Keep on Swimming

San Juan Seven (c) 2009 Diane Reardon, Mixed Media, 22" x 28", CC BY-NC-SA 2.0*

I'm looking for some virtual comrades in the world of art and whales. Everyone says you have to have an image at the top, so here’s mine. It's San Juan Seven, made in a summer when seven local orcas did not return.

I have done a lot of thinking about our oceans and early on I picked oceans and boats as a focus for making art. Then the whales picked me. And apparently won’t let me go.

Since I’m also a compulsive reader, I read about whales. It started with whaling, because I grew up in New England. There, a good many fortunes (and many widow’s walks) owed their existence to long ocean voyages that brought back Japanese fans, Hawaiian coconuts, and barrels and barrels of whale oil. So on one hand, this blog is fueled by my New England guilt.

It’s personal.

On the other hand, I now live on the Pacific Coast and whales swim by the local beaches. The orcas are well known, each by name in the islands north of my Whidbey Island spot. I am concerned about them and the waters they swim in. I swim, very occasionally, in the same ones.

 It’s local.

 I do want to share what I learn about other artists who make work about whales and oceans. The art.

 I also want to share facts I learn about our oceans and air and who’s warming what. The science.

 And finally, because reading about overpopulation, CO2 in the air, and acid in the oceans gets depressing, I want to share ideas about small and large actions we can take to improve our global health. Creative acts.

That’s my manifesto and, if, at this point, it’s a bit grandiose, I’m guessing that’s the only way to be a real human in this evolving blogosphere. Here we each get to be a bit grandiose in putting our ideas front and center. The whales asked me to be here, Finding Nemo inspires me, and adding blogging to art about whales helps me “keep on swimming".