Pollinators

In the US, the Pollinator Partnership is celebrating National Pollinators Week, so I thought I would share some bees and butterflies. You've probably heard about the plight of the bees and the declining populations of pollinators in general. Pollinators are vital to our ecosystem and even if we are to be purely self-centred, our own food supply. I made these prints for a show on the biodiversity of bees. As I've mentioned before, there are some great resources for fostering our own local native bees on Resonating Bodies as well links to Sarah Peebles' sound and installation bee art.

I've noticed that my flower garden is attracting bees daily and I'm looking forward to luring more! I got the Bee Friendly Garden Seed Set from TEST member, printmaker and organic farmer Laura of cubits at our Spring Marketplace.

In other news, I lent some artwork to a science outreach program, planning an event on a vital topic... more on that later. Also, much to my surprise, I'm working on some logos for a cafe in Saudi Arabia.  Some sort of theme this week...

Happy summer solstice (or winter, if you happen to be south of the equator)!

Winter Solstice!

Despite the rainy weather the 22^nd annual Kensington Market Winter Solstice went ahead. I met Faunalia at the start. We were in there close to the performers. I really enjoyed the flaming pipe. Greg was there on stilts to start things off again. We marched down Augusta engulfed by the samba squad. We managed to get to a less crowed and deafening part of the part, where we could hear the drums and each other. The route was a bit abbreviated, but it was wonderful. I enjoyed having my lantern, complete with burning candle (no LED for me). We made it to the park, where they had set up the vignettes (usually within the market); I suspect they decided setting up on roofs in the rain was not wise. We found Reynardin who had brought F's lantern. I loved the shadow puppets. The storyteller persevered despite technical difficulties (including loosing lights and his mic). We checked out some of the booths and then I went to get a better look at the Chinese dragon. The dragon came right up to be and blinked its eyes at me! We managed to get a good spot to watch the burning of the fire sculpture and the fire dancers. It was worth braving the weather!

Happy Solstice!

Well, we've made it to the far edge of this (ridiculously scaled) diagram! That means that here in the Northern Hemisphere, the days, after today, will start to get longer again. That, is something worth celebrating.

Those of you in town tonight should all come out to see the Kensington Market Festival of Lights! It's their 20th festival. It never seems like the year is really over unless you've lit something aflame.