kate Stone, wildlife biologist and ecologist extraordinaire for adding me to the group. I am a wildlife glass artist and sea turtle conservationist. My fascination with turtles began with a red eared slider when I was three or four years old. Later in my life I helped collect data on pond turtles in Oregon and setup a seven aquarium hospital ward for pond turtles in my dining room. In other words, turtles have always been part of my life. In the last few years, starting with the Deep Horizon Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico, in 2010, I have started creating my personal cast glass sculptures to educate the public about the hazards that threatened and endangered sea turtles and other marine wildlife face each day.
Starting with a clay and wood prototype in 2011, and then finishing the sculpture with a team in working sessions from August, 2015 to July 2017 – “Cycle of Life: Sea Turtle Glass Sculpture – Environmental Art Education Project was born. The Cycle of Life Project is to raise awareness of and educate people to the dangers to sea turtles. The project includes an installation of over 60 cast and fused glass pieces depicting life-size sea turtles and hatchlings along with elements that endanger them. The elements include slumped glass oil sludge, oil covered predators, plastic in multiple forms, a cast glass 4 wheeler tread running over a glass sea turtle nest and beach sand. The sculpture’s custom wood base is 5’x6’x 21” with protection stanchions that are made with wood and shrimp trawler net increasing the foot print to 8’x9’.
We continue looking for a permanent installation home for the Cycle of Life environmental art project. Be it aquarium, marine museum, sea turtle hospital – where it can do the job it was created for – to educate about the dangers that imperil sea turtles and other marine wildlife. If any of you know of a possible location, please contact me. Image below.
In October 2015, Artists for Conservation, an international wildlife fine art conservation organization, awarded me the AFC Monthly Conservation Artist Award, for my work with sea turtle projects, volunteering on sea turtle patrols and creating this project. In 2017, Artists for Conservation awarded me, their Environmental Statement Award in Sculpture for my first sculpture in a new grouping of conservation cast glass sea turtles. The title of the sculpture is:
“You’re Killing Me: Oceanic Assassins – Propellers and Plastic. Image below. This sculpture is the first in a group of 6 to 9 sculptures that will address perils that face sea turtles in the ocean and on the beach daily. Concurrently, I am working on a coral reef commission and been certified as a PADI Open Water Diver. This will allow me to work with sea turtles in the ocean as well as on the beach. The point of the art work and the sea turtle conservation work is to draw the observer into the beauty of the cast glass sculpture, while imparting a lesson as to what is happening with sea turtles, and what we can do to help them.
This last February I was honored to participate as an exhibitor in my first Southeastern Regional Sea Turtle Meeting in Myrtle Beach, SC. I plan to participate In the International Sea Turtle Symposium in Charleston, SC., in 2019. This last February I was privileged to watch post operation procedures on sea turtles at a sea turtle hospital on the east coast. As is has been said – it was a life changing moment. Currently I am house hunting in Florida, where I can be more active in all sea turtle aspects and have my conservation models close at hand.
Here is the link to the pdf on my website /…/Cycle_of_Life_Presentation.…
Here is a link to a Cycle of Life video on my website /2016/10/08/turtle/
