Thursday, October 28, 2010

Bulb planting time

http://www.guerrillagardening.org/ggseedbombs.html
and time to toss some seeds into empty lots - instructions on the link above
(and some gorgeous pics from the site http://www.guerrillagardening.org

Here is how Wikipedia defines it:

Guerrilla gardening is gardening on another person's land without permission. It encompasses a very diverse range of people and motivations, from the enthusiastic gardener who spills over their legal boundaries to the highly political gardener who seeks to provoke change through direct action. It has implications for land rights, land reform. The land that is guerrilla gardened is usually abandoned or neglected by its legal owner and the guerrilla gardeners take it over ("squat") to grow plants. Guerrilla gardeners believe in re-considering land ownership in order to reclaim land from perceived neglect or misuse and assign a new purpose to it.
Some guerrilla gardeners carry out their actions at night, in relative secrecy, to sow and tend a new vegetable patch or flower garden. Some garden at more visible hours to be seen by their community. It has grown into a form of proactive activism or pro-activism.



Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Post 101 is about my #1 Favorite artist

It really starts here for me. Thinking back lately of things that I saw or experienced when I was young that made such lasting inspiration. Certainly seeing Howard Finster, the man and his vision and art, was one. Self taught, hard working and a great storyteller with a unique vision. Love it so much.

http://www.finster.com/HFBiography.htm

From the biography on his official site: "A little boy standing in the fields of sweet home in Alabama had his first vision at age three. Howard Finster looked up to see his sister come down from the clouds with steps appearing before her as she came and went, never touching the ground. Her name was Abby and he called to her. Little did he know that he had just seen his first vision. He grew up in a family of thirteen children, several siblings left him to be with Jesus before he was grown. At the age of sixteen he was called to preach. He started many tent revivals, and built several churches. He married Pauline and they raised five children. They have always been faithful to their marriage, to their children, and most of all, to the service of the Lord. Howard and Pauline would have been married sixty-six years October, 24, 2001, the day after he left to be with Jesus. The story is told that the Reverend Howard Finster gave up preaching because one Sunday night he asked who remembered his Sunday morning sermon. No one did. Now he reaches out to the congregation of the world."




 Howard created more than 46,000 pieces of art and created Paradise Gardens at his home in Somerville, GA.

Friday, October 1, 2010

The art of Richard Lange and Judith Selby Lange

In 1999 we started collecting plastic debris—carrying it away by the bagful— all from Kehoe Beach, a remote stretch of the Point Reyes National Seashore, in Northern California. Certain items would catch our interest: milk jug lids, combs, toy soldiers, disposable lighters, cheese spreaders from lunch snack packs. We were attracted to things that would show by their numbers and commonness what is happening in the oceans around the world.

The plastic we continue to find is not left by visitors; it is washing up from the ocean. Back in our studios we clean, sort and categorize the pieces according to color and kind. We use the plastic to make artworks including large sculptures, installations, photo tableaus and jewelry.

We are a collaborative team. Our love of nature is combined with our interest in science to produce an on-going series of art works about the oceans and the environment. While the content of our work has a message about the spoiling of the natural world by the industrial world, our final intent is aesthetic and celebratory.




Judith Selby Lang    Richard Lang

http://www.beachplastic.com/beach_plastic/What_and_Where.html