Joselyn Takacs
Joselyn talks about her new novel Pearce Oyster. She discusses the story's setting in Louisiana during the 2010 Deep Water Horizon oil spill disaster, still the worst in history. She also talks about how she came to be in Louisiana in 2010, what sparked her interest in oyster farming, and how she went about writing her novel. She provides an overview of oysters and farming them. We also discuss how she went about writing her novel, from story idea to finding the best approach.
Seth Glier
Musical artist Seth Glier is the latest guest on the Wo(men) Mind the Water Artivist Series podcast. Seth gets inspiration from the natural world and says the ocean brings him comfort and often provides a narrative for his music. His music reminds us that we have the ability to positively influence the world. Seth has worked as a producer, music director, and studio musician. He has collaborated with such renown musical artists as Tom Rush, Nick Carter, and Cyndi Lauper. Seth has been nominated for a Grammy and is a five-time Independent Music Award winner. He characterizes music as an empathy machine and feels incredibly lucky to be part of it.
Holly Rankin aka Jack River
Holly Rankin is the latest guest on the Women Mind the Water Artivist podcast series on WomenMind theWater.com. Holly is an Australian singer/songwriter/festival promoter, and an activist in the areas of environmental and social justice. Also known as Jack River, her music often deals with difficult topics, like personal tragedy, climate change, and social justice. Holly believes transforming such messages into music has the power to inspire action.
Kara Dodge
Kara Dodge is a research scientist at the Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Research, the research arm of the New England Aquarium in Boston. Her specialty is the ecology of marine animals, more specifically sea turtles. Kara uses cutting-edge technology like satellite tagging and drones to enrich our knowledge of sea turtles and the impacts of humans on them.
Vicki Nichols Goldstein
Vicki Nichols Goldstein is the latest guest on the Women Mind the Water Artivist Series podcast. Vicki is founder of the Inland Ocean Coalition. Her impressive credentials include a master’s degree in marine policy from Yale University and working with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to co-write documents for the designation of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. Vicki served as the Executive Director of the California-based Save Our Shores. When she moved to Colorado, she founded the Colorado Ocean Coalition and in 2017 Vicki rebranded it as the Inland Ocean Coalition. Inland Ocean Coalition empowers citizens wherever they live to be leaders and make positive contributions to ocean protection.
Rebecca Rutstein
Rebecca Rutstein, an accomplished artist who has received many awards and been involved in numerous public exhibitions, is the latest guest on Women Mind the Water Artivist Series Podcast (womenmindthewater.com/featured-guests). Rebecca’s career has taken her to remarkable places including the high seas and the ocean floor. In all, her artwork strives to build connections with nature, inspire wonder, and foster environmental stewardship.
Nicole Baker
Nicole Baker with her Net Your Problem company has created a system that offers a solution to the disposal of used fishing gear. Net Your Problem collects used ropes and nets from fishers in Alaska, Maine, Massachusetts, and California and passes it on to recyclers and artists. Since it began in 2017, Net Your Problem has recycled more than 1.2 Million pounds of fishing gear.
Dimitra Skandali
Dimitra Skandali grew up on Paros, a Greek island in the Aegean Sea. She says the island has shaped the way she sees the world. Dimitra combines traditional fiber arts like crochet, embroidery, and weaving with sea grasses and beach trash as a way to focus attention on the ocean and the environmental issues that impact its health and sustainability. While her work is rooted in her relationship with the Aegean Sea, Dimitra also has ties to the Pacific Ocean, having spent almost a decade in California. By using beach trash and natural materials she explores sustainability and other environmental issues like ocean pollution. Her installations, which have been curated in more than 90 solo and group exhibitions worldwide, allude to increasing environmental risks alongside human migrations and struggles with identity.
Lisa Kozel Mangione
Lisa Kozel Mangione is a mixed media artist who is the definition of artivist. Lisa raises money for nonprofits by either donating her paintings directly to organizations or selling her work and then donating the proceeds. Lisa is currently using her art in service of a rural community in Harford County, Maryland. The land known as Mitchell Farm is under consideration for development as a freight distribution district. The possibility of the land being transformed from rural to industrial has spurred Lisa to action. She is concerned about the harm the development will cause on an area that used to be wetland. She is concerned that further industrialization of the area adds to the impacts on local waterways and ultimately Chesapeake Bay, the largest estuary in the United States. She wants people to know that even an average person can make a difference.
Blue de Gersigny
Blue de Gersigny is a plastic artist and designer. Blue lives in South Africa, a country quite literally at the southern tip of the African Continent. It is a country with nearly 3000 km or 1800 miles of coastline, bordering the Indian, South Atlantic and Antarctic oceans. From the beaches near her home, Blue collects colorful plastic and transforms it into eye-catching wearable art. Her intention is to make people aware of plastic debris and pick it up rather than walking by it.
Blue worked for many years as a textile designer until she realized she wanted to be an artist working with found objects. Originally Blue collected natural objects like bone, driftwood, and stone. Eventually, she was attracted to the colorful plastic that litters the beaches. Today her work is created almost entirely of plastic. The relentless of plastic waste rolling in on the tides inspires Blue to start her Plastics Are Forever website. Blue creates eye grabbing wearable art which she artfully displays on Instagram. After seeing one of her posts on Instagram, I knew I had to have her on this podcast.
Maanarak of Grey
Manaarak of Grey is a visual artist and storyteller who lives in the Netherlands. Maanarak grew up on the Caribbean Island of Bonaire. She believes the ocean and water are a vital part of life for humans and the ecosystem. Maanarak likes to use her platform to talk about current issues and offer solutions from the perspective of someone who has studied international development management. On the Women Mind the Water Artivist Series she shares her thoughts about the ocean, plastic pollution, collaboration and art.
Danielle Burnside
Danielle Burnside grew up in Michigan on a lake. At the time she was scared of anything that lived in the water. After she moved to Hawaii, she didn’t venture into the ocean for two years. It was divine intervention that a friend of hers who had been working on a manta ray tour point was leaving the job and offered her place to Danielle. Danielle had always wanted to see mantas but was scared of the dark water and got sea sick. She took Dramimine and went on an introductory tour. She fell in love with the experience and took the job. Her life changed when she went underwater.
Lisa Shaw
Lisa’s work demonstrates a woman deeply connected to water. She creates functional art that improves both the environment and people’s lives. Lisa is cofounder of the Scottish-based company Biomatrix Water. Their work involves the creation of floating islands or habitats that restore water quality, ecological habitat, and human connection to nature. Biomatrix Water does this with an interdisciplinary approach combining art, nature, and technology. Lisa explains how art and technology can work along with nature to heal urban eyesores and restore fresh water, estuarine, and even marine environment.
Colleen Flanigan
Colleen Flanigan describes herself as a socio-ecological artist. Her work is both functional and artistic. Colleen works at the intersection of art, science, technology, and the environment. Colleen has created metalwork in many forms including jewelry and puppets for motion pictures such as the stop-motion animation Coraline, a 2009 film directed by Henry Selick.. Colleen designed and built a sculptural frame for coral. This work promotes a healthy marine community, one that thrives in the presence of the coral growing on the frame. Her Living Sea Sculpture is on display in an underwater museum in Cozumel, Mexico. The video version of the podcast includes underwater footage of Colleen and her Living Sea Sculpture.
Kim Bernard
Kim Bernard is a full-time artist based in Maine who creates installations using upcycled trash. She works with communities to share the joy of making things using recycled materials. Kim has over 30 years of experience as a professional artist. She creates works with a range of materials from debris that washes ashore, bicycle inner tubes, plastic bags, even bowling balls. Kim has built a mobile recycling device. She uses her PopUpCycler to encourage communities to collect plastic trash. Together they shred the plastic and transform it into pieces that are assembled into a unique and meaningful installation for everyone to enjoy.
Martina Wing
Martina Wing, a manta ray and marine life advocate, educator, author, and underwater photographer is the latest guest on the Women Mind the Water Artivist Series podcast. Martina fell in love with the ocean in 1998 after scuba diving with manta rays for the first time. Martina now devotes her life to educating and inspiring others to honor, protect, and support our oceans. She co-owns Manta Ray Advocates on the Big Island of Hawaii, and with her husband James co-founded Hawaii Ocean Watch, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
Erin Smith
Erin Smith is the CEO of Ocean Sole, a social enterprise that upcycles flip-flops found along the beaches and waterways of Kenya. Started a decade ago, Ocean Sole has created a unique space to talk about flip flop debris and a successful model for cleaning up ocean trash, and transforming the trash into colorful sculptures, high fashion clothes, and mattresses. Ocean Sole also provides the local community with sustainable employment, and educational opportunities.
Jayshree Patel
Jayshree imagined that a book from the perspective of a drop of water could transport children on their own journey and along the way they might learn how precious a resource water is. The overarching message from the book is to go out in nature and explore and remember that where there is water there is life. If you are connected with water, you are connected with our whole world.
