"The Frog Alchemist" - joy_found

TITLE: The Frog Alchemist
ARTIST: Joy Found
EBAY ID: joy_found

Why I'm using my creativity to save the rainforest ...

The ACEO Endagered Species theme week challenge appealed to me because I have been seeking the best place to put my energies to help the environment. As a family, we recycle, and compost, and garden, and nurture a wide host of wildlife on our acreage but I knew I had to do more. I do my best to be a living teacher, and teach by example with my kids and everyone I encounter, and I just didn't feel like I was doing enough with all the crisis our earth is facing.

When I was invited on board to help facilitate promotion of the Quilt due to my experiences with the National Kidney Foundation of Michigan fundraisers, I was thrilled. When you put out a request to the Universe, I find that you may not get what you expect, but do get exactly what you need, and this project to Save the Rainforest an acre at a time is in perfect synchronicity with my ACEO work and desire to "do more".

A few weeks before the challenge my sons and I had been picking black raspberries and to our joy were greeting by hundreds of bounding baby frogs. We captured about a hundred of them and released them speedily into our various herb and vegetable gardens we've planted around the home. It was a brilliant frog parade, and we had much fun introducing these fabulous creatures to our personal sanctuaries. Each of us has created our own meditation garden we visit daily, and many of the frogs have stayed to become inhabitants nestled in the rocks among the sedum and sunflowers, and other natural structures.

So, you may wonder why the Alchemist Frog? Well, with the preponderance of frogs on our property I began thinking that it was entirely within the realm of possibility that one day human beings would simply be material in jars to be studied by evolved frogs. As a species, humankind seems hell bent on destroying nature, and I firmly contend that the planet was here long before we were and will continue long after we are gone. That said, I would like it to be here, healthy, beautiful, and strong for long into the future. So, like the many frogs we saw that day, I am striving to leave a light footprint, with a strong message that the world is connected, and as we destroying one ecosystem in the name of "progress" we are likely destroying many opportunities for discovering ways to better our existence without harming the existing flora and fauna.

Mankind is not patient. I am trying to be patient, and realize that while I cannot change the entire world, I may be able to save a small portion of it. So, I contribute my art, and my time to help purchase Rainforest acreage. I just hope my efforts are timely enough, and that through the sale of this quilt our ACEO group will effect a positive change on the environment, and raise awareness of the need for everyone to "do more" and "do better".

We've decided to dedicate our fundraising donations to the Cosanga Valley Project. This is an area of exceptional biodiversity in Ecuador, where many of the plant species are endemic, or restricted to this area, including an astonishing variety of orchids, bromelaids, ferns and trees. Mammal species include the mountain tapir, ocelot and puma, and the area is home to 310 bird species, including 30 species of hummingbirds. The Cosanga Valley also hosts a variety of rare species such as the Peruvian Antpitta, Bicolored Antvireo and "San Isidro Owl" that is regularly found only in the Cosanga Valley.

Even though this Rainforest region is across the world from me, I think of it each morning as I sit and drink my tea looking at the beauty of my Baldans Kaleidoscope orchid, and watching the hummingbirds drink from the feeder (we have seven who visit us regularly this year). We are connected, all of us, all living things. This is such a simple truth, and with this ACEO quilt our group places that truth in the hearts of the artist's who have contributed. I hope if you've read to the end of this entry that you recognize this truth as well, and you are now willing to "do more" to help save the Rainforest and work in your own way to sustain life on earth.

"Too Late" - amarillo-choctaw

TITLE: Too Late
EBAY ID: amarillo-choctaw

Why I'm using my creativity to save the rainforest:

I am a registered member of the Choctaw Tribe. My father was Choctaw and my mother was White. There is an old Native American saying, “He who has one foot in the canoe and one foot in the boat, will fall in the water.” So, I chose to put my feet in the canoe.

I was born many winters ago near Bokchito, Oklahoma, on an Indian allotment. Bokchito is a Choctaw word which means “creek runs deep”. Oklahoma is also a Choctaw word meaning “land of red man”. Being Native American, I have strong feelings about taking care of the earth, the plants and animals given to us by the Great Spirit. Native Americans look at the plants and animals as “Our Friends”.

When I read about the Endangered Species Theme, I was drawn to contributing in my way, which was reproducing the artists’s cards onto fabric and making them into a quilt for auction. My interpretation for the quilt construction was approved by the Group. I chose a forest green color to frame the individual blocks of endangered species. The touch of yellow in the first border represents the sun and the outside border of light and dark blues are the waters and skies of night and day.

I feel very honored to be a part of this worthwhile project.

"Black Rhinoceros" - robertsloan2art

TITLE: "Black Rhinoceros"
ARTIST: Robert A. Sloan
EBAY ID: robertsloan2art

Why I’m using my creativity to save the rainforest...

I have several reasons. Let’s start with the coldest. I’m a living breathing mammal, a creature that would like to go on living and breathing. The lungs of the planet are the rainforests and oceans. Keeping them safe and producing oxygen means I will go on breathing, that my grandchildren will, that my own species isn’t rushing down the path to extinction.

I’m a science fiction writer. Let’s say we do as human beings figure out some technological solution to ensure our own survival, and my descendants wind up eating processed yeast in monolithic steel and concrete hives on a hyper-overpopulated Earth -- just us and our symbiotes, our domesticated species and the parasites we can’t get rid of. I wouldn’t want to see that future come because I am also a painter and a writer.

I want to know there are wild places in the world that no one goes, that belong to ocelots and pumas and tapirs. I want to know there’s something in the world that isn’t mapped, tabulated, counted and owned. That not all living creatures are property of some human being or other.

Some of the humans that live in rich wild places, hunter-gatherer cultures, call other species peoples. Baboons, pumas, birds, rhinos, are all peoples of different habits -- beings seen as owning themselves, not as property of humans. Buying land to protect some of these peoples from the encroachment of other humans is something they don’t need to understand. They will live well in their land.

I am deeply religious. My Earth-centered spirituality leads me to revere Mother Gaia... and to integrate that spiritual view with what some interesting scientists have said about a Gaia Hypothesis. This world’s entire ecosystem can be viewed as one organism, a being that is all genders and species at once, the sum of all that lives. If Gaia is healthy and thrives then we, all of us that are part of her, thrive too. I want to walk in beauty. I want to walk lightly with a small footprint in her bounty, avoiding the waste of so many first world lifestyles.

I often use recycled drawing paper or supplies from renewable sources like shortlived cotton and linen plants. I order things online instead of driving to stores. Our household consolidates errands and we rarely use the car. We did this before gas got that expensive because it made for less waste. When I get packages I reuse the packaging to pack up things I’m sending. We leave a lot less trash than most and enjoy life just fine, often saving money too. Every habit change makes a difference and they’re usually self rewarding.

In nature everything is recycled. No matter what falls or breaks or dies it becomes food for something, for mushrooms and scavengers, for plants and completes the cycle. I find this beautiful. There are molecules in my body that used to be part of a puma, an ocelot, a tapir, a hummingbird.

As an artist I love these creatures. I have personal favorites. My totem is a cougar. Pumas are cougars by another name. My totem lives on this land and knowing my brother is free down there is a joy to me. I love all cats. Ocelots are beautiful cats, they belong in their trees in their territories. I used to think it was a little selfish to love the top predators so much... until recent science proved that top predators are key to an ecosystem’s health. When pumas and ocelots have healthy territories, everything else in their range flourishes. Everything stays in balance.

I chose the animal I did to represent all endangered species by remembering where my species came from. Every American child grows up on African animals. My two year old grandson has blocks with lions, rhinos, elephants and giraffes on them. The Black Rhinoceros is severely endangered, all these animals are. Yet they are so deeply embedded in Western culture that they eclipse all of the big impressive animals of our own continent! You don’t see alphabet-book Moose and Wolf and Eagle nearly as often as Rhino, Elephant, Giraffe, Lion.

I think this is because our species originated in Africa. I think these are the animals we evolved to live near, to hunt and to avoid being hunted by. The world of our roots will be gone forever if we let the big animals of Africa go extinct. Generations of children may look at schoolbooks of centuries past and know their contents are as vanished as the dinosaurs -- and wonder why we didn’t stop before it was too late. I chose the Black Rhinoceros so that my grandson’s grandchildren would have rhinos on photo safaris, to know the world of our past is alive in the present.

Rhinoceros, puma, ocelot, lion, giraffe, cheetah, shark... all of these are part of who we are. In an ecosystem, diversity is stability. Diversity is flexibility if there’s a climate change or a natural disaster of any kind.

If we halt the destruction, we halt our own destruction as well, of soul as well as physical terrain. Humane answers and green technologies exist. The way to save the Earth is to begin with what’s in reach, what I can do as an individual. So I live green and give what is best of mine to give -- representational art. I painted this rhino the way a beaver sets a dam. Art is what only humans do. I am happy to create something that helps save the animal peoples. Rare ants, plants and beetles will survive because as an artist I love the rhino, orchid and puma.

"Loggerhead Turtle" - isablue123

TITLE: Loggerhead Turtle
EBAY ID: isablue123

Why I'm using my creativity to save the rainforest:

I have a BS degree in Zoology, and my favorite courses as a student were those dealing with biodiversity and ecology. I have been deeply affected by news of shrinking ecosystems and the devastating effects on some animal populations in the world, and even more appalled by reports on poaching that is putting at risk some of our closest relatives like chimpanzees and gorillas. It is estimated that 40% of all organisms are at risk (source: International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources). Many species could be going extinct unnoticed due to our careless exploitation of the world's resources.

When the ACEO ~ Art Cards editions and Originals group suggested "Endangered Species" as a monthly topic, I was thrilled! There was a chance to paint one of my favorite subjects. I never imagined that we would get together as a group to try and save a little piece of our planet. Starr, however, mentioned the efforts of the World Land Trust, an organization that purchases acres of rainforest to protect it for posterity. So far, the WLT has purchased and protected over 350,000 acres (142,000 hectares) of rainforest and other precious wildlife habitats worldwide (http://www.worldlandtrust.org/).

Starr proposed that interested members of our group contribute a portion of their "Endangered species" sales to purchase an acre or more of threatened wildlife habitat. She has been educating us on the extent of the problem, and her voice has been heard in the group. Char took the project one step further by volunteering to make a quilt based on the artwork submitted for the "Endangered species" theme week. All the contributing artists have graciously agreed to have their image reproduced for the quilt. Char generously donated her time, materials and talent to create this beautiful quilt that Starr will auction on eBay, with 100% of the proceeds going to the WLT. Joy stepped in to flesh out ideas to promote the sale of the quilt, and we have been working together to make this event happen. I am very excited to be part of this meaningful group effort that, for once, will change the world for the better!

ACEO - Art Card Editions and Originals

ACEO. You might be wondering what it is if you've never heard the acronym before. ACEO stands for Art Card Editions and Originals.

In the simplest terms, an ACEO is an artist trading card with horizontal or vertical size dimensions equal to 2.5" x 3.5".

This blog focuses on the group of more than 30 ACEO artists who have taken their creative pursuits one step further, to create a unique, one of a kind Endangered Species Quilt from reproductions of their art on cloth that have been carefully woven together to create a tapestry unlike any you will find elsewhere on the planet!

The Endangered Species quilt is being crafted to benefit the World Land Trust non-profit charity. 100% of the auction final sales price will be donated to the World Land Trust to purchase endangered Rainforest acreage and conserve it for our future generations. We anticipate the quilt will be completed and ready for auction in October or November of 2008. Please watch the blog for updates.

In the meantime, we've started this blog so you can view each piece of art that has been donated to this project to save the Rainforest, and learn more about why each artist has chosen to utilize their art in an effort to effect change by purchasing Rainforest Land for conservation.

To find ACEO on eBay, just enter the acronym ACEO into your searchbar. This will bring up a wealth of currently available originals and editions for your viewing pleasure. To join our group, just click on this blog entry title or visit http://groups.ebay.com/forum/Aceo-Art-Cards/Home/100016580 .