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Bringing the Ocean out of the Ocean

Mission Blue is proud to partner with Discovery Deep! 
71% of the our planet’s surface is covered by water, yet 95% of that remains unexplored.  Discovery Deep, a Washington, D.C. based ocean exploration foundation is working to change that by “Bringing the Ocean out of the Ocean.”
Discovery Deep uses innovative technologies such as virtual reality, 3-dimensional mapping and 360-degree video to help scientists collect research data, map shipwreck sites, and to educate divers and non-divers alike in the wonders of the underwater world and the importance of conserving it.

Over the last year, Discovery Deep created digital maps of historic shipwrecks, collected DNA samples for a shark research project, and built a diver training course to collect citizen science observations.…

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Artist overcomes fear with curiosity and wonder

By scientific illustrator DJ Jackson

Science, nature and art have been passions of mine for as long as I can remember. Growing up on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, there were plenty of animals to spike my curiosity. Catching Green Anoles, observing alligators, and watching dolphins play as a child engrained my passion for nature. I was always bringing animals I found in my backyard in for show and tell, frightening my teachers with snakes, spiders and praying mantises. As I grew up, I began to pursue art. I was constantly drawing animals in class. At first, my teachers thought it was distracting me, but soon found that it helped me focus. As my art progressed, I found that I was able to learn a lot about animals through drawing them.…

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Sculptural sea creatures invade the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art

COURTNEY MATTISON: SEA CHANGE
january 30 — april 17, 2016virginia museum of contemporary art • 2200 parks ave • virginia beach • va • 23451
Hundreds of intricately hand-sculpted ceramic marine invertebrates currently inhabit the main gallery of Virginia MOCA, comprising two large wall installations and 11 sculptural works that explore the fragile beauty of ocean ecosystems and the human caused threats they face — especially the impacts of our greenhouse gas emissions on coral reefs — in a solo show by Courtney Mattison, a self-described ocean “artivist” (artist/activist) and part of the Mission Blue team.

aqueduct
What if climate change causes tropical sea creatures to migrate towards the poles and invade terrestrial spaces as seawater warms and sea levels rise?…

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Museo Atlantico: New Underwater Museum in Lanzarote, Spain

Jason deCaires Taylor installs the first phase of sculptures in Museo Atlantico, the first underwater contemporary art museum in Europe and the Atlantic Ocean. Situated in clear blue waters off the coast of Lanzarote, Spain, the unique, permanent installation is constructed 14m beneath the surface, accessible to snorkelers and divers. The Museum will be open to visitors from the 25th of February 2016.
(click images for further galleries)
Raft of Lampedusa: a harrowing depiction of the ongoing humanitarian crisis, referencing French Romantic painter Théodore Géricault’s work: The Raft of the Medusa. Drawing parallels between the abandonment suffered by sailors in his shipwreck scene and the current refugee crisis, the work is not intended as a tribute or memorial to the many lives lost but as a stark reminder of the collective responsibiliy of our now global community.…

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Music to Save the Ocean to from The Jellyfish Project

Mission Blue is excited to announce a new partnership with The Jellyfish Project (JFP) – a non-profit organization that uses music and live performance to spread awareness of the environmental realities of our time and the solutions to overcome them. The JFP is a global coalition of musicians raising awareness about our environment and our future. In collaboration with some of the most prominent environmental organizations in North America, they have created a simple yet powerful platform for like-minded musicians and bands to engage in the environmental movement in an organized and impactful way.

The Jellyfish Project has two core programs:
1. From the Stage
From The Stage involves a simple commitment for artists to speak to their audiences about the environment for a few moments at some point during their shows.…

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You are invited to a benchmark expedition with Sylvia Earle that redefines art, exploration and the conservation of our planet!

From our friends at the Ocean Geographic Society:
Join an elite team of explorers comprised of Dr. Sylvia Earle, David Doubilet, Jennifer Hayes, Ernie Brooks, Wyland, Michael AW, Göran Ehlmé, Amos Nachoum, Johan Ernst Nilson, Emory Kristof, Stuart Ireland and Leandro Blanco in an expedition to the High Arctic to produce a book, exhibition and a video documentary.  
The mission of Elysium – Artists for the Arctic is to capture the panorama, flora and fauna of the northern polar region in a perspective no one has seen before.  The Arctic region is regarded as one of the most enchanting wilderness regions of our planet, yet volatile and under severe threat from the warming of the world’s climate. This expedition promises the most awe-inspiring and stunning visual interpretation ever seen of the Arctic.…

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Ocean art documentary highlights humanity’s ties to coral reefs

By Courtney Mattison
A new documentary is making a splash at film festivals around the country and it’s heading to California. Angel Azul – a feature length environmental documentary from Passelande Pictures directed by Marcelina Cravat – explores the plight of Caribbean coral reefs through the work of renowned sculptor and reef conservationist Jason deCaires Taylor.

Angel Azul takes viewers from Taylor’s dry, cavernous concrete sculpture studio 20 minutes down the coast from Cancun to the warm azure waters offshore, where the artist has installed hundreds of life-size statues in the seafloor to serve as artificial reefs that aggregate fish and provide safe spots on which baby corals can settle and grow. Taylor’s hauntingly beautiful works also draw tourists away from the natural reefs nearby, which are struggling to survive the panoply of threats imposed by climate change, disease, nutrient pollution and other human-caused impacts.…

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Art brings the coral reef crisis above the surface

By Courtney Mattison
Coral reefs have captivated my imagination for as long as I can remember. I am happiest when the exotic forms, vibrant colors and often-venomous appendages of the animals that inhabit a tropical reef dance through the window of my scuba mask as I slowly hover above. Maybe it’s because I’m relatively small and I respect small creatures that can build big beautiful things, but I feel like I relate to corals – arguably one of the least relatable animals – on a very deep level.
I often feel like a coral, working in my studio using simple tools and my hands to methodically sculpt and texture clay to construct large, delicate, stony structures that mimic the prolific reef-builders.…

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Marine diversity is as fragile as glass

by Courtney Mattison
After Leopold Blaschka – a glass flame worker from the Czech Republic – lost his wife and father in the early 1850’s, he took time off to grieve and sail to America. Without a steam engine to speed their journey, Leopold and his shipmates found themselves becalmed for two weeks in the Azores off the coast of Portugal in a twist of fate that is still making ripples today. Leopold had never before witnessed the glasslike transparency of living marine invertebrates and began collecting and drawing the fragile jellyfish and other creatures that populated the surrounding waters.
Ten years later, as a successful botanical glass artisan living in Dresden, Leopold was commissioned to create a dozen glass sea anemones for the local museum of zoology, giving him the opportunity to put his inspiration from that auspicious voyage to work.…

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West Coast Artist Finds Symbolism in Form & Movement of Orca Whales

By Courtney Mattison
Every city Claire Brandt lived in as a child overlooked the water. When you grow up in the Pacific Northwest as she did, you come to recognize orca whales as a daily presence in the collective imagination, from indigenous art to the mainstream media. When young Brandt looked out over the water, she says, “I always wondered if the whales were there. They represented mystery, possibility, and awe.”
It’s no surprise, then, that after years of working as a professional artist in San Francisco and Seattle following her 2005 MFA in painting at the San Francisco Art Institute, Brandt has turned to the orca as a muse for her work. Until around 2010, most of Brandt’s inspiration came from land-based animal and human subject matter, including her own body.…

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