TITLE: ChimpanzeeARTIST: Star Daubenmire
EBAY ID: starrgirlblue
Why I'm using my creativity to save the rainforest:
When our ACEO ebay group presented the subject "Endangered Species" as a theme for August 2008, I did some research to learn more about it. What I discovered was that not only particular plants and animals, but an entire ecosystem - the Rainforests of the Earth - are endangered. I learned that there is not just one rainforest, but rather there is a string of them running along the earth's equator where they maintain an average temperature of 80 degrees and receive approximately 200-400 inches of rain per year. This allows for a flourishing of life like no other place on earth.
The Rainforests have been around for milleniums, but our modern society has barely begun to explore their riches. In the meantime, humans have encroached into them to the point that more than half of their acreage has already been lost. It is understandable, on a local level, that the logging, farming and mining industries provide sustenance for the people who live in those areas. But the rainforest ecosystem represents a much larger picture that impacts all of earth's inhabitants. These forests are the source of life in so many ways! They provide 20% of the earth's oxygen and are a storehouse of medicinal plants. They are the natural habitat of a great percentage of the world's plants and animals. When we lose rainforest, we lose a source of life that sustains us all.
As an artist, I am an observer of details. I delve into the picture behind the picture so as to portray the essence of a thing. If I can understand anatomy and the structure of bone and muscle, then I can paint a life-like portrait. The viewer sees only the fleshly surface, but it is alive if it contains the structure beneath. In that same way, rainforests are part of our basic structure on earth. They sustain us whether we live in the tropics or in southwest Ohio. They contain unparallelled beauty and mysteries and species of life that are in some way connected to each of us.
Thus, I am extremely honored to be part of this art/quilt project that will raise funds to help preserve the rainforest. Our own small lives only become important when we can make a contribution that is bigger than ourselves. Through art, I have this opportunity to make a difference and I hope the quilt will not only grace someone's wall or bed, but it will help preserve a bit of our environment here on earth.
