This cistern mural was the Capstone Project Emily Howard and I did for the California Naturalist course. The fifth grade students at Ord Terrace School in Seaside did most of the painting with our guidance. Cisterns capture rain water for use in the garden, thus reducing the need to pump from an aquifer. They help reduce the load of water entering a storm drain system that can overflow during a rainstorm. Storm water easily overloads the system In cities because the cities are primarily cement and asphalt. The rain water cannot sink into the ground as it did before the area grew into a city. Birds and all wildlife, of course, depend on clean ecosystems just as people do. The painting of the mural was made possible, in part, by MontereySEA.org and Maris Sidenstecker of savethewhales.org. Emily Howard organized it through her affiliation with Return of the Natives Restoration project. The tank was donated by CalAm. If you have cisterns or are planning on installing them where you live and work, have fun painting them...a wonderful way to share how beautifully functional they are! If you live in the Monterey Bay area, Paola would be happy to create a commissioned mural for you! If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water." Loren Eiseley
I am taking a course to become a certified California Naturalist. Ann Wasser, our teacher for the course at the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History, told us about local author, scientist and educator, Elin Kelsey, who has been inspiring children and adults for many years about the natural world and creativity. Her most recent book that has just come out is Wild Ideas. It is a book about how animals solve problems creatively. Check out her website for many other inspiring books and ways of approaching the environmental challenges we face in fun and engaging ways.
The paintings are proving to be excellent tools for educating and inspiring people about the project and the work being done to help the river. I was at the MEarth Day event this past Saturday where people expressed their appreciation for this series of paintings.
I plan on doing interviews and painting portraits of people involved in this project as well as continuing to document the stages of the construction and restoration of the project area. Donations in support of this painting project are gratefully accepted. Contact Paola through this website. Thank you. To learn more about RisingLeaf Watershed Arts, click here. Here is the full excavation of the mountain as seen from the platform at San Clemente Rancho. Imagine that there was a mountain there last year at this time! (from the long straight cut on the right to the cut on the left... that was all mountain! 342, 000 cubic yards of rock and earth, 200 feet high at the highest point on the right. First pass on the painting started on April 1, 2015. Second pass painted today, April 4, 2015 from 8:30 am - 12:30 p.m. The painting is not quite finished in this photo. (You can see the first stages of this excavation in the June 2014 blog post.) I will be doing more paintings from this location when the water is drained in a couple weeks in preparation for taking the dam down at the end of the summer. The subsequent paintings will show how deep the excavation is and the restoration to make the new river course with step pools for the steelhead. I have been recording the bird sounds and other sounds while i paint. When I come home, I then have my own soundtrack to listen to! I plan on using the sounds in exhibits when the series is complete. A quote by Robert Hass, poet, came to me in my inbox today from the Global Oneness Project/Cleary Vaughn-Lee: “The fundamental work of the 21st century has got to be river restoration, because all the rest of life depends on rivers. So the future is going to be a complicated combination of human art, human science, human engineering, and respect for an understanding of natural processes that make room for the rest of life to thrive.” After painting the excavation, I turned around to paint the sky lupin...so inviting, couldn't not paint it! This body of work is lovely and needs to be seen by the community. I'm envisioning that you will get an exhibition, the visibility and support for this project. - Marie Butcher
Just learned about artist John Sabraw and civil engineer professor Guy Riefler who are creating pigment from acid mine drainage. When it rains, rainwater seeps into abandoned, improperly sealed coal mines and leaks toxic water into streams and rivers in southeast Ohio. This makes the streams and rivers biologically dead. Through creating the paint, they are working towards remediating the streams and rivers and watershed.
You can read more about their work here and see the artwork John Sabraw is creating with the new paint they have created. Definitely watch the short video..another inspiring example of the power that artists and scientists have to help heal the world! I hope to paint from this vantage point when the river is being restored with step pools for the steelhead and plants to create new habitat. I hope to paint from this vantage point when the water has been drained from the reservoir (planned for April 15-May 5) to make way for the dam to come down this summer. Comments:
Ariane: The combination of photographs and paintings emerging from the scenery and developing over time is fascinating, Paola! Debbie S. It's really fun to see where and how you're able to do these incredible paintings. I hope Cal-Am is taking good notice of what you're doing! Carmel River Paradox, 2013
Painted March 30 and 31, 2013, when there was very little flow in the river in the winter when it should have been flowing abundantly. Last year it never reached this spot beyond Via Malllorca Bridge near the Rancho Canada Golf Course. This year the river fairs a bit better but without more substantial rain it is diminishing in its flow quickly...and it is only March. We will have another long dry summer ahead. How can you help the river in your daily life? Working here is filled with the sound of the constant rush of the river falling 100 feet to the plunge pool which is punctuated with loud random boom sounds coming from a device to keep birds from nesting in the trees across the lake just south of the dam. It is necessary to do this as the work season is going to start soon and some of the trees and rocks need to be taken out in order to be used for restoration in the river bed when the water is drained from behind the dam.
It is a real privilege to be painting from this vantage point and definitely historic! Driving through a thunderstorm at 4:45 yesterday..turned around and saw this incredible double rainbow.
So many people stopped to take pictures and marvel at it's beauty and grace. Amazing gift of rain and sun! |
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