KICKSTARTER

My energy is still high and hopeful for a July or August installation. Thank you for your emotional and financial contributions and belief in me, this project and the vision.

I'm just back from TEDxMonterey "Sea Change" last Friday in California.  It was a dream of a "job" to be invited to be the licensee and help create the event with Eva Gudbergsdottir, Bob Cole, and Colleen Ann Beye at the Monterey Institute of International Studies, MIIS. (will do best to use as many acronyms in this as possible, since I know they really like them at MIIS).  It was live-streamed in 7 languages!         If you are short on time: check out the photos at the bottom!!

From scientists to economists, dancers, to educators, seafood to subsistence fishermen, it was all oceans.  I was invited to speak: "Coral Restoration-Mutual Symbiosis in the Anthropocene" was my topic (thanks, Eric Berlow, for Anthropocene) and to have Trash Tara (latest alter ego in progress) be an interactive exhibit in the Innovation Lounge. No, I did not curate myself into the show! but was grateful to be asked and to invite some unique presenters and loungers: Sustainable Now Technologies 

and theBlu

Inspired by the Oceans, theBlu is a socially-connected, global interactive screensaver. Each time you participate, your interactions and connections impact the flow of life in theBlu and everyone's experience of it.

TheBlu is created and curated Academy Award-winning leaders and world-class artists and developers - we call them Makers. Each time you purchase beautiful species and habitats to add to the globally-connected Ocean, you support oceanic conservation."

On May 4th theBlu launches in Times Square. 5-11 PM 43rd St. Please come if you can!

I will be in NY for an art opening May 3: Tria Gallery, 6-8 PM

and will help theBlu with their launch..
Amphitrite will be on the scene...

from TEDxMonterey photo booth

Those of you who made it to TEDx, thank you and happy to see you there! Everyone else, happy to share with you that the coral refuge is still on track.

Paraphrasing Lynne Cox, swimmer of the English Channel and other cold vast waters, the path (straight) may look like 5 hours, but it is 12 hours after you have to snake around and navigate the currents, tides, and wildlife.  that is why it is a challenge and why people dream big dreams. not because they are easy. Yes, i am talking to myself here.

I received a reassuring photo of the DNA sculpture from Jason deCaires Taylor this week. Safe under a tarp...Can't seem to upload to show.

We are back to $5500 towards installation and documentation between the razoo donation page and paypal. wahoo!

here is a photo of Alyssum Pohl--aquaculturist, artist, performer-- and I at the TEDx.  She was my creative cohort in the Trash Tara exhibit where we displayed the costume in-progress and invited people to help make her "catch-all" out of 6-ring plastic holders and fish nets. A way to compassionately collect trash and transform our negative guilt or denial about our garbage into something more positive and pro-active. 

Trash Tara parts in-progress

"catch-all" on wall in progress

fishing net found 25m down in marine sanctuary (donated to project)

all photos by Alyssum Pohl

the sun is shining and cherry blossoms are snowing on me in Portland. Thanks and  love~ Colleen and Amphitrite

Here's a "Cancun Kiss" (song) to celebrate the coral refuge and all of you!  

http://www.smokingorgeous.com/?PageID=417994

Julie Stein (conservation biologist and co-founder of The Wildlife Friendly Enterprise Network) and Aaron Raitiere (songwriter) produced the song as a musical gift to support the vision. They have set up a "tribute" page to share the song and lyrics with their web visitors.

The Living Sea Sculpture is currently being reviewed by a board of conservationists, including members of the Zoological Society of London and the Wildlife Conservation Society, to determine if it fits their criteria for a Wildlife Friendly Certification.  http://www.wildlifefriendly.org/

They have not yet certified ocean work, so this is setting a precedent for the potential for marine rehabilitation to be included into their scope of projects.  I'll share what I can about their process and decisions. 

Still working towards installation this summer! Please stay tuned.

thanks!! Colleen and the LSS team

In case you are heading to Monterey, CA this spring, or want to visit the west coast, there is an independently organized 1 day TED event on April 13, 2012.

applications to attend are being accepted for TEDxMonterey "Sea Change" now: http://www.tedxmonterey.org/  Reviews begin on Feb 20th, and notification early March.  Hope some of you can make it!

Super serendipity led to my being invited by the TEDxMonterey "Sea Change" team at MIIS (Monterey Institute of International Studies) to be the licensee and a speaker for this TEDx.  Lots of fun working with the creative team to co-organize.  They are doing all the producing, planning and details, so my role has truly been to bring ideas, people, and threads together with them. 

I grew up along the Monterey Peninsula, seeds of my ocean connection, so it's exciting to participate in this present day Sea Change convergence.

LSS news: Jaime, National Marine Park Director in Mexico, said with conviction in our conversation last week: "We need to break through this bottleneck." He told me his steps..He is on it.

If you haven't visited yet, From the Shore to the Seafloor: Living Sea Sculpture deploys  http://kck.st/vZ4GIk 

It's sunny in Portland:) thank you all! Colleen

• @livingseasculpt                                                                                       

• http://www.facebook.com/pages/Living-Sea-Sculpture/331094713586365
  

Exciting news!  From the Shore to the Seafloor: Living Sea Sculpture deploys is a staff pick with kickstarter today.  We're in row 8 right now (they move around)

http://www.kickstarter.com/discover/recommended?ref=sidebar#p1

here's the link directly to the project: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/958753974/from-the-shore-to-the-seafloor-living-sea-sculptur?ref=recommended

short link: http://kck.st/wTddBw                                              

I launched it on Saturday night, and so far we have 6 new backers:)  YEA!

With the red tape in Mexico, I'm working to avoid their lawyers like the plague. Looks possible that the Marine Park Director, who's also an official with another govt.department involved, will bypass that hole.  Just to clarify, we have had the marine permits in theory since the beginning, we just got stuck about a clause in a contract with our power supply partners. Patience and perseverance.

back to the good news! WE ARE A STAFF PICK.  please spread the word and keep the current flowing.  And if you can join the "likers" of Living Sea Sculpture, that helps ripple out to new supporters. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Living-Sea-Sculpture/331094713586365   here's short link if you are a tweeter:  FB: http://on.fb.me/wsArcz 

to follow project on twitter: @livingseasculpt
http://kck.st/wTddBw

thank you!!
Colleen, Amphitrite and the LSS team

it’s time to celebrate! I'm ready to offer digital print selections for all who contributed $50 and above!

Everyone is included in this update, regardless of your backing "tier," because it’s exciting to discover that Etsy is so easy to use (as is kickstarter) that I want to share the Grand Opening of my store there with all of you. http://www.etsy.com/shop/colleenflanigan

Things are for sale, yet for you $50+ backers, please choose one of these images as your reward:

1) Puffer Fish   2) Ocean Details   3) One Heart Beats Two 

4) You're a Work of Art   5) Meet me at the Beach, Aardvark

It will be a digital print: 4"x4" on high quality 8"x11" paper.

Now, the serious news about Mexico.  I am calling and emailing, communicating with all parties involved from Mexico to Florida, Thailand, Boston, LA trying to clear the papers and make the logistics slide smoothly...like this interactive slider puzzle: http://www.etsy.com/listing/88971854/slideways-a-sideward-pushing-puzzle (couldn’t help it!)

I aim to return with the team in the beginning of February. Coming up incredibly fast! Funds in the bank and permits in hand are required, and weather is unpredictable, yet I’m staying optimistic that we just might be able to accomplish this goal in time for my short TED talk in Long Beach end of February. 

Moving forward to install the DNA in the ocean has been my focus since July, and now with this TED deadline, it kicks the window of  hope open a little wider... From you, my first big supporters, I welcome any proposals or contacts for financial partners to sponsor the return for installation. Of course you can contribute again on my website: http://colleenflanigan.com/index2.htm  Also, we (welcome new assistant, Jeremy McCallum!) just set up a Living Sea Sculpture Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Living-Sea-Sculpture/331094713586365

Please “Like” that page; 1000 "likes" is pivotal in hurdling the social media curve.  Tweeting and spreading the word gets you all kinds of gold starfish on your spelling tests.  You will see mention of a next kickstarter.  Stay tuned as we find our way to the estimated $26,000 to bring the 4 person team back to install, film, and make a monitor that will track the electrical supply via wi-fi.

So, here we go! more fundraising and increasing the web presence of LSS with the determination of a bull shark. The adventure continues into 2012! 

Imagine snorkeling over the double helices against the aqua blue backdrop, fish moving into their new homes, corals encrusting the previously rusting now calcifying curves...With this vision in mind, I’ll keep adding sculptures, jewelry, and pen and ink drawings to colleenflanigan’s Etsy store, “Curated by Plum” (for those of you who know him)..It’s always been easier and more fun to sell something for someone else.  In this case, the corals need me to earn their keep:) and they inspire me to ... :)

Here’s to 2012 being your best year ever!  Happy holidays~ Colleen

Peace on Earth
"Fire Urchin Close"
Indonesia
Photo by Connie Whelan
www.coralperspectives.com