Artists, Art and Climate Change

In the last few months I've been thinking about studying and documenting the way artists are now engaging with climate change, and the organisations, exhibitions and websites springing up around this. For example, I've just been asked to come to a meeting of Meld (http://www.meld.cc/#/why/) , a group of artists and filmmakers who've started a "collaborative catalyst" for social change... (to tell you the truth, I have something else to say about the THOUSANDS of collaborative catalysts for social change that exist now, but not here!) Art engaging with climate change interests me because like other flurries of interest, no-one seemed to be doing it and now everyone is, it seems - the wave of consciousness again.  Having said that, I was surprised at the Venice Biennale 2009 how few artists were actually engaging with the topic of climate change. Envrionmentalist artists particularly appeal to me. Artists have a new take on it all, and it's refreshing. It's not preachy, as you might have thought, and some of it is very entertaining.. So I've been to visit the Royal Academy's exhibition -

Earth: Art of a changing world

3 December 2009 - 31 January 2010

The Royal Academy of Arts presents GSK Contemporary 2009, the second annual contemporary art season at 6 Burlington Gardens. Opening this December, Earth: Art of a changing world will present new and recent work from more than 30 leading international contemporary artists, including commissions and new works from the best emerging talent. Some of my faves: I'm going to have to put these in later.. After this, Cape Farewell's expeditions to the Arctic are well worth a look too. http://www.rethinkclimate.org/exhibition http://www.artsandecology.org.uk/your-space/directory http://www.ecoartsonline.org/about_ecoarts.php
Tagged Arty Green Stuff

Favourite Photographers: Yann Arthus-Bertrand

Everyone likes this one. He's been documenting our planet and people for years and his photos are life-affirming, shocking, breath-taking.He also founded a not-for-profit organisation devoted to sustainability. http://www.goodplanet.org/en/ www.yannarthusbertrand.org
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Nicaraguan charity work

In 2003 I spent time working for a charity in Nicaragua. In this very poor village in the North, we toiled in heat and dust to create a community centre with the villagers. Their village is part of a Cooperative which used to produce sesame oil for The Body Shop, so they all asked me if I was friends with Anita Roddick. A year later, I met her to get a vox pop from her about plastic bags, and was able to convey their messages personally.. I had planned to make a film about them - but in the end I could not get a good enough camera, plus I was working far too hard to have spare time. Pity..but I did take 3000 photos.
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More photos of Nicaragua here:

What should I do???

Here's what I want: better job security (contracts of 6months or more) decent salary of ultimately 45k or over like-minded people- culturally aware, educated, maybe a bit bohemian possibility of travel to feel at the forefront of something - developing exciting projects pension and normal benefits eg 25 days hol and flexi time, maternity leave like normal people get environmental awareness/ change/ and sustainability at heart of job maybe one day teaching /facilitating in the area I've learned Hours which allow me at least some nights a week to have a life / do creative evening classes One day be able to take the skills abroad to live elsewhere??? (with husband and children obviously) would i like to be my own boss / run my own business ? ************************************************************************************ Here's what I'm interested in researching: landscape architecture - what's a career in it involve, why am I attract - bigger picture of sustainable urban planning, unites architecture with nature, project based yet permananent job? out and about? teaching as a career. What would teach and what type school? How would I survive financially while studying? What would I earn? What would life be life? How dynamic? programme/development managing for sustainable trusts / ngos - eg Ashden Awards. be an eco-property developer make a radio programme about teenage bereavement (but ultimately I dont think radio will provide the answers as presumably same problems as tv. (unless I get a lifelong job in BBC, unlikely) If I stay in TV production: I don't feel I have the confidence or motivation to be a director. I feel too old. It's a young person's industry. I imagine myself with children and this career cannot be done with children in my opinion. I have seen the way women over 40 are treated. I need to be a biggish/medium fish in a smaller pond. I would always be at the beck and call of others, not being able to plan out my year (holidays etc) in advance. I'd be an underling, working till god knows what time of night - (and if I didnt, i wouldnt be employed at all) never earning any more than a crappy weekly rate, with no incentive to earn more money as the bigwigs are making it all off MY back. It is well acknowledged that the industry is flooded with young people willing to undercut. That conditions are bad. that if you want to make money you have to start your own production company, build it up then sell it. I am not likely to do that. I know I'm a jack of all trades, perhaps master of none, but I feel very claustrophic if I feel trapped. Why do I feel trapped? Is it really trapped, or is it scared becuase it's difficult? Do i just think I should escape because something else might be easier, because this is how i respond to obstacles? Maybe partially, but also partially I realise i don't LOVE tv, in fact I prefer Radio as a medium nowadays to explore subjects in enough depth. Here's what (I think) I want to do: (personal projects) (NOT in order of want) research and record my mum's friends in audio interviews research female teenage bereavement and get in touch with contributors - construct a story which weaves in my own experiences research Zizzie's roots too research design and write a cookery book on street foods of the world plan permaculture gardens for the community to run, set up a website for it.. re-learn Spanish OR Italian more art and self-expression - silver clay jewellery making, art foundation, painting and sculpture write for my BLOG.  Family tree and memorials, House refurbs before and after, reviews on vintage shops, green roofs and environmental stuff transition town projects: green roof night ? Developing iphone apps : want to do proper augmented reality guidebooks for journeys/ cities based on themes. Educational, entertaining, green, etc Green cities guide : either as iphone app or podcast - how to make money, get funding develop / research it. Edit THE green movement encyclopedia: documenting the green movement of the 20th and 21st century, a Who's Who of significant books, people, and organisations, along with timeline of events and essays on various topics eg   history locating changes attitudes to our environment within the context of the history of humanity!. Also a further section design and make my garden design kit and poster for garden designers (actually maybe not feeling this today) Further things taking my attention: Green party asking me to be a local counsellor Transition town website and running the groups Here's what I'm good at / transferable skills: doing up houses, property investment creative and arty, good head for web design and phtography people person - charm, persuasion etc organising and project management (although no formal project management skills) lateral thinking good knowledge of history and art and culture and travel Green movement knowledge and connections archive producer knowledge having ideas (but not necessarily following through) including entrepreneurial cooking and food art teacher? facilitating art? art therapy? Practical things to do : get a life coach build my personal website (stalling because not sure what I want it to say professionally) paint kitchen units (And get rid of old) paint tv chest and change knobs get dining room table (no money at the mo) finish garden planting and revise for next year transition town green roof event? If I won the lottery: Buy and do up ec0 house - britain or italy. (or both) - want to understand the process and then somehow devise a way to make easier for others or become an eco-property developer. Start a teenage bereavement charity (actually there is one - investigate) Start a charity for Rome's gypsy children (Get VERY fit and healthy and have a personal trainer every day) devote more time to community activities - green awareness stuff eg permaculture gardens. set up a really funky community centre in an architecturally amazing building, with organic cafe, trestle tables, library, allotment/ growing lessons, yoga, etc. learn an instrument sing more language and art classes daily! Do an art foundation / degree a professional cookery course - eg Pru Leith's

Grandpa Steven

John Steven Watson was born in 1916 on Tyneside, England. He was educated at Merchant Taylors' School, winning a scholarship to St John's College, Oxford where he took a first in History, in 1939.
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He served during the Second World War in the Ministry of Fuel and Power, becoming Private Secretary to the Minister, Mannie Shinwell. After 1945, he returned to Oxford as Lecturer, Student and Tutor of Christ Church where he established an international reputation as an eighteenth-century constitutional Historian. In 1966, he succeeded Sir T Malcolm Knox as Principal of the University of St Andrews, at a critical time for the institution. The University of Dundee was to be established by Royal Charter, in 1967, and the University of St Andrews was poised to rise or fall independently. Watson's vision was of an international community of scholars concerned with pure scholarship but never turning its back on the world, an institution large enough to be varied and viable and to withstand buffeting from external events. He was in fact, the last Principal of the University of St Andrews to be appointed by the Crown, as the Education (Scotland) Act of 1981, vested the power of appointment in the University Court. His Principalship saw the salvation of pre-clinical medicine through the Manchester agreement, the development of the Social Sciences (especially Psychology), the building of a new library, the revival of St Leonard's College and the opening of an art centre. He also strove to build up the undergraduate population, enabling the University to survive the cuts of 1980-1989. One of his great successes was the strengthening of the concept of St Andrews as an international university. The overseas student population grew and he travelled widely to advertise the virtues of the University and to seek support. He was a tireless and effective ambassador for the University abroad and the contacts he made bore fruit. Thus the Robert T Jones Memorial Trust was established, and exchanges with students of Emory University, Atlanta took place. Watson had a welcoming, warm personality and was renowned for his sense of humour and improvisation. He cared deeply about students as individuals and as scholars. He was devoted to his family and relied greatly on his wife. He announced that he was to retire on 30 September 1986, but in fact died in June 1986. http://www.gashe.ac.uk:443/isaar/P0290.html http://www.headington.org.uk/oxon/stgiles/tour/west/37.htm

vehicle to grid systems

altogeth transportation accounts for 1/4 of greenhouse gasea

Local supermarkets and what to do with them

I wish people would use their local shops more and not go to supermarkets so much. And I don't mean the posh new shops, I mean the ones that have been there all along. Living near the Harrow Road, we've got the Jamaican corner shop or the Indian or the Lebanese and I can get 20 times the amount of fennel seeds I could get in a supermarket, for 1 fifth of the price, or yoghurt, for half the price of Sainsbury's, or waaaaaay better value vegetables, or nuts and seeds, or honeyed baklava, or olives, or yam with the shopkeeper telling me what to do with it, and the shopkeeper knowing me. Perhaps when I've got time I could start an awareness campaign as part of our local transition movement. (www.ttkensaltokilburn.ning.com) Or I could film a portrait of the local shopkeepers and their lives here. Or get them to demo their family recipes on camera in their homes.

Lofty Visions

I thought, maybe I could have a lovely light and airy loft one day, with painted white floorboards and lots of old furniture - it could be my art studio / office.
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Leukaemia

What's leukaemia and why did my mother get it? The word Leukemia comes from the Greek leukos which means "white" and aima which means "blood". It is cancer of the blood or bone marrow (which produces blood cells). A person who has leukemia suffers from an abnormal production of blood cells, generally leukocytes (white blood cells). The DNA of immature blood cells, mainly white cells, becomes damaged in some way. This abnormality causes the blood cells to grow and divide chaotically. Normal blood cells die after a while and are replaced by new cells which are produced in the bone marrow. The abnormal blood cells do not die so easily, and accumulate, occupying more and more space. As more and more space is occupied by these faulty blood cells there is less and less space for the normal cells - and the sufferer becomes ill. Quite simply, the bad cells crowd out the good cells in the blood. So why does this happen? Why did my mother get it? Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia is the only form of leukaemia that is commonest in childhood (under 15 years of age). Adult ALL is most common between the ages of 15 to 25 and in those over 75 years. ALL is slightly more common in males than in females at all ages. SO.... either children under 25 or in old people, mostly male, over 75. So why did a 44 year old otherwise healthy female get it? The cause(s) of ALL are unknown in most instances. The only clearly identified risk factor for adults is exposure to very high radiation levels such as those seen after the atom bomb explosions in Japan in 1945. Very few people in the Western world are exposed to levels of radiation high enough to increase the risk of leukaemia. No other chemical or physical exposure has been clearly shown to increase the risk of adult ALL. Radiation? The only clearly unidentified factor for adults? Was my mother near any radiation? We did live in the capitals of China and Malaysia for the 10 years before her death...but I'm not sure she was exposed to very high radiation levels there. She wove in platelet colours of yellows and reds, knitting love and hope into rugs and hangings Picking lichen from trees, Collecting colours of the Earth Dyeing the wool in pans. Her friend brought some red (skimpy) knickers. (I don't know if she ever wore them) Encouraging the little red platelets to grow strong The jolly red mantra to get Mama better.
SYMPTOMS: Anaemia (lack of red blood cells). This causes fatigue, breathlessness, and a low platelet count, which causes bruising, bleeding of mucus membranes and the gut, and low normal blood cells causing fever and persistant infections. Signs? Fatigue, night sweats, weight loss, itching, breathlessness, bruising, recurrent infections, bone pain, enlarged lymph glands persisting for six weeks... And all before you've started taking all the chemotherapy drugs. And before your body has really begun to break down.

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