Ms. Poiesis

I love plush toy animals, especially brightly coloured round ones. They make me smile. I had been thinking about the degradation of the environment, climate change, and the stress this puts on animal species, and wanted to make a small comment on this, to me, distressing facet of climate change and economic imperatives. I collected quite a few plush toys from various thrift stores, selecting ones with whimsical expressions and glorious colours, and hung them up in trees around my local environment. It amused me to note, as I hung them up, the reactions of passers-by. A few people were actively interested and took pictures; others were interested but did not want to appear so; still others walked by without noticing. Children, almost without exception, loved to see these toys hanging in space.

It wasn’t easy to find suitable trees; they had to be near the ocean, in a place where there were other “species” with which they could interact, humans, birds, etc., the backdrop had to be visually engaging, and the tree had to have branches low enough to the ground so that I, not a tall person, could work with them.

Lumbermen’s Arch in Stanley Park fit the bill – here are a few pictures from that installation.

I also tried hanging them in trees surrounding Lost Lagoon.

Ty and I found a suitable cherry tree at Sunset Beach.

I thought I’d position them, with the anatomical head and head of Athena, along a log in the open field at the entrance to Stanley Park with the beautiful blue pond in the background.

I have always liked this sculpture, “The Meeting”, part of the Vancouver Sculpture Biennale, and installed across from Cardero’s Restaurant at Coal Harbour. I amused myself by placing a different animal on each of the figure’s heads, and the two heads in two of the men’s hands. People love interacting with this work.

I couldn’t resist the posture of this character from Yue Minjun’s Amazing Laughter, part of the Sculpture Biennale and located at English Bay. I just had to hang my little animals from his fingers, as if he were a big puppet master laughing about the absurdity of these little toys.

I love the worried expression of the little teddy bear as he appears to be hoisted into the air.

See more here, here and here.

Birds called Zebra Finches fly to and from an electric guitar at an art installation in the Barbican’s Curve Gallery, London, on February 26, 2010. The installation is a walk through aviary in gallery space inhabited by 40 Zebra Finches, created by French artist Celeste Boursier-Mougenot. The birds fly freely from bass guitars, guitars and cymbals as they feed and perch creating sounds as they move along the instruments which amplify the sounds through loudspeakers.

Greetings, all, from soggy Vancouver! Welcome, world, to the Global Climate Change Olympics and the return of the pineapple express, just in time to welcome the Olympic torch to downtown Vancouver.

Anyway, this little guy amazed the crowd waiting for the mens’ downhill practice run at Whistler yesterday when he strolled across the course and hopped the fence fearlessly.

When Surya, the orangutan, meets a hound dog by the river, the two carry on like long lost friends. Check this video out here.

Just about my worst nightmare is gigantic jellyfish … I was stung in Thailand while swimming through the Emerald Cave on Koh Muk and a bazillion purple jellyfish on Koh Lanta this past January kept Ty and I out of the water – yuukkk!

By Brent Richards, Wired News

My friend Peter has a studio down on Granville Island, outside which are many marvellous plants. Last time I was there visiting, I spied some fabulous large onion, garlic and thistle seed pods, of which he was kind enough to give me some. These, along with a peculiarly-shaped pink gladiolas plant I acquired from a local street vendor and an antique wooden puppet found in Thailand, I installed in the computer room and photographed at dusk. I really enjoyed the shadows created on the wall behind from these objects, as well as the variety of colours achieved by different lighting.

See more here.

And here is one more Duck Whisperer photo, this one with her cockatiel as well.

From today’s Calgary Herald a disgusting story about needless cruelty to animals:

DEER LAKE, N.L. — A group of boys could be facing criminal charges after a moose they reportedly chased and hit with sticks earlier this week in a western Newfoundland community had to be destroyed.

The Deer Lake RCMP detachment received a number of calls from concerned citizens Monday afternoon reporting a young moose calf had apparently been chased into a yard and seemed like it was no longer able to stand up.

Upon arriving at the scene, witnesses told the responding officers three boys had been chasing the moose around on their bicycles and had been seen striking the young calf with sticks.

The RCMP called in conservation officers from the provincial Department of Natural Resources to further assess the exhausted moose’s condition. They deemed the calf to be beyond recovery and the decision was made to have the animal humanely killed.

RCMP Sgt. Jacques Morneau said two of the three youth involved — all of whom are under the age of 15 — have been identified and are known to police.

“We are investigating possible charges under the Wildlife Act and it might even come to laying charges of animal cruelty,” said Morneau.

Moose and other wildlife are common sights in communities, including Deer Lake, and Morneau can’t comprehend why anyone would want to do them any deliberate harm.

“I can’t understand why there would be such barbaric acts committed,” said Morneau. “I mean, the poor thing was crying out for its mother. The officers were very discouraged about the whole thing when they returned.”

A food dye similar to the one used in blue M&Ms and liquorice allsorts could offer hope to people with spinal cord injuries, its only drawback being that it would briefly turn them blue.

In a study of rats the dye, known as brilliant blue G (BBG), reduced inflamation in the spinal cord and signifiantly improved long-term outcomes after injury.

An unforeseen side-effect of the treatment on rats was that their skin turned bright blue, leaving the white animals with bizarre blue noses, ears, paws and tails. The eyes of the albino rats turned from pink to a deep navy.

Read the rest here.