"Growing out of the first Earth Day, Earth Day Network (EDN) works with over 50,000 partners in 192 countries to broaden, diversify and mobilize the environmental movement. More than 1 billion people now participate in Earth Day activities each year, making it the largest civic observance in the world" ~ Earth Day Network
Earth Day also was the topic for our Oldies but Goodies Challenge at the Jewelry Artisans Community and this is what we came up with.
Let me pick out one the pieces this time, the pelican necklace. This is what Dawn, the artist, told us about it.
"I was devastated when the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico occurred in 2010. Seeing pictures of the wildlife struggling to survive just broke my heart. I felt so sad, helpless and angry. One day I was thinking that I could donate a few dollars to the wildlife rescue which got me to thinking about how I could do more than that. And, then the light bulb came on in my brain.
Pelicans became the symbol of the damage done to wildlife, so I decided to use it as a symbol as well and painted a pendant with a beautiful, healthy pelican on one side and a sick oil soaked pelican on the other which was made into a necklace. There was a lot of other symbolism that went into the necklace, but it's too complicated to try to explain it all here.
Once the necklace was done, it was raffled off. A ton of tickets were sold and nearly $500 dollars was raised which was donated to the Louisiana Audubon Society specifically for the rehabilitation of the birds injured due to the oil spill.
Being able to do that was incredibly empowering and helped me overcome many of those feelings of sadness, helplessness and anger."
1 RioRita
2 Jewelry Art by Dawn
3 Cat's Wire
4 The Crafty Chimp
5 MC Stoneworks
Dawn's necklace is the first example I thought of for the Earth Day Challenge. It is such a compelling work of art, that epitomizes what Earth Day is. I tried unsuccessfully to win it in the raffle.
ReplyDeleteThank you Cat for another great blog feature of JAC's Oldies Challenge.
I am sure the new owner is incredibly happy to have won that great and meaningful necklace.
DeleteThank you for including my pelican pendant and for publishing my words on the subject, Cat. People feel so helpless with the many challenges the earth and society is facing these days and it's important for each individual to know that there are things they can do to make a difference. If the pelican pendant inspires someone else to reach out in some way, it has done its job.
ReplyDeleteMichele, your kinds words are also very much appreciated.
Wonderful post this week!
You are most welcome, Dawn. What would be better than quoting the artist herself?
DeleteI'm still in shock that I missed this challenge
ReplyDeletebut I love what all the others came up with! :)
Thank you :-)
DeleteI think you had been busy with fixing bugs then!