The Bountiful Earth, A Good Harvest is in Sight: Lishui, Zhejiang Province, China. Photo by & © Shaofeng Zhang. “The Meiyuan Terrace has an agricultural history stretching back at least 1,000 years. The landscape of rolling hills and golden rice also attracts tourists to the area, yielding another kind of harvest time treasure.”

The Bountiful Earth, Morning Mist and Mellow Fruitfulness: Aberglasney Gardens, Carmarthenshire, Wales, United Kingdom. Photo by & © Nigel McCall. “In the warm, heavy mist of an August morning the Kitchen Garden at Aberglasney had a delightfully romantic atmosphere. Here, heritage fruit, cut flowers, vegetables and herbs are grown side by side and arranged by colour, making the garden a joy to photograph throughout much of the year.”

Still Life, Pomegranate: Timaru, South Canterbury, New Zealand. Photo by & © Simon Schollum. “I chose a cross-section of a pomegranate (Punica granatum) to feature as the central subject in this still life, which was captured at my home studio in New Zealand.”

Wildlife in the Garden, Female Blackbird: Criccieth, Gwynedd, Wales, United Kingdom. Photo by & © Alan Price. “This female blackbird was on her way back to the nest to supplement its construction with fresh vegetation.”

Wildlife in the Garden, Fairy Tale: Palovec, Croatia. Photo by & © Petar Sabol. “This really was a once in a lifetime photograph. In a forest near my town I came across this unbelievable scene of insect behaviour. I used an old vintage lens to achieve the bokeh, but had to work fast as the light was quickly disappearing and the opportunity would be gone forever.”

Greening the City, City Campus: University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong. Photo by & © Annie Green-Armytage. “Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated cities on the planet, so green space is essential in order to promote health and well-being.”

Breathing Spaces, Misty Blue Morning: Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada Photo by & © Adam Burton. “It was an incredibly atmospheric morning in the Canadian Rockies; Herbert Lake was like a mirror. However, I had to wait a while for the mist to break in order to obtain the gorgeous reflections of the mountains. The clouds then parted just enough to reveal the very first light of a new day.”

Wildflower Landscapes, Cerrado Sunrise: Alto Paraíso de Goiás, Goiás, Brazil. Photo by & © Marcio Cabral. Overall Winner, 11th International Garden Photographer of the Year

Brazil’s Cerrado is the largest savanna biome in all of South America, species-rich and second only in plant diversity to the tropical rainforest. Photographer Marcio Cabral annotates, “The Paepalanthus chiquitensis is a special plant, endemic to South America with main occurrence in the cerrado region of Brazil. The plant itself is not considered endangered, however the accelerated advance of monoculture plantations (for example soya) in this region is causing concern. It is critical to shine a light on the wonder of these plants and take steps to preserve the unique beauty of the cerrado ecosystem. I intensified the natural glow of sunrise by increasing the contrast between the flowers and grass.”

International Garden Photographer of the Year is the world’s premier competition and exhibition specializing in garden, plant, flower and botanical photography.

The flagship EXHIBITION of the 11th International Garden Photographer of the Year is SHOWING NOW at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and runs through March 11th. Upcoming Exhibitions in 2018 for Competition 11 include RHS Garden Hyde Hall in Chelmsford, opening March 20th, the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust in Shropshire, opening May 3rd, and a special outdoor exhibition at de Hortus Botanicus in Amsterdam, opening in September.

The Beauty of Plants, Las Ánimas: La Caldera de Taburiente,La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain. Photo by & © A lexis Javier Acosta Simón. IGPOTY Competition 10. “Echium wildpretii subsp. trichosiphon is a biennial plant endemic to the high altitudes in the area of La Caldera de Taburiente on the island of La Palma.”

EXHIBITIONS of the 10th International Garden Photographer of the Year are SHOWING NOW through April 8th in Spain, at The Aiete Cultural Centre, Donostia / San Sebastián, and through April 13th at the National Trust Sissinghurst Castle & Gardens, Cranbrook, United Kingdom.

International Garden Photographer of the Year — Competition 12, Main Categories — are open for entries from February 20 through October 31, 2018: Abstract View; Beautiful Gardens; Breathing Spaces; Greening the City; Portfolios; The Beauty of Plants; The Bountiful Earth; The Spirit of Trauttmansdorff; Trees, Woods & Forests; Wildflower Landscapes; and, Wildlife in the Garden. The Young Garden Photographer of the Year, for entrants aged 17 and younger, runs for the same dates, under the same categories.

Competition 12’s three Photo Projects and open/close dates in 2018 are: Black & White, February 20/March 30; Macro Art, April 1/June 29; Still Life, July 2/August 31.

A recent trip to Haida Gwaii, an archipelago in British Columbia, Canada, on the Passing Cloud, a 71’ schooner proves that cooperation between First Nation people and governments work. In a unique cooperation between the Haida Nation and the Government of Canada, Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve, National Marine Conservation Area and Haida Heritage Site, Gwaii Hanaas, as the area is collectively known, was created to preserve precious resources for future generations.

In 1985, on Lyell Island, a standoff between the logging companies and local Haida people resulted in the historic agreement and in 2013, the first memorial pole in 150 years was raised at the village of Hlk’yah GawGa (Windy Bay) to commemorate the signing.

Incorporating five historic Haida villages, including SGang Gwaay (Anthony Island) a World Heritage Site, vast expanses of old forest and pristine waters and coastline, it is the only area in the world that is protected from the top of its highest mountain to the depths of its oceans. Gwaii Haanas Marine extends approximately 6 miles offshore and encompasses part of the Hecate Strait and Queen Charlotte Shelf marine areas.

The historic villages are protected by the Haida Watchmen, a program that teaches and trains Haida people to care for their ancient villages. The Watchmen spend the summers at the remote sites, providing tours and guiding the 2,000 people who visit each year. All access is by boat, there is no cell phone or television coverage and all communication is by VHF radios.

Outer Shores runs an ecotourism sailing company and has a Gold rating with Canada’s Green Tourism. The itineraries focus on more sailing, less motoring to reduce their carbon footprint. Outer Shores also participates in several carbon offset programs. Food and supplies are sourced locally and meals include seafood caught in approved fishing areas and foraged greens, including sea asparagus and seaweed.

Our on-board chef, Natasha, foraging for sea asparagus that we enjoyed in salads and various other dishes.

The Haida Nation is a matriarchal society. Raven, a four-year old little girl is already being taught the lore and legends. Her mother is one of the Haida Watchmen who spend the summer months taking care of and protecting the historic villages. Raven led our group along the trail to a waterfall at T’aanuu Llnagaay.

SGang Gwaay is a World Heritage Site is the southernmost village in Gwaii Haanas, and has the largest number of (totem) poles of all the sites. The village was abandoned after the smallpox epidemic of 1862 and the numerous poles are slowly succumbing to decay, taking the spirits of the ancestors back to the earth.

The ancient house poles in the villages are allowed to naturally decay and go back to the earth. The Haida Watchmen protect the sites to discourage desecration of the sacred sites.

These details of the newest memorial pole at Hlk’yah GawGa represent the protestors who stood up to the logging companies that were decimating the ancient forests. This is the first pole to be raised in 150 years.

Gwaii Haanas is home to large Steller Sea Lion rookeries. Hundreds of these huge animals inhabit the islands and it’s always best to remain upwind of them! Marine life abounds with gray whale sightings an almost daily occurrence, as well as a large population of Orcas. Several pods of Risso’s’ dolphins also came to play around the boat.

Although most of the islands are covered with forest, a much overlooked area is the bog-zone that sucks up any gum boots that are not securely attached to feet! Often, tiny plants like this carnivorous round leaf sundew, a Haida fisherman good luck charm, are overlooked.

The Haida Gwaii black bear (Ursus americanus carlottae) is the only bear on the archipelago and has adapted to living here with larger jaws and teeth. They tend to be less aggressive than other bears. The Haida consider the bear to be chief of the forest and a relative of humans.

Huge piles of driftwood line the beaches and wherever you turn, you are surrounded by land, sea and sky.

Surprisingly, white sand beaches are hidden in coves and until you put your toes in, you can almost pretend it’s a tropical island. (Water temperature hovers around 55F.) The beaches are generally deserted except for your own boat crew. There is very little litter and visitors remove any debris to above the high tide mark, to be collected by Haida who patrol the area.
All the locations we visited are only accessible by boat.

Thanks to Tourism British Columbia for their assistance.

As noted in the official Haida Gwaii guide, “As part of the agreement, Gwaii Haanas is cooperatively managed by the Archipelago Management Board (AMB), which is made up of representatives from the Council of the Haida Nation and the Government of Canada (Parks Canada and Fisheries and Oceans Canada). The AMB uses a consensus-based decision making model to work toward the common goal of protecting the ecological and cultural heritage of Gwaii Haanas for future generations.”

Botanical artist extraordinaire, Azuma Makoto, created this delightful short animation to teach his young daughter about the life cycle of flowers.

Modern American Impressionist, Meredith Brooks Abbott, is one of California’s leading plein air painters. Born in 1938 in picturesque Carpinteria, on California’s central coast, Abbott’s work focuses on the perishing rural landscape. She is a founding member of The Oak Group, one of the country’s leading societies of painters for nature preservation. Her work has become a prominent conservation tool through organizations such as the Santa Barbara Land Trust, The Nature Conservancy and the Environmental Defense Center, to name a few. Abbott continues her 50 year tradition of plein air oil painting from her charming Carpinteria ranch.

For More Information

The Oak Group – Meredith Brooks Abbott

“When a piece of paper is rolled up, it increases its strength, and by glueing together one by one and side by side I can carefully form contours and curves with each single string. These single strings, collected together, consequently become the surface of an object. And eventually, a shape or a form of an object appears.

Newspapers come out everyday and at the same time, are thrown out everyday. This cycle repeats rebirth and death whilst carrying our memories. This, I felt, is so similar to humans who also repeat their own histories and experience the cycles of life and death.

My animal sculptures, made from an accumulation of newspapers, might perhaps be portraying ourselves and our lives, on many levels.”

– Chie Hitotsuyama

Chie Hitotsuyama “Paper Trails” – Short Documentary from Ayako Hoshino on Vimeo.

I have been drawing since I was very little and I’ve always been inspired by nature and especially, the majestic beauty of raptors. What I love about art is that you can immerse yourself in other worlds. With owls, you can imagine the feeling of flying and the freedom that comes with it. I really love the process of researching my subjects and learning more about them. People admire and love owls for their beauty and gracefulness. What is often overlooked, is that they are strong, powerful survivors who exhibit a beautiful savagery.
~ Avery Lana, 15 years old

Barn Owl

Snowy Owl

Northern Saw-whet Owl

Great Horned Owl

Burrowing Owl

For Information About Owls

Audubon
World Owl Trust
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology – All About Birds

In his new documentary, Josh Fox says we can use love to push aside the fear and hopelessness that comes with climate change.

China’s smog-ridden skies have driven some people to rebel in the streets—even if their communist government punishes them severely for doing so. This is a country, after all, where Facebook is blocked and Google is censored.

Director Josh Fox discovered this first-hand when he headed to Beijing for his latest film, How to Let Go of the World and Love All the Things Climate Can’t Change.

“Even the nicest hotel room can turn into a prison,” he said in the film as a guard stood outside his hotel room at 4:30 a.m. Even on the streets in broad daylight, he and his crew were tailed by secret police who drove behind them in a white car. The film’s producer was detained, and the team nearly lost its footage. A trip that had set out to cover the polluting effects of coal quickly evolved into a segment on political repression and human rights.

“Human rights is the air that we breathe,” Fox says.

Three years after his Gasland series showed viewers the detrimental effects of fracking, Fox explores the hard truths of climate change and, recognizing the immensity of the struggle we confront, challenges us to let go of what can’t be helped.

Climate change has already set irreversible change into motion. Even if we cease extracting and burning fossil fuels immediately, untold damage has already been done. Fear, hopelessness, and apathy would seem to be reasonable reactions to this knowledge, but Fox suggests that we push those aside. He’s touring his film across the country, reminding people of a better option: love.

YES! sat down with Fox in Seattle to talk about democracy, civil disobedience, and, of course, love.

This is a condensed and lightly edited version of the interview.

Yessenia Funes: In the past, you’ve done films on fracking, specifically. What got you interested in wanting to do a film on climate change?

Josh Fox: When you’re working on fossil fuels, you know the big question looming over everything is climate change. It’s the big question looming over everything no matter what angle you’re looking at things from. If you’re talking about political injustice, if you’re talking about economic inequality, if you’re talking about development, all these things are related to climate change. So it’s an unavoidable topic, and it will be increasingly unavoidable for future generations.

Funes: How did you choose the film’s locations?

Fox: Well, the movie takes me all over the world. We went to six continents, all the continents where there are people. Some of that was very much intentional. Other parts we were just following the trail. This was a movie where I thought I was doing one thing, and, in the middle, it completely changed. I thought I was making a movie about climate change, and then I quickly discovered that climate change is in such a bad state, that we are so far beyond where I thought we were in terms of action, that I had to make a movie about what it’s like to understand that it’s too late in many ways to stop the most difficult and uncomfortable parts of climate change.

So we have to start to deal with the fact that very, very extreme changes are on their way and that the way we’ve set up society does not deal with that type of cataclysm in a way that is conducive to us not making it worse. Our system right now is based on greed. It’s based on competition. It’s based on violence. It’s based on consumerism. If we’re going to survive this climate catastrophe with any shred of human dignity, we have to start to change our values and base our civilization on different things: on resilience, on love, on community, on human rights, on democracy, on equality. Those are the things that the movie points to.

Funes: How do people go about doing that, though? In the film, you highlight some of the direct actions that frontline communities are engaging in.

Fox: Direct action is the most important tool we have right now. If all of us individually start to think, “Oh, I’ll put solar panels on my roof, I’ll do this, I’ll do that, I’ll change my light bulb,” that’s not adequate at this point. It’s too late for that. We actually have to have real systemic and real political change, and I think we’re seeing a lot of that in all sectors in America.

Funes: In the film, you take part in kayaktivism with Pacific Islanders. When was the first time you took part in something like that?

Fox: The very first time I was ever arrested, I think, was in 1999 or 2000 with the Rainforest Action Network. We were protesting Citibank’s loans to companies that were deforesting the Amazon. But I’ve always been a person who showed up to the protest rally, whether that was anti-apartheid rallies in 1985 when I was 13 years old or protesting the Iraq War.

If you don’t participate in those types of protest actions, don’t kid yourself that you’re actually a participant in our democracy because we don’t live in a democracy right now. We have seen that the oligarchs have so much influence over our politicians right now; only a groundswell of political action on the ground will start to take back our power in that system. So voting is not enough right now. You have to participate in other ways.

Funes: You end the film on a very heartfelt note: “I don’t know how to save the world, yet I must save the world. I don’t know how to save myself, yet I must save myself.” You give us the message in the film that there are things we must do, but ultimately there’s still that sense of hopelessness. How were you hoping that would resonate with people?

Fox: I don’t know about what hope is. I often distrust the idea of it. I know what action is, though. And I know what love is. Love is incredibly difficult. I don’t think of it as something that makes you happy. At times, it makes you happy. Other times, it makes you sad.

When you know what you have to do in this movement, it’s like falling in love because you feel like your whole world is going to get turned upside down. And yet that’s always the thing that we want. And it’s those desires that I think we have to engage when we’re talking about how we participate. We don’t want to do this out of terror. We don’t want to do this out of fear. We don’t want to do this out of obligation or responsibility. We want to do this because we love to do it. And we want to do what we love in order to do it.

That’s the lesson I’m trying to say to people—not only fall in love with what you’re doing, but do what you love in the first place. And that’s what we need if we’re going to rebuild our civilization in the face of climate change.

Yessenia Funes wrote this article for YES! Magazine. Yessenia is an assistant editor at YES! A New York native, she covers inequality, poverty, and climate justice. Follow her on Twitter @yessfun.

Your Oasis in Space

There’s no place like home. Warm, wet and with an atmosphere that’s just right, Earth is the only place we know of with life – and lots of it. JPL’s Earth science missions monitor our home planet and how it’s changing so it can continue to provide a safe haven as we reach deeper into the cosmos.

NASA and SpaceX go Retro

Fourteen travel posters from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, envision a day when the creativity of scientists and engineers will allow us to do things we can only dream of now. The posters depict locales such as Mars, Jupiter’s moon Europa, Saturn’s vapor-spewing moon Enceladus, and the dwarf planet Ceres.

You can take a virtual trip to 14 alien worlds, and maybe even plaster your living room with planetary art, via the new, futuristic space tourism posters.

The posters are the brainchild of The Studio at JPL, a design and strategy team that works with JPL scientists and engineers to visualize and depict complex science and technology topics. Their work is used in designing space missions and in sharing the work of NASA/JPL with the public.

Not to be outdone, Elon Musk’s SpaceX has also produced three posters (see at the bottom of the page) depicting his visions of the future, which are also available for download.

Ride the Tides Through the Throat of Kraken

Frigid and alien, yet similar to our own planet billions of years ago, Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, has a thick atmosphere, organic-rich chemistry and a surface shaped by rivers and lakes of liquid ethane and methane. Cold winds sculpt vast regions of hydrocarbon-rich dunes. There may even be cryovolcanoes of cold liquid water. NASA’s Cassini orbiter was designed to peer through Titan’s perpetual haze and unravel the mysteries of this planet-like moon.

See You at the Cloud 9 Observatory

The rare science opportunity of planetary transits has long inspired bold voyages to exotic vantage points – journeys such as James Cook’s trek to the South Pacific to watch Venus and Mercury cross the face of the Sun in 1769. Spacecraft now allow us the luxury to study these cosmic crossings at times of our choosing from unique locales across our solar system.

Where the Nightlife Never Ends

Discovered in October 2013 using direct imaging, PSO J318.5-22 belongs to a special class of planets called rogue, or free-floating, planets. Wandering alone in the galaxy, they do not orbit a parent star. Not much is known about how these planets come to exist, but scientists theorize that they may be either failed stars or planets ejected from very young systems after an encounter with another planet. These rogue planets glow faintly from the heat of their formation. Once they cool down, they will be dancing in the dark.

Last Chance for Water Before Jupiter

Ceres is the closest dwarf planet to the Sun. It is the largest object in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, with an equatorial diameter of about 965 kilometers. After being studied with telescopes for more than two centuries, Ceres became the first dwarf planet to be explored by a spacecraft, when NASA’s Dawn probe arrived in orbit in March 2015. Dawn’s ongoing detailed observations are revealing intriguing insights into the nature of this mysterious world of ice and rock.

Greetings from your First Exoplanet

While there is much debate over which exoplanet discovery is considered the “first,” one stands out from the rest. In 1995, scientists discovered 51 Pegasi b, forever changing the way we see the universe and our place in it. The exoplanet is about half the mass of Jupiter, with a seemingly impossible, star-hugging orbit of only 4.2 Earth days. Not only was it the first planet confirmed to orbit a sun-like star, it also ushered in a whole new class of planets called Hot Jupiters: hot, massive planets orbiting closer to their stars than Mercury. Today, powerful observatories like NASA’s Kepler space telescope will continue the hunt of distant planets.

Multiple Tours Available

NASA’s Mars Exploration Program seeks to understand whether Mars was, is, or can be a habitable world. Mission like Mars Pathfinder, Mars Exploration Rovers, Mars Science Laboratory and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, among many others, have provided important information in understanding of the habitability of Mars. This poster imagines a future day when we have achieved our vision of human exploration of Mars and takes a nostalgic look back at the great imagined milestones of Mars exploration that will someday be celebrated as “historic sites.”

Kepler-186 f – Where the Grass is Always Redder

Kepler-186f is the first Earth-size planet discovered in the potentially ‘habitable zone’ around another star, where liquid water could exist on the planet’s surface. Its star is much cooler and redder than our Sun. If plant life does exist on a planet like Kepler-186f, its photosynthesis could have been influenced by the star’s red-wavelength photons, making for a color palette that’s very different than the greens on Earth. This discovery was made by Kepler, NASA’s planet hunting telescope.

Experience the Mighty Auroras

The Jovian cloudscape boasts the most spectacular light show in the solar system, with northern and southern lights to dazzle even the most jaded space traveler. Jupiter’s auroras are hundreds of times more powerful than Earth’s, and they form a glowing ring around each pole that’s bigger than our home planet. Revolving outside this auroral oval are the glowing, electric “footprints” of Jupiter’s three largest moons. NASA’s Juno mission will observe Jupiter’s auroras from above the polar regions, studying them in a way never before possible.

Relax on Kepler-16b – Where your shadow always has company

Like Luke Skywalker’s planet “Tatooine” in Star Wars, Kepler-16b orbits a pair of stars. Depicted here as a terrestrial planet, Kepler-16b might also be a gas giant like Saturn. Prospects for life on this unusual world aren’t good, as it has a temperature similar to that of dry ice. But the discovery indicates that the movie’s iconic double-sunset is anything but science fiction.

Experience the Gravity of a Super Earth

Twice as big in volume as the Earth, HD 40307g straddles the line between “Super-Earth” and “mini-Neptune” and scientists aren’t sure if it has a rocky surface or one that’s buried beneath thick layers of gas and ice. One thing is certain though: at eight time the Earth’s mass, its gravitational pull is much, much stronger.

Discover Life Under the Ice

Astonishing geology and the potential to host the conditions for simple life make Jupiter’s moon Europa a fascinating destination for future exploration. Beneath its icy surface, Europa is believed to conceal a global ocean of salty liquid water twice the volume of Earth’s oceans. Tugging and flexing from Jupiter’s gravity generates enough heat to keep the ocean from freezing. On Earth, wherever we find water, we find life. What will NASA’s Europa mission find when it heads for this intriguing moon in the 2020s.

Experience the Charm of Gravity Assists

NASA’s Voyager mission took advantage of a once-every-175-year alignment of the outer planets for a grand tour of the solar system. The twin spacecraft revealed details about Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune – using each planet’s gravity to send them on to the next destination. Voyager set the stage for such ambitious orbiter missions as Galileo to Jupiter and Cassini to Saturn. Today both Voyager spacecraft continue to return valuable science from the far reaches of our solar system.

The Home of “Cold Faithful”

The discovery of Enceladus’ icy jets and their role in creating Saturn’s E-ring is one of the top findings of the Cassini mission to Saturn. Further Cassini mission discoveries revealed strong evidence of a global ocean and the first signs of potential hydrothermal activity beyond Earth – making this tiny Saturnian moon one of the leading locations in the search for possible life beyond Earth.

SpaceX has also gone Retro

Martian Equator

Valles Marineris is a canyon system that runs along the Martian equator.

Immortalizing Olympus

Olympus is the largest shield volcano in our solar system.

Get it while it’s hot

The series also features Mars’ moons, Phobos and Deimos, which are among the smallest known.

Courtesy NASA and SpaceX – All images can be download here and here

A recurring theme in the oeuvre of Marianne Van Lent is the mirage. The paintings in this collection address the theme of the mirage in nature. Ranging from 1996 – 2015 the mirage, as Van Lent conceives of it, is an impression of an otherworldly experience elevated to an exalted destiny: a mystical and metaphysical presence, surpassing the physical world and the nature of material. The mirage is an ultimate glimpse into the mystery and beauty of nature; its fullness and emptiness. The experience of the mirage is short lived, a fleeting moment controlled by light and its ever changing effects. Influenced by The Northern romantic Tradition where nature corresponds to human emotional states, the play of light creates a dramatic expression of a sublime moment.

The mirage image began to emerge in 1996 in “THE LAND IN THE SKY”, a solo show at Wesley Lake Gallery in Asbury Park, NJ. In “Island” (1996) the contradiction between a blurred enigmatic image and its highly charged color creates an impression of otherworldliness, a venture into the abstract sublime. The painting was influenced by Frederick Church’s striking treatment of light and color.

In “Fire on the Water”( 2015) the moment is captured in the mystical siting of the phenomenon, “fire on the water”. The phenomenon is that of Fata Morgana in a physical and metaphysical sense. The mirage is idolized into a mysterious purity, a sublime point of contrast between the spiritual and material realms. Van Lent says, ” I had the inspiring and otherworldly experience of witnessing this extraordinary phenomena outside of my studio window on the Hudson River one summer day. It was a mirage but it was real.”

FIRE ON WATER – 2015 – 40″x 54″

“Low Cloud” (2011) “Earth Science” (2012) and “The Sky Is Falling” (2012) employ the icon, the low flying cloud, signifying strange and displaced phenomena in a fragile, quickly changing universe.

LOW CLOUD – 2011 – 8″x 8″

EARTH SCIENCE – 2012 – 24″x 24″

THE SKY IS FALLING – 2012 – 36″x 48″

“VAS” ( 2013) The image recurs in Van Lent’s oeuvre since 1989. The V form represents at once the ancient vessel and the whirling phenomena of dervishes and tornedoes. The icon is steeped in and loaded with metaphorical magic. Carl Jung explains the nature of the “VAS” as the vessel accepting the Prima Materia (the four elements). In alchemy, transformation starts with the unconscious content and ends with the realization of the self. Jung wrote,” Into an egg shaped retort, the unum vas, vas bene clausum (well shaped vessel) or vas hermeticum (also called the uterus) went the prima materia, there to cook over a low flame (heating or cooking with meditation).” The image has deep personal mystery and meaning for me in reference to my own psychic and body ecology”, says Van Lent.

VAS – 2013 – 36″x 36″

ISLAND – 2004 – 12″x 12″

Inspired by Thomas Cole’s paintings of the Hudson River glade, (“The Clove, Catskills” and “Kauterskill Clove”), the series, GLADES AND MIRAGES (2010) explores the image of the glade as an icon representing the fleeting moment of the mirage in nature; at once hazy, enigmatic, supernatural, mystical, haunted, and sublime. The glade is a sacred space in Van Lent’s purview.

GLADES AND MIRAGES 1 – 2010 – 9″x 9″

GLADES AND MIRAGES 3 – 2010 – 9″x 9″

“Glade Invaded” (2015) continues the theme of unexpected and odd and mystic phenomena in nature. The glade is invaded by strange and sinister organic forms; surreal mutations and the ominous black form suggesting an unexplained and haunting presence.

GLADE INVADED – 2015 – 36″x 36″

Marianne Van Lent is a graduate of the Tyler School of Art and received an MFA from Cornell University. Her solo shows include Gallery Kubinski, Stuttgart Germany, galleries in New York City and the region as well as many group shows throughout the country. Van Lent’s public art grants include NYSCA, Creative Time, MTA Art for Transit and Percent for Art.

Grown widely around the world on every continent except Antarctica, pumpkins or squash are reputed to have originated in North America. Seeds dating back to 7000 and 5500 BC have been found in Mexico.

Technically speaking, pumpkins, or winter squash and decorative gourds fall into a couple of categories: Cucurbita pepo and Cucurbita maxima. They range in size from tiny, mini pumpkins that are generally used for decorations to enormous ones that can weigh up to a ton!

The variety is extensive, with new varieties appearing each year. Farmers Markets and farm stands are loaded with them in the fall, just in time for Halloween and Thanksgiving in the U.S., where pumpkin pie is staple fare.

Ready for harvest.

Knuckleheads with their warty exterior.

Kambocha, one of the larger varieties.

Every squash or pumpkin starts its life as a flower.

Ornamental gourds are all part of the curcurbita family.

Gray ghosts – perfect for Halloween.

Pretty in pink – maybe a Jill-o-lantern?

Acres of tiny pumpkins.

All photos by Susan Colby