# 3 Boxed

The habitats of the creatures of the Amazon are being squeezed into smaller and smaller spaces due to man's never ending appetite for food and goods. I decided to collect photos of as many animals from the Amazon as I could and collage them between circular amber gels, (the color represents cultivation,) and then hang them in a wooden box to show their confinement. The two wire hands grabbing at them are man's greed, and the red and orange fire flames at the top of the square shows the mode of destruction. Over this piece is an eye made with green gel which surrounds the pupil that is a reduced image of the animals below. The green gel represents the naive idealism of 'green advocates' like me.

# 16 Out of Reach

The ice is melting in the Artic Ocean, and soon there will be nothing but open water during the summer months. This extraordinary phenominum is happening at a much faster rate than the scientists had predicted. The white arctic ice cap has always reflected the suns rays back into the atmosphere, allowing the temperatures to stay seasonably normal. Now with the open dark water the heat from the sun is being absorbed by the sea, raising the temperature of the water and surrounding atmosphere. This increased temperature is effecting not only the melting of the ice but also the thawing of the tundra in the far north. A vast amount of methane gas is stored in the tundra, and as it awakens the methane gas is being released into the atmosphere. Methane is much more damaging then CO2 in heating up the planet and the effect is to accelerate global warming at an even more alarming rate.

The polar bear has become a metaphor for the disruption of the natural balance in the Arctic. Their food of choice are the seals and they have relied for centuries on the ice flows to get out to their hunting grounds. Now with so little ice available for haul outs, they are forced to swim inordinate distances to find a meal. Aerial photos have show the mighty bear swimming in the vast open ocean, no longer concerned about it's hunger but instead frantic to find an ice flow to keep from drowning. This sculpture shows a wire polar bear holding onto a sliver of ice/wood in a vast sea of green and blue gels.

# 4 Lung Tree

The forests of the world are getting cut down for man's use. The rain forests in particular are vital to the well being of the planet. They absorb CO2 and give out Oxygen. The forests use to be vast and dense and actually created their own weather patterns. Now they are being destroyed to open up the land for cattle ranching and farming. The trees of the rain forests are considered the lungs of the world. The idea that trees are like lungs gave me the idea to make a lung tree. Using the shape of human lungs as leaves I have created a tree in the process of collapse, to be symbolic of the destruction going on in the worlds rain forests.

# 5 Freeing Wahine

Our old faithful dog Wahine, finally reached the end of her life. She was loyal to the end with Dick her beloved master. They had a special relationship and were constant companions. At the end of her life she was in considerable pain and had dementia which added to the sad state of her being. This piece is about the freeing of her spirit, represented by the spirals in the center of the sculpture. The three main vertical pieces of wood are the three of us. I've been really struck by how with animals the only way you can tell if they are gone is by the lack of movement from their breathing lungs or the light in their eyes. Wahine's lungs are shown fading in color as she enters the earth. Dick and I both have green healthy lungs. The dark gray gels are for the sadness we both were feeling at the loss of a very important member of our family.

# 15 High Water

We are in the middle of the Copenhagen Climate Change conference with 197 countries represented. Three of us got together over the weekend to stand with and demonstrate for the 350.org global grass roots movement to push our government representatives in Denmark to act now and commit to a strategy that will reduce the global emissions and bring our planet back into a more sustainable balance. Now in the middle of the second week of meetings it appears that business as usual is taking place and no agreement worth it's salt will be reached. According to the vast majority within the scientific community, this is our last chance to get our act together. To me what is most depressing about Climate Change is that it is literally last on the priority of concerns for Americans. Anyway with that said, my piece for the week is about the rising water associated with the great melt that is happening world wide. I found a piece of wood that looks like a roof top. CO2 is floated outside the roof and the green blue gels represent the high water that is flooding the house. New Orleans comes to mind...

# 14 And Baby Makes Three

My son Sam and his wife Gillian are expecting their first baby in about two weeks. Everyone is very excited. Sandie and Chet just welcomed their first grandchild Ruby, who joined Abby and Aaron, her loving family, a few days ago. New life is in the air everywhere and we are all thrilled to embrace a new member to our growing family. I'm struck by how each new generation of children carry the best of what each of their parents have to offer. It is a wonderful thing to see evolution unfold. This latest piece came about because of all the excitement and expectation of new life. I found this piece of wood recently while on a beach walk and was immediately struck by how much it resembled a fetus cozing up to it's life source. So here it is in it's warm little room next to the stick mother's stomach.

#13 Melt Water

Glaciers are melting all over the planet. Green Land and both poles are contributing vast quantities of fresh water into the sea. The melt water is changing the salinity and temperature of the sea water which in turn is affecting the Gulf Stream by slowing its movement down. Should the Gulf Stream, which effects weather patterns in the Atlantic, actually stop its circulation, extreme weather patterns would increase and Europe would be thrown into an ice age. This piece is about glaciers the color of the ice at it breaks off and "calves" into the sea. The darker green horizontal section is the Gulf Stream, and the dark blue the constant dripping of melt water into the sea.

# 6 Felling Sequoia

# 6 Felling Sequoia

Sequoia, was the nickname given to my husband Dick when we were on a trip to Central America. At 6'5" he towered over most of our Nicaraguan friends. Unfortunately over the course of our marriage he has been plagued with multiple physical problems. His latest was a tumor in his salivary gland. Fortunately it was benign and did not effect the nerves that control the facial muscles. That was happy news that allowed him to dodge yet another bullet. However this last operation, coupled with all the others has taken its toll. This piece is about him and where he has been cut. He was feeling overwhelmed by yet another operation and a bit down, note the dark gels. I'm the second piece of wood with the lighter gels trying to encourage and hold him up.

#7 Dolly Dune

I found this piece of driftwood wedged into a Squibnocket sand dune. It looked like a female torso and with added arms positioned in such a way it fit the bill. I was feeling low and uninspired when I put this piece together. Her anguished face surprised me when I was studying the piece of wood. I think in hindsight what she represents is the extreme aloneness that we all can feel. The loosening of the coiled connection between the soul and groin and the dissipated passion coming from the head speaks to the loss of intimacy and imbalance of your center. However as we all know the human spirit needs hope and inspiration from our power source and that is what the yellow wires represent. The waves of sadness flutter by in the form of gray feathers.

Heavy....

By the way I feel much better now.

Onward

#12 Acidification

Acidification, or the changing of the pH to a more acid chemistry is happening in our oceans. I few years ago I heard a lecture on the amount of CO2 from emissions going into the atmosphere. At that point it was 700 billion tons a year. The oceans are the earths natural sponges for CO2 and they were at the time absorbing 500 billion tons, leaving 200 billion floating up into the atmosphere. Since that lecture it seems the balance of our oceans is becoming gradually more acidic. Who cares you might be thinking, but in truth it does ultimately effect you and the rest of us. What this new chemistry balance is doing is affecting any sea creature with a shell. That includes the krill whose shells are not developing with the strength needed for the creatures to survive to adulthood. They are the main source of food for the whales and feed a multitude of other sea life as well. They are the bottom of the food chain. The new chemistry is also effecting the coral reefs, weakening their structural integrety and ultimately will reduce them to slimy rubble. Right now they protect a huge number of land masses from the harch onslaught of the ocean's force and are the nursery habitats for baby sea life.
This piece is about the dying coral reefs and the fish food chain ending with our fork.

#8 350

A giant international grassroots movement took place on October 24, 2009 called 350.org

People all over the world in 181 countries held up 350 signs in solidarity with this movement to reduce CO2 emissions into the atmosphere. Everyone went to the 350.org website to sign up to be counted and included, when their names are taken to the World Climate Change conference in Copenhagen in December to be shared with the world leaders. The world can tolerate 350 parts per million of CO2 in its atmosphere, before catastrophic things related to extreme weather conditions happens. We are currently at 387 ppm. Do I feel an urgency to spread the word.. You bet!

This piece is hung at an angle to show the tipping point. The three sticks lashed together are smoke stacks with black wires representing smoke and the CO2 emissions. The green wire and green gels are the earths atmosphere which is being pierced. The numbers 350 are at the bottom of these sticks.

#11 Bickering

This piece was created out of frustration for all the pettiness that takes place at the expense of the big picture. The tiny red and blue wires facing off, represent the bickering that takes place between the Democrats and Republicans, or liberals and conservatives. Talk is endless and cheap, meanwhile the blue and green gels are the huge waves all around the wooden/ land. As my sister is fond of saying, "Mother Nature bats last!"

#9 Splayed

I was carrying a lot of uncertainty for several reasons, at the time I created this piece. We had just come back from Florida where Dick found this beautiful little figurative piece of wood. It's fragility reminded me of how I was feeling and the wire hand bearing down represents the claustrophobic confusion. The dark gels are thoughts and a little bit of fear.

#10 Squeezed

This piece is about individual liberties and home rule, vs 'Big Brother's' government control. It is specifically about the island of Martha's Vineyard and the compromise that is taking place with the wind turbines that are going to be placed around the island. Each end of the drift wood has concentric circles that represent individual liberties and island autonomy. The feathered wings on both sides are the obstructed views, caused by the whirling blades, and the large wire turbine on the top is government imposed renewable energy. All told there will probably be 130 turbines off the north shore of the island and 160 off the south shore.

Outside In Designs

This is the beginning of my involvement in the Time Project, created by Sandie Fenton
My over all subject is Climate Change, and my theme is Wake Up. The materials that I am using over and over for 52 weeks are drift wood, electric wire, and theater gels. We started this project on September 1, 2009. We are all (14 artists) creating 52 pieces over the course of a year. Each week we try and pay close attention to our feelings as we are creating. Once a month we meet to show our work and discuss our process.