From Sea Shore to Sea Floor: Interview with TED Fellow & Biorock® artist Colleen Flanigan
Colleen Flanigan is a TED Fellow, artist and Biorock® underwater reef sculptress. I am hoping to collaborate with Colleen on a number of projects this year the first of which is the song Aaron Raitiere and I co-wrote, called Cancun Kiss, which is currently supporting Colleen’s Kickstarter page for this project. You can read more about Colleen’s eco-artistic journey below….
Julie: Colleen can you describe what combination of factors in your life and work lead up to you going to Bali to become the first visual artist certified by the Global Coral Reef Alliance in Biorock® mineral accretion (a technology for coral reef restoration), and getting certified for scuba?
Colleen: My background is in metalsmithing, design, and mixed-media sculpture, and collaborating with kids on larger public pieces. I had just returned to living in California in 2003 (until 2006). Life in Portland was not moving forward at the time, and I wanted to be near to my family, especially since I was close with my grandmother and she was turning 80. A family friend, Laura Tugwell, told me about a sustainable architecture conference, Ecowave, happening in Oakland where Wolf Hilbertz would share his work with Biorock® mineral accretion. “You should go! He makes metal sculptures in the ocean and they grow cement.” That instant I knew I had to go.
So I went and learned that corals are endangered, that there are some predictions that they will be gone by 2050 due to climate change and other human impacts. I realized that I could use my metalsmithing, love of nature, and art skills to help the corals. I was moved to tears and inspired by seeing a creative interdisciplinary solution to a dire situation for these beautiful animals. That was a life-changing epiphany! I learned to SCUBA in Monterey and joined the Biorock® workshop in Pemuteran, Bali January, 2004. Obsessed ever since.
Julie: A friend of mine is involved in what she calls ‘bioremediative eco-art.’ Would you categorize your Biorock® work in the same way?
Colleen: Yes, I would fit in there, most def. I also describe myself as a socio-ecological artist because of the interplay of society with ecology.
Titles are challenging because they attempt to give structure and cohesion to organic and dynamic processes…a bit of a word game. {I’m happy that others with more objectivity, like art historians, weave the threads of artistic evolution into their tapestry to create another art form of order and analysis.} Back to “Bioremediative ecoart”: it translates into “corrective/life supporting ecological art.” I like how it has action in its meaning. Through this art, we can aim to reveal underlying universal principles and take personal action to aid the environment. I am fascinated by the paradigm shift from art about ecology to art as ecology.
Julie: Right now, as I understand it, this technology needs to be on the grid to function. In your dreams will these Biorock® reefs eventually be fueled by green renewable energy and how would that work?
Colleen: No, they do not need to be on the grid. Some pilot projects in the Maldives and Bali are not. Also, a previous project in Mexico and some in Florida are to be powered by solar. Solar, wave, wind, tidal are all possible. The amount of power for the project in Cancun will be approximately equivalent to that of a laptop or beach light.
Julie: You are a TED Fellow, and TED Fellows often get the help of the best minds in the world to have their dreams come true. Can you explain what lead up to you becoming a TED Fellow and how that has aided your creative process but also the more practical aspects of your work? And one follow up question – if you had a TED wish that could come true what would it be?
Colleen: It has been an incredible experience! One day I jokingly said, “I want a PhD in life,” maybe this is a piece of that. By association with all these achieving activists, artists, teachers, scientists, tech innovators…I have made a huge leap to adjust to the non-stop mind-blowing abilities of the TED Fellows. It is a hugely humbling and inspiring honor to be part of this interdisciplinary community that stays connected through online groups and real gatherings when we can. The TED Fellowship keeps everyone on a sort of updraft of peer mentoring. We cheer, support, connect and energize each other.
What led up to it: I was working on the movie, Coraline, when a few friends there, as well as my web designer, Rex Rose, kept saying, “you need to check out TED Talks.” So I watched a few and got so positively charged. I found out about the fellowship. Applied. Put it on the calendar as if it was happening. When I heard the news, I screamed and cried with joy. Apparently I knew that to accomplish Living Sea Sculpture dreams, I could not do it alone and wanted to be immersed in a think tank of “ideas worth spreading.” TED helps to get my work into the public and they have a coaching program, SupporTED, where I receive high level coaching to break out of my comfort zone. It is intense and all about innovating your life. So with the other Fellows acting as peer mentors, the TED Fellows team and TED attendees as mentors and networks, being a Fellow exponentially gives you connections and community to manifest big dreams. TED pays for your attendance to a TED conference. As a Senior Fellow, you get to develop a project, for me the Living Sea Sculpture, and attend more conferences, which means you have time to grow relationships and some depth with the TED community and Fellows. I have received a bit of publicity through the Nokia responsiveness campaign, gained the courage to launch a couple Kickstarter campaigns, basically, TED enabled me to take bigger risks. Having TED validate my multi-faceted life gives my work more visibility, credibility and reach, and strengthens my resolve to follow my authentic path and commit to decisions. This year I am giving a TED U talk on March 1, which means that talk could reach thousands of people through the TED website.
Wish: In the moment, I wish for this project in Mexico to be funded and installed so that it can lead to more collaborations for coral restoration and art as ecology.
TED wishes are usually broad and inclusive- with that in mind, I wish that everyone in coastal areas facing threats from sea level rise, lack of fish or other marine life, climate change, pollution…would be invited into the solution and have ease of communications. Create a hub for information sharing with other individuals to democratically co-design these global/local solutions. (no idea how to implement this wish!)
I have a fantasy, perhaps TED wish, to create a Biorock® coral conservatory that is beautifully planned and designed to be both a coral refuge, as well as a place of study, propagation and contemplation. Not in a rush rush snorkel or dive location. More like a Japanese garden, a place for underwater meditation and quiet coral gardening, a creative, relaxing, beautiful space for wonder and discovery. All of the elements will be powered by wave, solar, tidal and it will be a seascape that complements the environment with its undulating natural forms. People can visit this intimate conservation site that serves coral ecosystems and people seeking a peaceful retreat off the beaten path.
Julie: Describe what is it about the sea that inspires and informs your art and your eco-art?
Colleen: I was raised along the Monterey Peninsula where the ocean was my native environment feeding me as a child. The sea is a colorful place with organisms that are almost magical. I enjoy the dreamy, surreal, otherworldy reality of the ocean. My jewelry and many other sculptural pieces have had sea inspiration sometimes without my being conscious of it. I like that the sea is fluid. My eco-art contains the desire to keep the ocean and the land always united in our lives: I think about how whatever I do on land affects the sea. I carry that knowing every minute even though I am based in Portland, OR right now. Learning about Biorock® was the moment when all my previous work seemed to snap into relationship with oceans and corals.
Julie: I had someone tell me recently that its ok to make art for yourself but you must realize it really is for yourself and not expect others to buy into your artistic vision. If you make art you expect others to buy with actual money than you have to make art that speaks to other people’s values and lives. How do you feel about the tension between being ‘purely’ artistic and making art for the public? Do you make a distinction?
Colleen: People have all sorts of explanations and rules for other’s motivations. I hope there are more options! Creativity is filled with paradox. Usually we are aware of something “pure” and much greater than we are able to achieve once it is filtered through the system, and simultaneously we as creators are being transformed and adapting to our world values unconsciously. I am re-reading the book: The Grace of Great Things, Creativity and Innovation by Robert Grudin. On p. 15:
“To think creatively is to walk at the edge of chaos. In thinking the original, we risk thinking the ridiculous. In opening the way for a few good ideas, we open the way for many bad ones…”
As an artist, I think just making something without having to explain in words is a wonderful gift and important activity to discovery, yet to function in the world, learning to assess and articulate to yourself and others the intention allows for larger concepts to emerge and be realized. Art is a product (whether temporal or permanent) of observation, inspiration, imagination, intuition, analysis, skills, translation. Currently I carry visions of projects that are for others, as well as myself. They are grand scale and need other people to participate to bring them to life because they require collaborative process and public interaction. These works are multi-media, interdisciplinary and tie human health with ecology and coral health. That said, I still love to make things just to be in the zone without worrying about someone’s opinions holding power over my creative play.
Julie: Describe your current project in Cancun and how folks can help you reach your goals for this project?
Colleen: We made a steel sculpture in a form inspired by DNA helices. It’s fascinating that corals and humans share similar innate immunity genes, according to this source. I think that concept led me to making two helices fusing into one. The large sculpture is waiting to be deployed into the ocean in the waters of Punta Nizuc. It will become a coral refuge and tourist attraction to help divert attention away from the nearby natural reefs that need a break. MUSA is a 2 year old underwater museum and since it is in part of the National Marine Park, this project will serve as the first Biorock® scientific study for their labs. People can donate through our Kickstarter campaign and help us get the word out. We have till March 14th to raise $35,000. All donations are tax-deductible.
What I love about Kickstarter is that it is like a new economy, a place where people give to realize creative projects and in exchange, they become a part of personal and collective hope and dreams being realized. And for me, I like being able offer experiences and creative rewards to supporters. Coral restoration may be a reward in itself, but all causes are! I like being able to give people that choice of getting something tangible too.
Julie: What do you wish I had asked that I didn’t?
Colleen: What about Miss Snail Pail?! What is she up to?
The other day a friend, Allyson Schutt, said in a facebook thread, “I keep expecting to see Miss Snail Pail on Portlandia.” I would love that!
If you are interested in Colleen’s work you can support it on Kickstarter here.
To follow Living Sea Sculpture on facebook
and on Twitter: @livingseasculpt
You can learn more about Colleen’s eco projects at www.colleenflanigan.com
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liketheevergreen reblogged this from juliestein and added:
she is so cool
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juliestein posted this
