|
home
our projects
about sea turtles
get involved
useful links
who we are
donate
happenings
|
|
Casa Tortuga was involved in Turtle Trail 2006. Collaborating with Kris Wimer, Casa Tortuga helped organize the event, took pictures for the photo archive and created three turtles for the auction.
Katie Cooper created “Assertle” and “Inertle” who have the first two hexagram in the 3,000 year old I Ching, or Chinese “Book of Changes” on their back. The I Ching is a system of divination based on the concept of existence as a constant cycle of change. All change involves two forces: Yang, the Creative Principle, and Yin, the Passive Principle. In the I Ching, Yin is represented by a broken line and Yang is shown by a solid line. Solid lines and broken lines combine to form 64 symbols called “hexagrams.” The root of the hexagrams are eight trigrams, sequences of three lines each symbolizing cause-and-effect, which legend has it were discovered by an ancient emperor in the patterns on the shell of a turtle.
Dennis Caldwell created “Rusty.” The rust color symbolizes the decay of the sea turtle species. The silver part represents the hope of survival. The 14 karat gold leaf and teal stripes symbolize the money and conservation efforts waxing and waning as they strive to hold off the rust and save the species. With these painted turtles, Casa Tortuga raised $2600 at the auction which raised a whopping $49,000. View images from Turtle Trail 2006.
2008
Turtle Trail 2006 was so successful, bringing in over $49,000 benefiting the Sea Turtle Nesting Patrol program at the Padre Island National Seashore, that Kris Wimer, owner of an art gallery on North Padre Island decided to give it another go. As Kris says, “The idea to create a fund raiser that would be unique to North Padre Island took a while to formulate. The auction / art object idea had been done and was successful in many places, I just had to find something unique to North Padre”. Kris even thought of painting Adirondack chairs but then, as is usually the case with art, the idea came suddenly and organically. Kris had a 17 inch long aluminum sea turtle for sale in the art gallery, and “the idea came to me that it would be the ideal canvas for artists and that the Kemp's Ridley Recovery Project the perfect recipient of the funds raised” Kris said.
This came to her shortly after visiting Lake Tahoe where there were life sized painted bears all over town. She especially liked the smaller turtle because the cost was not prohibitive and sponsors easily found.
“With the idea in my head, I went to the Padre Island Business Luncheon at which Donna Shaver was speaking and pitched the idea to the group. (Donna is with the National SeaShore and the head of the Ridley project) Several people came up to me after the meeting and said that they wanted to be a sponsor, and off it went. I initially 12 turtles from the company that sells them, then thought that was not near enough to make an impact. So, I called them back and bought all they had in the warehouse and ended up with 47 turtles for the auction”. The beauty of this project was how affordable it was for sponsors. And, the turtle itself is very portable—it can go on anyone's coffee table or be hung on a wall.
Because Kris owned an art gallery at the time, she also wanted to support the artists that worked with her as consignment artists. The artists were matched up with sponsors who bought the turtle and then paid the artists for their work.
For the new 2008 Turtle Trail, a few changes have been made to expand on the success of the first Turtle Trail. “First,” Kris explains, “I have a great partner in the project, Friends of the ARK a 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt organization that does nothing but raise funds for the ARK”.
And, this time, several artists have purchased the blank aluminum turtle and are donating it to the cause. According to the Turtle Trail website, turtles will be on display at local business during the year and will be united for the first time the night before the auction for a preview of the art at Port A Gallery on November 7th, 2008
So how did these little turtles find their way to the ARK? “The ARK came into the picture because they too are in need of donations. It was the natural progression of the project and perhaps the Texas State Aquarium the next step, but with a bigger turtle, but not so big that it would be cumbersome” Kris explains. Friends of the ARK, through Turtle Trail 2008 will have 40 sculptures for sale on November 8th at the Great Turtle Release Auction, in Port Aransas.
As far as events go, the Turtle Trail does help to unite the community in a good cause. It also allows several opportunities for people to get involved. “The Trails are fun and free to the public so that everyone can partake in the art as well and the events. If someday Padre Island and Mustang Island do get some kind of identity—it might be the most "Turtlely" place on the map instead of just 'beach towns” Kris says. Additionally if people want to get involved, the can come to the “hatchings” or attend the auction. A current schedule of “hatchings” can be found on the Turtle Trail website.
For more information on Turtle Trail 2008 visit www.turtletrail.org
|
|
