08/28/14

Eco-Interview: John Hamilton, Children’s Book Illustrator and Conservationist

John Hamilton, children's book illustrator with chameleon

When did this all begin? Please tell us a bit about your work.

I am an artist and illustrator based in Manchester UK. My artwork has always been narrative /story-based, using oil on canvas, printmaking, and large-scale collage. My work includes characters acting out various scenarios and role play, as if from a film or stage play. I often include animals or people dressed as animals. I recently had a children’s picture book published called “The Boy Who Really Really Really loves Lizards” aimed at 3-7 year olds.

Go quietly so as not to wake the butterflies' oil on canvas, 2013

What is your educational background and what led to this creative path?

My background is in Fine Art. I did my degree back in 1990 and have been a practicing artist since then. A couple of years ago I did a Masters degree in Children’s Book Illustration. For the final project I wrote the story about my son Oliver who was obsessed by visits to the Manchester Museum, From the age of two he has loved the museum and would spend hours there.

inside the vivarium - illustration from the book

What are some challenges you have faced and how did you deal with them?

When I was doing research at the museum for the book, I became friendly with Andrew Gray, the curator of the vivarium. He specializes in the conservation of frogs and has done a lot of work to project many endangered species from Costa Rica and other places. His passion and commitment to the Museum is amazing. He was also responsible for getting the museum to publish my book which is a playful look at my boys obsession with the museum and the lizards, frogs and snakes. I think we saw it as a way to engage the younger visitors and to perhaps encourage them to become aware of the conservation involved. The museum features heavily in the book.

Today Oliver is going to the museum - illustration from the book

What can people do to help this cause?

The museum allows the public to sponsor the frogs and to contribute to the cost of research and support for the museum. Oliver recently sponsored a tiger monkey frog and got to meet it and hold it at the museum! You can also buy my book too!

Oliver with the Tiger Monkey Frog at the Manchester museum

How do you reach your targeted audience?
Is it through your website, advertising or social media or another route? Which is most effective and why?

I am trying to promote my book at the moment and I have been doing that through Facebook and Twitter as they both allow you to reach a large volume of people very quickly. It is also a good way of keeping in touch with people and informing them of events and new work. There is also a website for the book where I post features, reviews and workshop projects done with schools and colleges.

school workshop with John Hamilton

How do you keep the audience engaged over time?

Updates on Facebook and Twitter and by creating new links with organizations and groups with similar interests.

Tell us about your events around the world and some of the campaigns you have started.

The book is only available in the UK so that has been my main target but I would love it to go further afield! I have had emails from people in South Africa, Australia, France and the USA who have received the book, many as presents from the UK – so that is exciting!

children looking at tadpoles in manchester museum

What is in the works for the future? What haven’t you yet tackled, but will want to do soon?

I am working on another picture book possibly about butterflies or snails! I am hoping the museum may show an interest in publishing this one too. I want to try and make this one a bit more factual and to include facts and information to allow children to continue their interest in the subject.

Would you like to add a bit more?

No. Just a thank you for the opportunity to talk about the book and hopefully reach a few more people and encourage some more young people to really, really, really love lizards and frogs!

Boy who really really really loves lizards

To find John Hamilton online:

Website: http://www.johnhamiltonillustration.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tbwrrrll
Twitter: @JohnHamilton17

For information on the Manchester Museum and their work with frogs and about sponsoring the frogs visit:
http://frogblogmanchester.com

08/19/14

Eco-Interview: Mike Maka, Mural Artist

When was your organization founded?
I’ve been a full-time artist since 2007, but making art since kindergarten, like when everyone else started.

jersey-city-frog-mural-rainbow-Mike-Maka

What is your educational background and what lead to creating this organization?
(I’m not really an organization, nor am I especially organized.)

I studied in universities in New York, Adelaide, and Melbourne, but have learned a lot from friends and travel. Studies included illustration, fine art, graphic design, philosophy of art, etc. But working many years as a bike courier and enjoying the extreme side of life naturally led to climbing buildings, street art and graffiti. which has turned into a career or life.

Sao Paulo Frog Mural

What are some challenges you have faced and how did you deal with them?
I struggle with the business side of being an artist, such as pricing things, understanding the bigger market picture of what I offer, and finding a balance of creative projects with necessary business operations. I’m trying to get other people to do certain things, like social media, proposal writing, residency research and grants, and graphic design. Things that I am good with, but will let me create more art. I have learned over the years that the choices I make to do projects that are more fun, and the content or imagery that I find to be the most fun and challenging, without worrying about a client or people’s opinion in general, will lead to further projects in the same vain… and the money side of things takes care of itself. (Example: people will approach me to do paid projects for what I want to do, rather than when I started… I would compromise to suit a certain type of cafe for example.)

Snail Mural in Brooklyn, NY

How do you reach your targeted audience?
Is it through your website, advertising or social media or another route? Which is most effective and why?

I paint a lot on the streets, which is a better feeling of ephemerality than canvas work. More people will see street works than in a gallery, but many more will see the art on the internet.

I don’t like to think in terms of advertising, or branding, as it kills the creativity.

There are a lot of bloggers out there who put my stuff on social media, but Instagram seems to be the main thing at the moment, and the best thing for me is it keeps me off Facebook with the direct share option.

Melbourne Spotted Tree Frog Mural

How do you keep the audience engaged over time?
I think I have more of a problem of changing styles and content too much that would loose an audience, but again I don’t like to think about engaging an audience, but aim at an introspective view of my own mind. It does make me happy to know people enjoy some of my work, but also makes me happy when I can create something that isn’t main stream and doesn’t have mass appeal.

Brazil frog mural by Mike Maka

Tell us about your events around the world and some of the campaigns you have started.
I recently spent a month in New York City, painted many walls and went up to Toronto and through Los Angeles to paint a few walls. I’ve painted in around 20 countries and hope to paint more.

What is in the works for the future? What haven’t you yet tackled, but will want to do soon?

I have a lot of walls to do in Melbourne in the next month. September 6th will be the opening day of the new Everfresh Studios. October, I am planning a month long freedom drive up the east coast to link up 4 paid projects as well as whatever else I can find along the way. Living and working out of my bus (and probably a few friends houses.)

Later in November, I’m going to be the subject of a German documentary film crew, who will shoot an episode for their series.

I also plan on being back at the Miami Basel in December, and have plans to build a pyramid in Tulum or Playa del Carmen, which will be an art piece, but also a functioning permaculture garden prototype.

I am looking at art residencies in some Latin countries, and hope to be able to make this happen in 2014. Hopefully, Portugal, Brazil or somewhere Spanish speaking.

Frog mural by Mike Maka

Bonus Bite:
The big snail wall has a frog reference, on the post box bottom right in the rubbish, the Puerto Rican guy who owned the building asked me to do his tattoo, a native symbol of his homeland, which is a famous frog, I can’t remember the name, but it was taken to Hawaii for some reason to do with people working there. I think they missed the sound it made, but they didn’t take the natural predator, so it thrives in Hawaii now… (this is the Coquí, Eleutherodactylus coqui)

To learn more about Mike Maka, visit the links below:

Website: http://www.makatron.com
Instagram: Instagram.com/mike_maka
Facebook: Mike Makatron
Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/mikemaka

08/1/14

Tadpoles in Maine Pond Die from Ranavirus

An estimated 200,000 Wood Frog (Lithobates sylvaticus) Tadpoles in a local pond in Maine died within a few days (in 2013) from most-likely a ranavirus. A paper was recently published in Herpetological Review that is co-authored by Nathaniel Wheelwright, a biologist at Bowdoin College, along with the University of Tennessee.

“The dead tadpoles had signs of hemorrhaging in their legs and around their throats, and many had skin that was sloughing off their bodies”, Wheelwright said.

Wheelwright has monitored the pond for close to 30 years and said it was quite surprising. Usually there are 50-100,000 tadpoles and only 1000 may live to become adult frogs. But for all to die, very unusual. They did notice there were no leeches present.

There are other species who can carry the ranavirus, such as green frogs, bullfrogs, painted turtles and spotted salamanders* (*who were found in the pond and showed signs of suffering from the virus also.)

Here’s a video from Bowdoin College with biology professor, Nat Wheelwright talking about the tadpoles:

The good news is that this past Spring showed healthy tadpoles and frogs and no sign of any issues.

Do you think this was caused by pesticides and/or climate change? Too many tadpoles crowded together?
___________________________________________________________________

The differences between Chyrid Fungus and Ranavirus are:

Chyrid is a fungus and infects individual frogs who suffer damage to their skin. Once infected it impairs respiration and the frog dies. It has been devastating amphibian populations around the world.

Ranaviruses infect insects, fish, amphibians and turtles and infect larvae or recently metamorphosed individuals.

07/4/14

Monet’s Garden and Frogs

Ever since I can remember having an appreciation for art, I was a fan of Claude Monet. A few weeks ago I was watching the PBS program NYC Arts and one of the reports was about Monet’s Waterlilies at MOMA. I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I’ve seen those magnificent paintings. But it wasn’t until that evening that I made the Frog Connection. All of a sudden I thought, with all those 100s of paintings created in Giverny Garden, did Monet ever paint a frog?

After the program was over, I went on the internet and searched “Did Monet ever paint a frog?” What came up mesmerized me. Pages and links to children’s books on this very topic. After reading and studying many pages it’s hard to know the truth, especially given that Monet was an impressionist painter and so a green dab of paint might be misconstrued as a frog.

I read three of the children’s books and I’d like to share them with you:

Philippe in Monet's Garden

Philippe in Monet’s Garden
by Lisa Jobe Carmack and illustrated by Lisa Canney Chesaux

A charming story about a frog named Philippe, who just happens to live in France and just happens to have very large and long legs. As frog lovers, I’m sure you can imagine his potentially scary destiny to a local restaurant with all the frog hunters out there. Two of his frog friends get nabbed and so he hops away and away until he comes upon Giverny Garden where a sign is posted: No Frog Hunting! He’s safe! In he hops and Monet welcomes him, admires his large and beautiful legs and Philippe lives his life in that beautiful place with lots of bugs to eat and no fear. He may even be seen in one of the pictures?

The Magical Garden of Claude Monet

The Magical Garden of Claude Monet
by Laurence Anholt

This is more of an adventure story. A young girl and her pet dog are feeling antsy in their family’s urban dwelling, while the mother is busy painting a picture. But the mother reassures Julie that as soon as she’s finished, they will go on an exciting adventure to a magical place. They board the train to travel to Monet’s garden at Giverny and it’s an afternoon of marvel and discovery. Beautiful watercolor illustrations throughout the book. Unfortunately, no mention of frogs.

Where is the frog?

Where is the Frog?
by Geraldine Elschner and Stephanie Girel

A children’s book inspired by Claude Monet

As you might imagine, this one was my favorite! The illustrations throughout are styled after Monet and the story is adorable. In this story we have a little female frog named Antoinette who only wants to be the subject of Monet’s efforts. She moves and poses and when he walks away, she hops up to have a look at the painting and realizes that she was a green frog sitting on a green lily pad. Oh no, that’s why there is no frog in the picture. So the next day she poses hanging from a vine or within some flowers, and hooray, she’s depicted in the picture. She gets so excited she knocks the painting, easel, materials and herself into the water. Alas, still no picture with a frog in it!

— Susan Newman, founder Frogs Are Green

 

Water Lilies, 1919, by Claude Monet - Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City

Water Lilies, 1919, by Claude Monet – Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City

About Claude Monet’s Garden at Giverny (Wikipedia):

Claude Monet noticed the village of Giverny while looking out of a train window. He made up his mind to move there and rented a house and the area surrounding it. In 1890 he had enough money to buy the house and land outright and set out to create the magnificent gardens he wanted to paint. Some of his most famous paintings were of his garden in Giverny, famous for its rectangular Clos normand, with archways of climbing plants entwined around colored shrubs, and the water garden, formed by a tributary to the Epte, with the Japanese bridge, the pond with the water lily, the wisterias and the azaleas.

Monet lived in the house with its famous pink crushed brick façade from 1883 until his death in 1926. He and many members of his family are interred in the village cemetery.

 

Water Lilies (or Nymphéas) is a series of approximately 250 oil paintings by French Impressionist Claude Monet (1840–1926). The paintings depict Monet’s flower garden at Giverny and were the main focus of Monet’s artistic production during the last thirty years of his life. Many of the works were painted while Monet suffered from cataracts.[1]

06/18/14

Calling Amphibian Monitoring Project (CAMP)

The Conserve Wildlife Foundation of NJ coordinates the statewide Calling Amphibian Monitoring Program (CAMP). The object of this program is to assess the distribution, abundance, and health of New Jersey’s amphibians. This is part of a larger initiative called the North American Amphibian Monitoring Program (NAAMP) and the data collected in New Jersey will be submitted into the National database.

Gray-Tree-Frog-by-M-Patterson

Each of the 16 species of frogs and toads in New Jersey has a unique vocalization or “call” that can be heard during their mating season.

Here’s a list and call quiz of the Frogs in New Jersey:
Eastern Spadefoot (Scaphiopus holbrookii)
American Toad (Anaxyrus americanus)
Fowler’s Toad (Anaxyrus fowleri)
Northern Cricket Frog (Acris crepitans)
Pine Barrens Treefrog (Hyla andersonii)
Green Treefrog (Hyla cinerea)
Gray Treefrog (Hyla versicolor)
unknown gray treefrog species (Hyla chrysoscelis/versicolor)
Cope’s Gray Treefrog (Hyla chrysoscelis)
Spring Peeper (Pseudacris crucifer)
New Jersey Chorus Frog (Pseudacris kalmi)
American Bullfrog (Lithobates catesbeianus)
Carpenter Frog (Lithobates virgatipes)
Green Frog (Lithobates clamitans)
Wood Frog (Lithobates sylvaticus)
Southern Leopard Frog (Lithobates sphenocephalus)
Pickerel Frog (Lithobates palustris)

The Amphibians that are listed as Endangered or Threatened in New Jersey:

Endangered Amphibians
Salamander, blue-spotted – Ambystoma laterale
Salamander, eastern tiger – Ambystoma tigrinum
Treefrog, southern gray – Hyla chrysocelis

Threatened Amphibians
Salamander, eastern mud – Pseudotriton montanus
Salamander, long-tailed – Eurycea longicauda
Treefrog, pine barrens – Hyla andersonii
 

Volunteers participating in the CAMP project conduct roadside surveys (after dusk) for calling amphibians along designated routes throughout the state. Each 15-mile route is surveyed three times during the spring (March, April & June), during the given four week period. Each route has 10 stops, where you stop, listen and record for 5 minutes. A structured protocol is followed to determine which nights to survey, how long to survey, which species are calling, and how to estimate the total number of individuals calling at each site. All volunteers receive a Calls of NJ Frogs and Toads, CD with which to familiarize themselves with the calls.

The results of these surveys will provide ENSP (Endangered and Nongame Species Program) and the United States Geological Survey with valuable data on the calling amphibian populations in New Jersey. Because each route will be surveyed at the same time and for the same amount of time, routes can be directly compared within a given year and between years. This allows for trends in populations to be identified over time and if needed steps may be taken to protect these populations in the near future.

— Larissa Smith, Biologist/Volunteer Manager, Conserve Wildlife Foundation of NJ

06/12/14

Eco-Interview: Rosa Da Silva, Author of Jabujicaba, The Heart of Brazil

When was your organization founded? Please tell us a bit about its mission, goals…

Jabujicaba the book was published as an e-book at the end of April 2014. The paperback version is coming out this month. Behind it is an idea. Literally a ‘novel’ campaign.

On June 2nd 2014 the not-for-profit company Voices for Nature Limited was incorporated. This takes the campaign forward beyond the life-span of the book.

The people working on this creative project are young and green and Indie… but the ideas behind all this are long in the tooth.

 Jabujicaba by Rosa da Silva

What is your educational background and what led to creating this organization?

I am half German and half English. I grew up always on the move. I have lived in many different countries, including the US where both of my children were born. I speak lots of different languages. I would say I grew up with strong feelings for nature and none for national affiliations.

I studied Modern and Medieval Languages at Cambridge University (Spanish and German). It helps to explain my love for magic realism – Garcia Marques, Isabel Allende – Latin American authors – and German writers like Kafka and Brecht and socialist political art eg: George Grosz and Kaethe Kollwitz.

I worked in the environmental area for many years, with a professional background in policy, communications and campaigning. I was involved in the early days when social/human rights, economic and environmental agendas were merged into ‘sustainability’ – an unimaginative word. I have worked in many countries including Brazil and Africa.

Politically, I believe in intervention in the markets for the good of others. I think a civilized society needs to ensure fair and equal outcomes, not just opportunities (which we know not everybody is able to take advantage of). I believe people must always be intellectually curious and be free to question. I believe in activism and not turning a blind eye or the other cheek. I believe in courage. In the separation of church, judiciary and state.

Over the decades there has been no real progress on climate change or conservation. Climate change continues on the up and so does species extinction. Something is clearly not right about how we are trying to tackle these problems – we know so many facts, we can measure the path we are on and predict where we are going. As a species, human beings need to reconnect with all living creatures and realise our inter-dependence.

I think we can find the right path by re-engaging people emotionally so they feel part (and not in charge) of the natural world.

That is the impulse behind Jabujicaba the book and setting up Voices for Nature. But it is not just a feeling, it is a process of political engagement (with a small ‘p’).

 

What are some challenges you have faced and how did you deal with them?

Pursuing fairness is a huge and continual challenge in everything I have done in my varied professional career. I was always standing up and arguing with ‘authority’ whether it was with a teacher at school or bosses at work.

Being heard in all the noise of a global market place, which is a Babel, is a big challenge.

The only way forward is to keep repeating yourself and remembering core values and the goal ahead. But you can’t get to where you are going alone in life. You need the help of others. You need to inspire and lead and to do that you need to be empathetic and kind.

 white-nose coati from Jabujicaba

What can people do to help? Donate, and contribute to your cause? Other ideas?

I don’t want the interview to be about selling an idea or a project. It is for people listening to ask their own questions and maybe find some of their answers are aligned with mine. Then they might want to find more about what we are doing and help. They could maybe read the book. It has had good reviews.

 

How do you reach your targeted audience? Is it through your website, advertising or social media or another route? Which is most effective and why?

All possible routes are tried and taken, although we are trying to work bottom-up, Indie in everything. We wouldn’t say ‘no’ though if Harrison Ford stepped in to help our ambitions for a green Indiana Jones film! Sometimes ‘top down’ or celebrity endorsement can help you to get where you are going (although it is not without its dangers). Certainly we are using social media and word of mouth.

 

How do you keep the audience engaged over time?

By being happy, having fun, with lots of variety. Everything we do also has to ring an inner chord with the target audience of what really matters, the meaning of our existence, not just our individual life. Jabujicaba is not about simply ‘entertainment.’ Through our website we hope to engage people in other areas of their life – to campaign or to study or volunteer – or even just to take their children to the zoo but with a changed heart.

 

Tell us about your events around the world and some of the campaigns you have started.

When we made Jabujicaba the book available as a free download to test the audience, we found there was interest all over the world. About 700 copies were downloaded in 5 weeks.Take up is a lot less now, it costs a couple of dollars… We are still at the beginning of our journey.

Our campaigns, if you can call them such, involve around engaging with the books various stakeholders through interviews which explore the relationship between fact and fiction in the book. For instance, in the area of anthropology, with an anthropologist from Oxford University. Or in politics, with a green politician who did a ‘prequel’ meeting one of the characters in my book as a young man. Marco, who is the president of Brazil.

The focus of these interviews has been local and in the UK. We have tried to engage a little in the US, so far without success. It is hard not being there and time constraints mean you stay close to home.

Also the book is in English at the moment which restricts its target audience.

 rainforest in Brazil

What is in the works for the future? What haven’t you yet tackled, but will want to do soon?

We are working on Jabujicaba the film and progressing step by step. Jabujicaba as a ‘novel’ campaign is timed to coincide with the World Cup and Olympics in Brazil. After that, we plan Voices for Nature to kick in with our film initiative. Through film we will reach a much larger audience with our messages.

Longer term, we would like to fund and reward young people’s creative projects for rainforest conservation, using royalties from the book/film – a bit like Sophie’s World – and grow to a forest (metaphorically and literally).

 

Bonus!

Jabujicaba is about diversity in our own societies too – and social justice. We need to tackle these issues too.

All on www.jabujicaba.net – but also @ArchieAiredale (my dog!)