The Phylomon Project - Sneak Peak

If kids can learn 120 Pokémon 'species', why not their local flora and fauna? A study* showed that despite kids' staggering ability to learn to identify fictional critters on gaming cards, they could identify less than 50% of common wildlife. Next week, UBC's Science Creative Quarterly is launching a collaborative, interactive antidote to ignorance of our ecosystem called The Phylomon Project in honour of 2010, the International Year of Biodiversity.

The image is a sort of mock-up of how a Pokémon-type card might look, featuring my 'Vixen in the Snow' lino block print. Since I volunteered my image, you can have a sneak peak at the site and what is planned.

You can find out more about participation at this link** or in the flickr group. So, all you artists, people who care about biodiversity, people with kids, educators, people who like art, people who are kids, and people into gaming (have I got everyone yet?)- check it out!


*Balmford A, Clegg L, Coulson T, Taylor J., Why conservationists should heed Pokémon., Science. 2002 Mar 29;295(5564):2367.
** This includes an email address for comments and feedback to project creator Dave Ng, for anyone with comments and suggestions on gaming. Eventually they will set up a blog to facilitate discussion. They foresee a wiki-like process to determine the biodiversity content, and I suspect everything will come together in a similar community-driven way.

Book of Hope 2009

So alteredmommy raffled off the Book of Hope collaboration and a cross stitch piece and raised $630 for cancer research! Check out the whole book here.

Book of Hope 2009

So I wanted to make my 4 inch by 4 inch (10 cm by 10 cm) chunky page for alteredmommy’s collaboration, the Book of Hope 2009, but I wanted to figure out how to symbolize hope without being... well, twee. You need some contrast for meaning, some darkness with a hint of light. Last year I went for hope as strength with the phoenix rising from the flames. This year I came up with a break in the clouds.


The thick clouds are sponges a few millimeters (say, a quarter inch) thick which I have painted with acrylic. (The sponge was part of the packaging of the pineapple cake from our visiting student from Taiwan: reduce, reuse, recycle!) The other clouds are layers of translucent Japanese hand-made washi paper, as is the rainbow. The word hope is stamped in silver ink.






Because the clouds have depth, they cast shadows, depending on the direction of the light source (sunlight in this case).

In other news: it is spring out there! Let’s hope that in traditional Toronto fashion, the weather does not revert to winter again. I am ready to scale back from my heavy winter coat. and I took Sukie to High Park, which was veritably infested with thankful Torontonians, soaking up the sunlight and looking at swans, ducks, geese and woodpeckers. It seems my friends are scheming about housing right now. Change is afoot.

I had kind of planned to go to the craft swap at Freedom Clothing... but I think I might try to tackle Project Darwin instead. Though I feel like I should be outside.