Art, Conservation and the Aquarium

Posted by Ret Talbot Jul 24, 2008

I had a wonderful time interviewing Sawdust Art Festival artist Nita Skaggs for the short profile I published here on Nita and her art. The painting I chose to feature in the piece, "Winter in Laguna", really does capture the unique light that is only present here in Laguna during our "off season." It was interesting to see several other paintings Nita has done from the same vantage point with different light. If you are at Sawdust, be sure to ask her to show you them all. If you're going to head over to Sawdust, be sure to also check out the article I just published regarding eating (and drinking) on the Festival grounds.

After chatting with Nita, I headed over to Jan Sattler's booth. Jan is an artist capable of capturing the intricacies of marine life, especially tidepool life, in ceramic. While we started talking about her art, we ended up discussing some of the environmental concerns Laguna Beach (and marine environment in general) faces. To me, talking with Jan was a perfect example of how people who share a passion for marine life and marine conservation can merge that passion with art, hobby and education to help raise awareness. I will be profiling Jan and he work here soon.

On the marine aquarium front, I have been quite busy editing the manuscript for my upcoming book, but I did publish a brief article here on CITES, an international trade agreement that regulates the import of most tropical marine aquarium coral species. As any of you who have read my work know, I believe the informed hobbyist is the best hobbyist, and this is a side of the hobby about which many hobbyists know little.