Remembering Dian Fossey

Thirty years ago, on December 26, 1985, Dr. Dian Fossey was brutally murdered in her cabin at the Karaoke Research Center in the Virunga mountains of Rwanda.  Her death remains an unsolved mystery.

When Dr. Fossey arrived in the Virungas, the mountain gorilla population was being decimated by habitat loss and poaching.  There were an estimated 250 mountain gorillas in the 1970s. Today the population is near 480 in the Virungas and about 880 worldwide. 

Dian Fossey's work involved intensive research on the mountain gorilla, much of it gleaned from hours of observation under difficult circumstances. She pioneered conservation efforts through the hiring of Rwandan staff to habituate, track, and monitor gorilla groups and to deter poaching through the destruction of snares.  At the present time all but but two of the 120 staff continuing her work in Rwanda are Rwandans.
It took perseverance and courage to continue her work in the face of great adversity and that effort ultimately cost her life.

Her legacy continues through the work of The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International.  The fund has expanded its work to save Grauer's gorillas in Democratic Republic of Congo; mining, logging, and hunting threaten the survival of this species of gorilla. Increased tracking and anti-poaching staff of the DFGI work in combined patrols with Rwandan, Ugandan, and Congolese park authorities to save the mountain gorillas.
www.gorillafund.org

The final entry in Dian Fossey's journal is carefully printed in block letters

WHEN YOU REALIZE THE VALUE OF ALL LIFE, YOU DWELL LESS ON WHAT IS PAST AND CONCENTRATE MORE ON THE PRESERVATION OF THE FUTURE.

A Visit from a Full Moon on Christmas Eve

It's the first Christmas full moon since 1977 and a very hazy one at that!

Online Art Sale Now Open

Art in a Box's 10th Annual 2015 Benefit Holiday Art Sale and  Exhibition for Children at Risk! ONLINE ART SALE  Now Open!   Purchase Art Online and Support Children at Risk! Thursday, December 10, 2015  through Tuesday, December 15, 2015 at 11 PM Email your selections to Artpartners@aol.com We will email you to confirm availability and reserve art for you. Then proceed online to make payment. Sales link  is now open. http://www.artinabox.org/benefitartexhibitionDD.htm If you do not see the blue ENTER button, please refresh your browser. Choose from an outstanding selection! Small paintings, wall-mountable sculpture, drawings, prints and  photographs by more than 200 established and emerging artists. Each work of art is on sale for a minimum donation of $125 each. Purchase 3 or more and the minimum donation is $100 each (more if you can!) All artwork is available on a first come, first serve basis. All proceeds benefit Art in a Box art and education programs for children at risk. Contact Us For information contact Valentina DuBasky at Art in a Box: 212-691-2543, or e-mail us at artpartners@aol.com  Help empower children with the gift of art! Art in a Box assists children and young artists around the world who are in need, disadvantaged by poverty, or who are facing crisis situations due to war, public health emergencies, or natural disasters, and supports their recovery and empowerment through art and art education. Art in a Box is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt, nonprofit organization. For more information about Art in a Box, visit  http://www.artinabox.org

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Online Art Sale Goes Live Tomorrow Night

Art in a Box's 10th Annual
2015 Benefit Holiday Art Sale and
Exhibition for Children at Risk!
____________________________________________________

THE ONLINE ART SALE WILL GO LIVE
TOMORROW NIGHT!

Sales link will activate on
Thursday, December 10, 2015 at 11 PM, EST
Through Tuesday December 15, 2015 at 11 PM, EST
http://www.artinabox.org?benefitartexhibition.htm


____________________________________________________

Purchase Art Online for $125 and Support Children at Risk!
Purchase 3 or more and the minimum donation is $100 each (more if you can!)

Choose from an outstanding selection of
small paintings, wall-mountable sculpture, drawings, prints and
photographs by more than 200 established and emerging artists.

All artwork is available on a first come, first serve basis.

All proceeds benefit Art in a Box art and education programs
for children at risk.

____________________________________________________


Here's how to reserve art and make your donation online.
1. Contact us to reserve your artwork when the Online Sale goes live
By email: Artpartners@aol.com (24/7); Please include the name of the
artist you wish to collect, your name, and your contact information.

2. Make your donation and pay by credit card online through PayPal.
Upon checkout, where it says "Purpose," please type "Benefit" and the
"last name of the artist".

3. If you need us to mail your art to you, please calculate your
shipping and handling costs, and add to your payment


Help us make it happen!
Please share this offer with your friends, collectors and social media!



Contact Us
For information contact Valentina DuBasky at Art in a Box:
212-691-2543, or e-mail us at artpartners@aol.com

Help empower children with the gift of art!
Art in a Box assists children and young artists around the world who are in need, disadvantaged by poverty, or who are facing crisis situations due to war, public health emergencies, or natural disasters, and supports their recovery and empowerment through art and art education. Art in a Box is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt, nonprofit organization.
For more information about Art in a Box, visit http://www.artinabox.orghttp://www.artinabox.org/benefitartexhibition.htm

La Liberté Guidant le Peuple - Eugène Delacroix

Happy Halloween!

All Hallows' Eve and the Harvest is Splendid!

Nice, tall pumpkins from the field and

 a market of color and shapes just waiting for faces.

Jan Lievens

Jan Lievens, a Dutch painter, the son of a tapestry worker, was born on October 24, 1607 in the city of Lieden, Dutch Republic.  He began a formal study of art at the age of eight and was apprenticed to Pieter Lastman two years later.  Lievens began working and making a living as an artist at the age of twelve.  This early display of talent made him a celebrity and brought him attention from influential political figures.

Self Portrait of Jan Lievens

From 1626 to 1631 Lievens collaborated with Rembrandt van Rijn, sharing models, subject matter, and possibly a studio.  Lievens painted several portraits of Rembrandt.  His work has often been confused with that of Rembrandt; it was only in the twentieth century that "The Feast of Esther," long attributed to Rembrandt, was finally determined to be the work of Lievens.

The Feast of Esther

Jan Lievens

North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC

Lievens subjects ranged from formal portraits and character studies to classical mythology, Biblical scenes, and landscapes.

Landscape with Hagar and the angel

Jan Lievens

Musée de Beaux-Arts, Rouen, France

At the age of 31 Lievens was invited to the British court.  Later he served as a court painter in The Hague and in Berlin.  He returned to Amsterdam in 1655 and died there in 1672.

The Blue Moon Rising

      The moon doesn't make its appearance above our neighbors' rooftop until about 35 minutes after moonrise.  
     Tonight's full moon fits the modern definition of a "blue moon."  That means it's the second full moon within a month.  An older way of defining a "blue moon" notes that it is the third full moon out of four in a season.
     Is it possible to have only only two full moons within three months?  Go to earthsky.org for questions and answers about blue moons and full moons.

Three Hundred and One Years Ago

 I could have announced a tricentennial if only I had started to read this book (for the ... tenth? time) in July of last year.  Instead, I note that today marks three hundred and one years since that fateful day in Thornton Wilder's literary imagination.

"On Friday noon, July the twentieth, 1714, the finest bridge in all Peru broke and precipitated five travelers into the gulf below. ... The bridge seemed to be among the things that last forever: it was unthinkable that it should break.  The moment a Peruvian heard of the accident he signed himself and made a mental calculation as to how recently he had crossed by it and how soon he had intended crossing by it again."

Thornton Wilder,  TheBridge of San Luis Rey

This well-thumbed paperback has a very early review of the book on its first page noting that "THE BRIDGE OF SAN LUIS REY has its setting in Peru nearly two centuries ago."

A Summertime Feast for the Eyes

Giovanna Garzoni was a successful artist of the early 17th century.  This is her 'Chinese Porcelain Bowl withCherries.'

National Pencil Day - an "unofficial" holiday for artists and writers

It's time for another "unofficial" holiday.  Today, March 30th, is National Pencil Day.  I can't tell you who or what is responsible for the origin of this day, but it interests me as I try to fill in parts of my education.  I've been learning about and experimenting with different grades of pencils for drawing.

When thinking of pencils most of us imagine the bright yellow, wood-encased instrument with a graphite tip and an eraser on the opposite end.  We call these 'lead pencils' even though they do not contain lead.  The 'lead' is really graphite that is mixed with differing amounts of clay to produce grades of hardness and blackness.  In pencil grading a 6H is harder than a 4H which is harder than a 2H.  The blackness grading scale is similar.  My 8B pencil produces a much blacker line than the 6B.

There is also an F grade

and this refers to a pencil that can be sharpened to a very fine point.  The image above gives you some idea of pencil gradations.  If you look carefully you may be able to see some little paw prints left by an inquisitive cat.

Pencils are great.  You don't need electricity or a battery.  Pencils will work even when held upside down.  They won't freeze and they work underwater (so I'm told).
You can find some notable pencil users in an internet search.  Over 300 pencils were used in the writing of John Steinbeck's East of Eden.  Vladimir Nabokov wrote and rewrote everything in pencil.
In his 1957 novel, Pnin (which I haven't read) there is a descriptive and well-imagined reference to the use of a pencil sharpener.

"With the help of the janitor he screwed onto the side of the desk a pencil sharpener -- that highly satisfying, highly philosophical instrument that goes ticonderoga-ticonderoga, feeding on the yellow finish and sweet wood, and ends up in a kind of soundlessly spinning ethereal void as we all must."

                                                                                          Vladimir Nabokov,  Pnin, [1957]

Spring is headed our way - along with a little snow!

The calendar says that spring will be here tomorrow.  The weather forecast doesn't encourage thoughts of vernal growth and greenery.  Another snowstorm is headed our way.

"Spring is coming, didn't you know?  Oh yes, it's up to ten below."  

Anita McLean Washington

Get Ready for π Day

Saturday, March 14, 2015 will be a special day for pastry lovers and math fans.  On 3/14/15 at 9:26:53 a.m. (and p.m.) the time and date will mirror the first ten numerals of the "transcendental" number, and mathematical constant, pi.  This happens only once in a century.  Pi represents the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter.  No matter how many times I read about transcendental numbers, I can't really understand what they are.  I simply know that the term appeals to me. That's π.

Even if you loathed geometry class you might enjoy taking advantage of the specials at pastry and pizza shops on Pi Day.

Wake Up! You've Got Mail!

Mr. Goundhog, you know there's another day in the bleak month of February that's even more widely observed than Groundhog Day.  While you were snoozing away in your warm little den the world celebrated Valentine's Day.  Wake up! Mr. Goundhog, you've got mail!

By the way, you were right about six more weeks of winter.

Six More Weeks of Winter

Once again Punxsutawney Phil, "prognosticator of all prognosticators," saw his shadow on Groundhog Day.  So we're in for six more weeks of winter.

Carl Sandburg

Carl Sandburg, poet, biographer, editor, and American folk-song collector, was born on January 6, 1878 in Galesburg, Illinois.

Sandburg was the winner of three Pulitzer Prizes.  In 1919 and 1951 he won the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry: in 1940 he won the Pulitzer Prize in History for "Abraham Lincoln;The War Years."  This was the second volume of his biography of our 16th president.

Caboose Thoughts
1918

It's going to be all right----do you know?
The sun, the birds, the grass----they know.
They get along----and we'll get along.

Some days will be rainy and you will sit waiting
And the letter you wait for won't come,
And I will sit watching the sky tear off gray and gray
And the letter I wait for won't come.

There will be ac-ci-dents.
I know ac-ci-dents are coming.
Smash-ups, signals wrong, washouts, trestles rotten,
Red and yellow ac-ci-dents.
But somehow and somewhere the end of the run
The train gets put together again
And the caboose and the green tail lights
Fade down the right of way like a new white hope.

I never heard a mockingbird in Kentucky
Spilling its heart in the morning.

I never saw the snow in Chimborazo.
It's a high white Mexican hat, I hear.

But I've been around.
I know some of the boys here who can go a little.
I know girls good for a burst of speed any time.

I heard Williams and Walker
Before Walker died in the bughouse.

I knew a mandolin player
Working in a barbershop in an Indiana town,
And he thought he had a million dollars.

I knew a hotel girl in DesMoines.
She had eyes; I saw her and said to myself
The sun rises and the sun sets in her eyes.
I was her steady and her heart went pit-a-pat.
We took away the money for a prize waltz at a
          Brotherhood dance.
She had eyes; she was safe at the bridge over the
           Mississippi at Burlington; I married her.

Last summer we took the cushions going west.
Pike's Peak is a big old stone, believe me.
It's fastened down, something you can count on.

It's going to come out all right----do you know?
The sun, the birds, the grass----they know.
They get along----and we'll get along.

Carl  Sandburg  1878 - 1967