oil spill panel discussion

On November 4th thespillsmiths.org hosted an oil spill panel discussion at Mr. Beast Gallery in Savannah, GA. The moderator was Orlando Montoya of NPR/ Georgia Public Broadcasting and the panelists were Scott Eustis of the Louisiana wetlands restoration organization Bayou Rebirth; Lieutenant Commander Emily Sadler of the United States Coast Guard; and Bill Hodgins of the Savannah Water Resources Bureau. Thank you to the panelists who generously donated their time.

The podcast is 54 minutes and covers a lot of ground from local spill response, to events in the gulf, to how pollution enters the watershed. It was a lively discussion the contributed much to the education of our audience. To listen simply click on the title above.

The Oiled Oceans

Scale is hard to convey - but each of these three canvases stand at 8 feet tall. The triptych is about 15 feet wide, and each of the small dots you see are the 1500 brooches we created. The clusters of brooches are organized around areas that have experienced catastrophic spills, but they spread around the oceans to remind us that no spill is ever contained.

During the exhibition, visitors helped us 'clean-up' our world by purchasing brooches and removing them from the oceans. This symbolic act can't change what happened in the Gulf, but the jewelry now carries a message of warning out into the world.

We also created a series of special edition brooches, featuring wildlife that has been directly effected by the spill; From Blue Crab to the Brown Pelican (Louisiana's State Bird), to Kemp Ridley's Sea Turtle, the Dwarf Sea Horse, and Dolphins.

Final Preparations

First - Be sure to join us at 6pm on Thursday November 4th for a discussion with folks who have worked and volunteered to clean and rehabilitate the Gulf Coast this summer, and those who are charged with protecting the Georgia Coast from a similar disaster.

OR - Come down on Friday November 5th for the Opening Reception and talk given by Karen Grainey of Wilderness Southeast on the impact of oil and pollution on wildlife, and recent talk of opening off-shore drilling on the east coast. Of course, there will be food and drinks and your chance to see the show in person before it goes digital.

With that said, here are pictures of the team in preparation. We actually just finished the installation an hour ago, and those pictures will be up shortly. Til then, here's a teaser of yesterday's labors:

We stretched and painted three 8 foot tall canvases,

applied a finish coat to the acrylic brooches

and Cut through an Oil Drum. It's how we roll.