Twitter Contest for World Water Day

Attention Writers and Tweeters!  

You may have heard that Art for Water is hosting Water Jam, an event to raise awareness about inequitable/unsustainable water issues, raise money for local and global water NGOs, and to celebrate, the vitality, beauty, and significance of water.  Local talent will be performing music, short stories, and poetry directly about or inspired by water. 

We are inviting the twittersphere to add their voice to our mission. 

Art for Water is hosting a contest through twitter.  

We are searching for unique, creative, and inspiring words about water; bring an issue to light, spark an intriguing inquiry, ask a question, offer a solution, move us, make us remember water in our lives.  We will be accepting entries from 12:00AM EST February 22 through 12:00PM EST March 18.  The winner will be announced on World Water Day, March 22, at Water Jam, 7:00PM EST. Standout tweets will be displayed during our multimedia event and will be highlighted online, through video, and in a slideshow.   

Feel free to enter more than once!  We will contact the winner to send a prize.

Please submit your entry through twitter using:

@ArtforH2O

 #ContestWhyShouldWeCareAboutWater

Water Jam: Call For Talent

Friday, March 22, 2013, in coordination with World Water Day sponsored by UN-Water, Art for Water, is hosting a Water Jam!  Help us to bring awareness to inequitable and unsustainable water issues locally and around the world.  We are seeking local talent to share their passion for water through music, poetry, and storytelling about or inspired by WATER.  Please email us to describe your performance and submit original stories or poetry, or notify us of your choice to perform someone else’s piece.  If you are musically inclined, please forward us a demo if possible, or we can arrange to meet to hear you.  We will be making final choices by Sunday, February 17^th and we will advise you of the set list. 

Small bites and refreshments will be served.  Admission is free- donations encouraged, which will be given to global water NGO Pure Water for the World, and local NGOs to protect our river and watershed.

Thank you for your effort and spirit!  Be on the lookout for other ways to participate in World Water Day and Art for Water’s Water Jam and other projects!

Water Jam

Friday, March 22, 2013

7:00PM – 9:00PM

Colonial Corner

Next to Colonial Theatre on Main Street in Downtown Keene

Great Hope from Great Brook School

Today I spent a few hours with a group of junior high students at the Great Brook School in Antrim, NH who are involved in an Environmental Leadership Club after school to learn about careers in sustainability. They visit local farms and businesses as well as inviting guest speakers to come to the school. Jenn Sutton of the Harris Center for Conservation Education in Hancock runs the club and invited me to speak to the students about Art for Water. As the group was small – only 6 – the presentation was informal and dynamic. These students were engaged, thoughtful, curious, compassionate, and creative. We could have talked all day, but our time was limited. Participation in the Stream of Conscience project was enthusiastic with written contributions reflecting the global water issues we discussed. One student wrote, "Water is now a concern for me and I think I want to help with it." Encountering such thoughtful children gives me great hope for the future.

Wash Your Car and Wash Away Thirst

Jesse with his cousin, Daron, in front of the Valiant

When my son, Jesse, was a child, one of the ways that I entertained him was going to the car wash. For a few dollars we could ride through a tunnel of dancing rubber, whirling brushes and extreme water. "A car wash is one of the few places within the civilized world where one can scream one's head off and not alarm others," I instructed him. So as soon as our '64 Valiant lurched into the downpour we would start screaming, then laughing, and not stop until the car was spit out at the end of the tunnel. We would emerge exhilarated and the car would be clean, even though it was beyond it's ability to shine. Jesse would often say, "When I grow up I'm going to buy a car wash," and I never doubted him.

Jesse is now the proud owner of ENVI Auto Care in Portsmouth, NH. Within weeks of his ownership he discovered a Rotary-sponsored program called Wash Away Thirst (www.washawaythirst.org) that provides clean drinking water to those in need throughout the world.  ENVI Auto Care is the first car wash in NH to sign up for this innovative program, which means that every car washed at ENVI will provide one day of clean water to one person. Since starting Art for Water, Jesse's heard all about the millions of people who die every year from preventable, water-related diseases because they do not have access to clean water. As a result, he is mindful of water conservation, environmental standards, and global water issues. When he found out about Rotary International's efforts, he jumped at the chance to support a program that alleviates suffering and raises awareness of this critical humanitarian crisis.

If you're in Portsmouth, NH, check out ENVI Auto Care and take part in the Wash Away Thirst program. The next time you go to another car wash, ask the attendant if they belong to Wash Away Thirst. And if they don't, keep asking until they sign up.

New York Aquarium Hit Hard by Sandy

Karsten Moran for The New York Times

The New York Aquarium in Brooklyn will be closed indefinitely because of the severe damage caused by Hurricane Sandy. Throughout the buildup to and the duration of the storm, I kept thinking of the Aquarium and wondering how they would manage to keep all 12,000 fish and marine mammals safe, especially the walruses who stole my heart last summer. Fortunately, the only victims were 150 koi carp who were outside in temporary holding tanks because their exhibit was being renovated. The staff worked tirelessly to ensure that all of the other fish and sea mammals survived the flooding and power outages. http://www.nyaquarium.com/multimedia/slideshows/homepage-sandy-damage.aspx

In June, Art for Water was the visiting artist for the Aquarium's first art exhibition – Amaze-ing Water. Christine Badalamenti, Noel Greiner, and I spent 3 days working with hundreds of Aquarium visitors to create Wave of Words for the group art exhibit. We were stationed in the Ocean View room, a magnificent second-floor open-air setting overlooking the beach, the walrus tank, and surrounding the top of the main fish tank. What better place to write about water with the breeze carrying the smell of salt air? We lucked out with perfect weather and an enthusiastic crowd.

I can only wonder what the future might be for the New York Aquarium housed right along the historic coastline of Coney Island. Art for Water had the memorable experience of sharing its message and exploring the significance of the relationship between saltwater and freshwater with the visiting patrons and local community. Now it appears that relationship is ever more tenuous and important to consider as the ocean recedes and locals clean up after Sandy. Will there be a New York Aquarium on the boardwalk at Coney Island? What should the Aquarium do as Climate Change threatens to bring the tides even further ashore? We are grateful that Art for Water could participate in the first art exhibition at the New York Aquarium on the boardwalk of Coney Island, hopefully it will not be the last.

Click on the link above to see how you can help the New York Aquarium.

From Paper to Rubber: Stream of Conscience Goes Outdoors at Montshire Museum of Science

Typically Stream of Conscience is made out of paper, lots of it. But when David Goudy, Director of Montshire Museum of Science, asked me if an outdoor version would be possible, I said, "Sure!" without knowing how it could be done. My first idea was to re-purpose plastic detergent bottles, but the process of collecting, cleaning, and cutting was daunting. Also, the waves that could be cut from the bottles would be small and the colors are brash. Next bright idea was Marmoleum, a flooring product made out of sawdust, linseed oil, and dye. But it wouldn't hold up to the weather. I had difficulty accepting this because the product is beautiful and comes in many colors, but I couldn't get anyone to agree that it was a good idea to use. Finally, after lurking in a flooring store knowing that there had to be something that would work, the attendant brought out solid rubber floor tile samples! They turned out to be easy to cut, thanks to can-do, cabinet-maker Curtis Mead, and come in a range of beautiful colors. And, they are weather-proof. The next challenge was finding markers that would not only hold up to the elements, but also come off so the tiles can be re-used. I had only two tile samples: one navy and one gray. I wrote all over both of them with China Markers that I've had for at least 25 years and put the tiles outside. The writing held up beautifully and the marks rubbed right off.  Bingo!  Not so fast . . .When the new batch of China Markers came in they were nothing like my antique models. Not only were they not as rich and difficult to peel, but also solvent was needed to get them off the tiles. And, each color behaved a little differently. Disappointed with the quality, I sought out other brands and other marker options but found that each color behaved uniquely in all markers tested. After much trial and error, I settled on metallic Sharpies to supplement Berol China Markers (the best brand I could find, but nowhere near as good as my old ones). When I finally got all of the tiles – 22 different colors – each tile color responded uniquely to each marker type and color. Yikes. Thank you, Citra-Solve, the one consistent product in this process.

Bye Bye Broussard, Hello Badalamenti!

Christine Badalamenti, an Environmental Studies Master’s Candidate at Antioch University New England, will be joining Art for Water this summer.  Christine will be picking up where Will Broussard left off, helping with exhibitions, community outreach and social media, proposal writing, and anything Art for Water needs!

Christine grew up on Long Island, New York.  Surrounded by development and small parks, her only connection to wild places was the Atlantic Ocean, and a few summers spent in the Pocono Mountains, Pennsylvania.  Christine went from studying Theater and Photography in high school to English and Philosophy in college.  Always she longed to return to the ocean and the trees.  Now in her second year of Master’s Candidacy she is learning how to communicate her passion for environmental advocacy through all she has learned, and looks forward to gaining a deeper understanding of how Art for Water gracefully accomplishes this task.

Christine will be very busy with Art for Water’s two exciting artist in residencies this summer.   She looks forward to sharing this journey with all of you and hopes everyone will be following along.

Art for Water wishes Will all the best as he has relocated to North Conway, New Hampshire, where he has taken a job as Outreach Coordinator for the Mount Washington Observatory.  He will be providing climate and weather-based educational programs for students both in the White Mountains region and across the US.  He is sad to leave Art for Water, and has promised to return to Harrisville for visits.

Mount Washington Observatory Weather Discovery Center