Waiting for Summer, by Sandy O'Connor. Watercolor. 23.25 x 30.5" in frame. Minimum bid $900.

Editor’s Note: Sandy O’Connor is one of the featured artists in the National Marine Life Center’s upcoming Art for the Seas event. The following biography is from her website, www.redhillsudio.com. ~kaz

“‘My best work is always inspired by what I have seen and experienced personally. I filter those experiences and try to capture the emotional connection that stirs my own senses when seeing something for the first time. I am constantly drawn to strong natural light and deep shadows no matter what the subject matter especially during dramatic, transitional moments of the day and seasons of the year.’

“Sandy O’Connor grew up on a small farm in northern New Jersey where changing seasons inspired a life-long passion to draw. She won her first art competition in second grade with a painting of a sunrise. Her love of the natural environment led instinctively to a degree in Landscape Architecture from Rutgers University. It is this combination of a naturalist’s eye, the discipline of a formal design education and years of professional practice as a graphic artist that shapes O’Connor’s style as a representational fine artist.

“With a meticulous attention to detail, the realism present in each one of her watercolor paintings has become the trademark for this award-winning artist. O’Connor was also selected by American Artist’s Watercolor magazine as one of 10 finalists in their 2007 and 2008 cover competitions. In 2009, she was juried as an Associate Artist member of the prestigious Copley Society of Art in Boston where she recently won a ‘Juror’s Choice’ award for her painting Pearl of Cotuit. The recipient of multiple awards from the Cape Cod Art Association, her painting titled The Wonder Years, which garnered a ‘Peoples Choice Award’ from the Association, appears in the North Light Books publication, Splash 11: New Directions, available May 2010. The same painting won the Ferdinand R. Petrie Memorial Prize in the prestigious Hudson Valley Art Association’s 78th Exhibition. This led to a formal invitation to join the Association. Her painting, Back to the Sea, will be featured in Splash 12: Celebrating Artistic Vision, available in May 2011. Her painting, Sitting Pretty, was recently chosen for the front cover of Medicine & Health Rhode Island, Publication of the Rhode Island Medical Society, August 2010.

“A resident of Cotuit, Massachusetts, O’Connor is a co-founder of the non-profit Art of the Cure for Juvenile Diabetes, an active volunteer at the Cahoon Museum of American Art in Cotuit and a juried artist member of the Cape Cod Art Association where she garnered first place and the ‘People’s Choice Award’ in the 2009 All New England Exhibition for her work titled High and Dry. This same piece was accepted into the Transparent Watercolor Society’s 34th Annual National Exhibition last spring and has also been accepted for inclusion into the New England Watercolor Society’s 12th Biennial North American Open Show, which will take place at the North Shore Arts Association, Gloucester, MA, from Sept. 24 – Oct 24, 2010.

“O’Connor trades under the banner of Red Hill Studio, named after her mother’s family home in Dunoon, Scotland. Her work is now part of several private collections in the United States, Germany and Great Britain.”

Rising Tide, by Kate Walls. Acrylic. 11x31". Minimum bid $200.

Editor’s Note: Kate Walls is one of the featured artists in the National Marine Life Center’s upcoming Art for the Seas event. The following biography is from her website, www.katewalls.com. ~kaz

“Kate Walls is a Cape Cod artist whose work reflects the beauty of her native surroundings. Her landscapes, floral and wildlife scenes are done in several mediums in a painterly realistic style.

“Kate is a juried artist member at the Cape Cod Art Association, Cape Cod Cultural Center, Yarmouth Art Guild and Cape Cod Waterworks. Her work is available in several galleries and through her studio. Commissions are accepted for all artwork.”

Last week ended my summer at NMLC and I was sad to go but I had such a great time. I learned a lot and met so many great people.  My duties as an education intern along with the 4 other interns were to help run education programs, create and run arts and crafts and storytime, run marine animal medical mystery, even work with the two turtles Patty and Catch 22 and various other jobs.

In June we released our 8 little Diamond-Backed Terrapins!

We also went to a number of festivals over the summer which were really cool. We taught the public about who we are and what we do at NMLC and we also had crafts for the kids to do. One really cute craft were paper sea turtles, they’re super cute and the kids love to make them.

When we brought our Red-Bellied Cooters to the state turn-in in June we came back with one little turtle whom we name Catch 22. He got an exam and X-Rays when we got back to the center and we noticed on the X-rays that he had a staple inside of him! Luckily he passed it and is doing great!

Us Interns, with the help of Robert, were in charge of getting the critter tank in the Discovery Center set so we could add critters to it. We also helped out in the Hospital, painting and tidying it up a little. Once the education programs started in July we were in full swing getting crafts ready and hosting groups that came in. We made so many awesome and cute crafts this summer!

For the 4th of July we created a Finding Nemo float, we created the characters out of cardboard and painted them and they turned out amazing. We attached them to a Mass Maritime boat for the parade.

Over the course of the summer we all worked on projects about a topic of our choice, I chose seals and created some puzzles, posters and a game about seals. All the interns did a great job on their projects and after we presented them we got to go to the Woods Hole Aquarium and Buttonwood Zoo! It was awesome!

This summer I had a great time being an intern at NMLC, I made great friends, learned a lot and got to experience some new things.

I had such a great summer and thank everyone that was a part of it! I’ll miss everyone and can’t wait to go back to NMLC!

Time to set sail!

The Falmouth Young Professionals are sponsoring a sunset cruise to raise funds for the National Marine Life Center.  Eat, drink, and be merry aboard the beautiful Island Queen as you take a leisurely cruise around Falmouth harbor and Vineyard Sound.  There’ll be food, music, raffle prizes, and a cash bar.  Most of all, you’ll enjoy meeting other young professionals (and the young at heart) while helping a good cause!

Date: Thursday, 16 September 2010
Time: 6:00 – 8:00 pm
Location: Island Queen Dock, 75 Falmouth Heights Road, Falmouth, MA
Cost: $15

Click here to purchase tickets on-line.

Many thanks to the Island Queen, the Falmouth Young Professionals, and the Falmouth Chamber of Commerce for organizing this event!

There are many opportunities for your business to participate by donating food or raffle prizes.  By donating, your business will be recognized by a diverse group of local professionals.  Click here for sponsorship information.

The Falmouth Young Professionals‘ Mission is to help support and promote young professionals to live & work on Cape Cod. They accomplish this by creating a platform for their members to build relationships, develop professionally, and become civic and philanthropically active to enrich our community.

The closest I got to seeing a moose in Maine.

A few months ago, I was in Bar Harbor, Maine for the Northeast Region Stranding Conference.  (Great conference and awesome group of people, by the way!)  While there, I visited the Bar Harbor Whale Museum.  It’s a fabulous place with lots of hands-on displays, beautifully articulated skeletons, and information on marine mammals and whale research in Maine.  I highly recommend visiting.

No trip to a museum is complete without stopping in the museum’s gift shop, and the Whale Museum is no exception.  While browsing, the first thing that caught my eye were these really cool doormats.  My natural fiber doormats had all but disintegrated and I was in the market for new ones.  And these were something else – doormats made from recycled rope!

Made from recycled lobster trap float rope, Down East Doormats are now available in the National Marine Life Center's Gift Shop

Handwoven from recycled lobster trap float rope, these “Down East Doormats™” are truly unique.  They are colorful, sturdy, reversible, quick drying, mold-resistant, and easy to clean.  Best of all, they are a fantastic story of recycling and environmental responsibility.

You see, Maine (and Massachusetts) recently outlawed the floating rope that was used to tether lobster traps together on the ocean floor.  It turned out that endangered Right Whales were becoming entangled in the rope as they swam through the water.  New, non-floating rope rests on the bottom and is safer for whales while still allowing fishing folk to easily retrieve connected lines of lobster traps.

But what to do with all the leftover float rope?  The Maine Float-Rope Company™ had a solution.  They made them into doormats!  In a win-win-win solution, the float rope is removed from the environment and the whales are safer, the Maine lobstermen receive income from their old rope, AND the old rope is kept out of the landfill.  Additionally, the Maine Float-Rope Company™ gives a percentage of its sales to the Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation and other non-profit environmental organizations.

But does it work?  After using the new doormat for several weeks, I LOVED IT!  It scraped clean my shoes, never got soggy, and continues to look new.  Plus, it’s just fun to walk on.  I decided to buy another mat for my back door.

Genuine recycled Down East Doormats™ are now available in the National Marine Life Center’s Gift Shop.  Stop by and check them out!

Joanne throws the first load of towels into the washing machine...

Sometimes it’s the little things….  This week we got the laundry room in our new marine animal hospital up and running!  Village Plumbing had already completed the water connections while Glynn Electric hooked up the lights.  All that was left was for us to set our new (to us) washer and dryer (generously donated by WHOI)!

With help from volunteers extraordinaire Len and Paula, and intern Corissa, the room was quickly cleaned up and the first test load of towels was humming along.  Hooray – it works!

(Now I can stop doing turtle laundry at home!)

...while Rogers checks out the dryer.

We’re one step closer to opening….

Click here to donate to NMLC’s new marine animal hospital and help us open our doors to stranded sea turtles and seals this fall.

Hooray!

"You folks are nuts!" says Paula.

View from the Boardwalk, by Audrey Forge. Giclee print of original oil painting. Framed value $250.

Audrey Forge is local artist and long-time supporter of the National Marine Life Center.  When she heard about NMLC’s Art for the Seas, she quickly signed up to help organize the event.  To promote the auction, she donated a giclee print on view in NMLC’s Marine Animal Discovery Center.  Tickets to win the print are available in the Discovery Center and at the event, $2 each or 3 for $5.  The winner will be drawn at the Art for the Seas on September 26.  You need not be present to win.

From Audrey’s Artist Statement:  “My objective is to provide my viewer with a lyrical or poetic viewpoint of the visual world that will stimulate his own capacity to see not only Nature’s splendor, but also beauty in the ordinary.”  Audrey definitely achieves that objective in her painting “View from the Boardwalk” that evokes not only the view of a salt marsh but the indescribably wonderful feeling of a salt marsh.

Thank you, Audrey!

Today the National Marine Life Center had participated  something outside our normal daily activities of education programs and turtle care. At roughly 3PM , the NMLC crew took a brief moment out of busy schedules to celebrate a quick and joyous moment to release our Black Backed Gull friend.

Our gull friend, formerly known as Winger, was spotted walking along the main street of Buzzards Bay outside the center on June 28th. I had approached him in the middle of the street when I discovered he had a terrible break in his left wing. After some quick thinking, Joanne and I were able to chase the sea gull down the street and wrangle him into a carrier. He was then transported to Cape Wildlife for his medicinal care, since NMLC is not permitted to take care of birds. Nevertheless, Winger spent a little over a month with Cape Wildlife under great care, where we were able to release him back into the wild.

On this very successful event, it was a joyous occasion,  while Winger took his fifteen minutes of fame with us. He make sure to check out his surrounds by walking the park and getting hydrated. Before he was ready to take flight, which he did so nicely! On behalf of NMLC crew: Winger, the best of luck and take great care of that wing!

Tacking the Bend, by Ken Carson. Oil. 10 x 16". Minimum bid $125.

“Ken Carson received his BA Degree from Marietta College in 1972. He taught art in the Bourne school system for 35 years. During this time,1985-1998, he was the Assistant Director and the Director of the Market Barn Gallery located in Falmouth MA. Ken has studied with John Bruce, Beverly Edwards, Sig Purwin and Claude Croney. His paintings are included in private collections throughout the United States, as well as England, Spain, and Italy. His work is in the permanent collection of the Duxbury Art Complex, Falmouth Hospital, and the Cape Cod Hospital. Author Peter Koenig included Ken in his 1987 book, “Falmouth, A Visual Legacy-A Timeless Spirit”. Ken was also featured in the Cape Cod Life Summer 1990 issue. He is a member of the Cape Museum of Fine Arts, the Falmouth Artist Guild, the Cataumet Arts Center and has shown in many regional juried shows. His recent shows have included Cape Cod Museum of Fine Arts, Dennis, Highfield Hall, Falmouth, MA, Gallery 333, and Cape Gallery Framer, Falmouth.

Fall Marsh, by Ken Carson. Oil on Panel. 11 x 9". Minimum bid $150.

“‘In my landscapes I try to show a sense of peaceful solitude. They are not about people or things, rather quiet space and time.  ~Ken Carson’”

Click here for details about Art for the Seas, and to purchase tickets.

By the Hour, by Kathryn Kleekamp. Oil on canvas. 12" square. Minimum bid $400.

“Before moving to Cape Cod, I enjoyed a 30-year career as a clinical microbiologist. I rather imagine all those years of looking through a microscope have given me the ability to paint the fine details most people seem to enjoy in my work.

“I’m primarily a realistic painter. My goal is to capture an image or moment in time and have the viewer experience his or her own special memories of that place.

Tethered Rainbow, by Kathryn Kleekamp. Oil on canvas. 12" square. Minimum bid $400.

“I’m self-guided, with no formal art training. However, I strongly believe my passion for painting and living in such a beautiful area has inspired my creativity.

“My original art and art prints may be purchased through this website or “My Sister’s Gallery,” 20 Jarves Street, Sandwich.

“Prints are also sold at the following Locations:
“Cape Cod Visitor Center (Eastham)
“Dan’l Webster Inn and Spa (Sandwich)
“Painted Daisies (East Sandwich)
“Snow’s Home and Garden(Orleans)
“Market Street Bookshop (Mashpee Commons)
“Deborah Ann’s Rainbow (Dennis Port)
“Pilgrim Monument and Provincetown Museum (Provincetown)
“Nantucket Whaling Museum
“Kennedy Gallery, Vineyard Haven

“If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to email me. Thank you, Kathy [Kleekamp]”

Click here for details about Art for the Seas, and to purchase tickets.