164 !

At my residence, I currently have 164 samples!!! I know of at least 10 more on their way in the post currently - so very close to having 200 - which would be incredible.
South Island still very underrepresented...! Very little time left now, so if you're following this and have been meaning to get those samples sent off, now would be a good time!
Have also been working on finalising layout for the memory of water series - think I am going to use them to map out where they are from :) If you sent me a sample but haven't sent a photo through, and you'd like your portrait included, now would be the time to send it to me! (h2ospectrum@gmail.com)
I am a bit behind on the graphite portraits. Have done Dug Stuart, Hannah Wilson, Katie Dent, Emma Crawford and Alex Hitchcock's recently. Still have another 5-10 to do, but as these will probably not be part of the final display they are slightly lower priority currently.
Am also trying to work out how to get mechanisms that will slowly rotate single samples... if I can figure this out for a series I'll be very very happy. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Samples from Napier

Recieved a couple of samples from Napier/Hastings this morning! That area is on the map - although still only 3 from there; other underrepresented areas in North Island: Taranaki, Wairarapa, Gisborne (NONE)
South Island: anywhere that's not: Mid Canterbury i.e Christchurch

Press cutting from Wanganui Chronicle (I think)

(click for larger version)

Got this cutting in the mail today, a family friend in Whanganui posted it up to me. It looks like the Chron. did publish a story! I was a 'joint' winner, not the solo winner of the $10,000, but most of the information in here is pretty accurate. My indicator paper was dyed not rubbed, but what the hey - publicity is publicity.  The other two winners were Heidi Brickell and Toby Raine.

Samples from Shelley McMurtrie

Big set of samples arrived this morning courtesy of Shelley McMurtrie (an Aquatic Scientist with EOS Ecology)

Just over a month to go... Get those samples in!! If you're in the 'naki, Gisborne, Napier/Hastings, or anywhere in South Island (although CHCH is pretty well covered), I'd love to get samples from your region ASAP!

Also in the process of putting together an artist book about this project. If you've got something you'd like to be considered for inclusion, or know someone who would, please flick me an email at h2ospectrum@gmail.com

Art Merges with Science

Thanks to Kevin Collier, President of the New Zealand Freshwater Sciences Society, for featuring my project on their website (here).

To those who have followed the link over, thank you! 

If you want to send samples, please collect them in whatever containers you have available; I'll put them into vials once they arrive here. Flick me an email on h2ospectrum@gmail.com to get the postal address. :)

Cut off for recieving samples (due to academic deadlines) is September 17th 2010.

Manawatu River update

http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/stories/2010/08/09/ab28a64cdb24

Photographing Vials

I've been playing about with photographing the vials in a light tent I made (with lots of instructions from Em Davidson, who is the photo queen). This is a photo of one of her vials. I'm not super good with photography - being very much a point and shoot slut a lot of the time, so I'm very pleased with this. Slightly colour corrected in Photoshop. Link to Em's Blog here. 

 a different sample. Clearly I've chosen to display these because they are visually interesting, but all the samples are quite different. 

 this sample has been shaken before being photgraphed. 

As always, works in progress. 

"deeply trippy" for the win...

http://www.creative.auckland.ac.nz/uoa/home/news/template/news_item.jsp?cid=300729

NZ post competition

http://www.nzpost.co.nz/Cultures/en-NZ/Personal/Competitions/WarmUpSomeonesWinter

Just incase anyone needed an extra motivator to send me samples ;)

2010 Joint Winner: Henrietta and Lola Anne Tunbridge Watercolour Scholarship

 

Statement:

The past decade has seen an increasing awareness of climate change and environmental pressures the growing global population is inflicting on natural resources. Recently scientists have expressed frustration over the difficulty of communicating environmental issues to the public (Bunting), and I believe that art has the capacity to fill a vital intermediary role. This series of water colours is part of my wider body of work regarding New Zealand freshwater, as a continuation of my ongoing exploration of global environmental and concomitant societal issues.

Water is a precious resource which we often take for granted in New Zealand. We are lucky to still have pristine wild streams and rivers, but Freshwater Ecologists have recently drawn attention to alarming statistics for a country which proclaims to be 100% pure. Notably, the Manawatu river recently topped an international survey of the Western World’s most polluted (by dissolved oxygen count)(Cawthron Institute qtd in Burns & Morgan) and up to 90% of our lowland rivers reportedly no longer suitable for swimming.

Part of my research practice has involved facilitating the collection of a wide range of freshwater samples from across New Zealand via the internet. These water colours are created from these sources; the water sample is used on a homemade (red cabbage) indicator paper, to paint a portrait of the person that sent it. Depending on the acidity/alkalinity of the water sample, the paper changes colour. A green tinge indicates alkalinity; the more blue/violet tinge suggests acidity, with a range in between. The images fade slowly in the light; illustrating our explicit connection with, and dependence on water. In the words of Bruno Latour:

"Air, water, land, all of those were present before in the background: now they are explicitated because we slowly come to realize that they might disappear —and we with them"(Latour 3)



Bunting, Madeleine. "Art and Climate." RSA Arts and Ecology Magazine (2010). <http://www.artsandecology.org.uk/magazine/features/madeleine-bunting>

Burns, Kelly, and Jon Morgan. "Manawatu River 'among Worst in the West' " Dominon Post on Stuff.co.nz (2009). November 26 <http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/national/3097575/Manawatu-River-among-worst-in-the-West>.

Latour, B. "A Plea for Earthly Sciences." Bruno Latour (2007). April.<http://www.bruno-latour.fr/articles/article/102-BSA-GB>