tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56759612597175630372024-03-14T21:21:04.383+10:00homage to the seed weblog . . .Sophie Munnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02797068983613314554noreply@blogger.comBlogger283125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5675961259717563037.post-88617151843441321852015-11-13T15:27:00.002+10:002015-11-13T15:27:37.441+10:00Revisiting the studio archives blog!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Blogging these days is sadly something I barely find time for ... a recent check through this blog I discovered posts stripped of images... something has clearly gone wrong with the image bank for blogger... or my own image bank!</div>
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Once day I may have to delete the blogs but that is too harsh to think about now. I just posted this material below at my <b><a href="http://sophiemunnsstudio.blogspot.com.au/" target="_blank">Studio Archives blog</a></b> which has a great series of posts from 2009 till they tapered off last year to very minimal!</div>
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Its been a long time since I posted here. </div>
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This morning I had a visit from Photographer Margie Bender who took this Studio panorama shot which I do rather like. Often when people visit the studio and its been a busy time I feel like I have to clean up first. Neither the studio nor myself were particularly well groomed but I like how it worked out... and looks a hell of a lot more organised than it feels.</div>
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Friday November 13th 2015 ... </div>
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I started this blog in winter 2009 ... and I didn't really have a studio when I started, had been very ill & was just getting things going again. So its great to be in a whole different phase where much has taken shape... although it must be said in 2009 it was easier to sell paintings, the economy in Australia hadn't fallen over from the GFC, global ecological disasters and Climate Change were less dominant in the general public's psyche even though many knew then that ignoring it was at our great peril. </div>
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I spend more time on the <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/Homage-to-the-seed-276713165689916/" target="_blank">Homage to the Seed page at Facebook</a></b> and <b><a href="https://www.instagram.com/sophiemunns/" target="_blank">Instagram </a></b>these days. So if you wonder what I am up to find me there... Homage to the Seed is alive and well.<br />
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Sophie Munnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02797068983613314554noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5675961259717563037.post-64431057729431582262015-07-22T16:24:00.000+10:002015-07-22T16:24:00.773+10:00Loving the Redlands Mudflats? The environmental significance of Moreton Bay, Queensland.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">This week I came across this article<a href="http://redlands2030.net/?p=10289" target="_blank"> "Why we should love the Redlands Mudflats"</a> and thought it well worth sharing here.</span></b></div>
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I quite often go down to the Brisbane River for a walk near to the CBD at New Farm ... taking the path from the Sydney Rd Ferry terminal. Its a peaceful grassy walk and I stop to see the tiny remnant mangrove area I like to photograph... observing this small patch with wonder at what it would have been like here before the 1820's when Brisbane was settled by Europeans.</div>
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If you wish to keep up with more regular news please follow my FACEBOOK PAGE: <span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Homage-to-the-seed/276713165689916" target="_blank">Homage to the Seed</a></span> as I post frequently, virtually everyday without fail, adding news on the project, residencies, workshops, Artowork, related issues and themes, whats happening at my Studio SeedArtLab and so on. Exposure to a wide audience through FB affords this project broader connections and dialogue ... however as this Blog started in 2010 contains a great deal of archived material I will continue to keep it going, albeit less often!</div>
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Sophie Munnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02797068983613314554noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5675961259717563037.post-56135792698393383972015-05-12T22:52:00.001+10:002015-08-27T03:33:33.396+10:00May Plantbank Residency + Workshop, 2015.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Apologies for the disappearance of the images at this post... and no doubt at other posts. </div>
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Not spending much time blogging these days I have possibly lost track of where images are stored and downloaded. Other sites I've downloaded images to have not presented a problem. Will see what can be done!</div>
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Sophie Munns</div>
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On Monday I commenced a 2.5 week residency at <b><a href="http://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/annan/Australian_plantbank" target="_blank">Plantbank</a></b>, located at <b><a href="http://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/annan" target="_blank">The Australian Botanic Garden Mt Annan</a></b> in SW Sydney.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Diversity wall at PLantbanks Foyer.</td></tr>
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This follows an intensely rewarding residency conducted here at virtually the same time last year. The drive from Brisbane was a drawn out over three days to visit friends along the way and take in the landscape of NSW where I grew up and lived for many years. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Saturday night stopover in Newcastle.</td></tr>
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Yesterday was a series of lively conversations, catching up with familiar people, settling in to onsite accommodation & creating a workspace in the Plantbank Staff work area which is expansive and has wonderful natural light streaming in.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Seed-collecting shelf next to my work desk at Plantbank ... looking out to the Garden.</td></tr>
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I managed to fit in a two hour walk in the Connections Gardens seed collecting and taking photos in the afternoon but last night by 6.30pm I was ready for a simple dinner in the Residency flat & catching a couple of TV programs, too tired to even write on my laptop.</div>
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Today was more conversations, reading material and another quick trip to find seedpods.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sophora tomentosa found today in the Wattle Garden.<br />
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Near the staff Kitchen at Plantbank I set up a drawing table and placed a large sheet of paper, sepia ink, seed pods and twigs for drawing implements. Everyone is invited to contribute to this #BigSeedDrawing.</div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">After a few staff had dropped by and made a start of this communal Seed drawing which will be completed by the time I leave.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gum blossoms via Instagram and Apps.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Callerya megasperma found Monday in the Garden.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From Plantbank Seed Material<br />
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Gmelina leichardtii .... found in the Gardens on Monday.</div>
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You can follow the residency through extensive posts with images on my</div>
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FACEBOOK PAGE: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Homage-to-the-seed/276713165689916" target="_blank">Homage to the Seed</a></div>
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or </div>
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at TWITTER: <b><a href="https://twitter.com/sophiemunns">https://twitter.com/sophiemunns</a></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIrTBcPeWL7JXhp0W1sWLBJg598DyyBXoeEA912Y5RrfeSyq6158hks1_lNDGeUBSCxYxRRmtYsQt8jt2YK6CCjxYsV5WYMMXBYpFmxY5uAHpo2JTHRpdL5b7phKFxLOf02C-d5OfEPxY/s1600/Gmelina.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIrTBcPeWL7JXhp0W1sWLBJg598DyyBXoeEA912Y5RrfeSyq6158hks1_lNDGeUBSCxYxRRmtYsQt8jt2YK6CCjxYsV5WYMMXBYpFmxY5uAHpo2JTHRpdL5b7phKFxLOf02C-d5OfEPxY/s400/Gmelina.png" width="361" /></a></div>
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Instagram will also have some posts.</div>
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<b><a href="https://instagram.com/sophiemunns/">https://instagram.com/sophiemunns/</a></b></div>
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<span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-size: x-large;">READ ABOUT THE WORKSHOP HERE:</span></div>
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I'm here till May 27th. Look out for the Workshop details on May 23 + 24... places left if you are local! </div>
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MORE INFO <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/276713165689916/photos/a.277622668932299.79972.276713165689916/1026980650663160/?type=1&hc_location=ufi" target="_blank">HERE AT EVENT PAGE</a></b>.</div>
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Cheerio,</div>
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Sophie</div>
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Sophie Munnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02797068983613314554noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5675961259717563037.post-85172626651366562712015-04-25T22:10:00.001+10:002015-04-25T22:11:58.666+10:00BOOK: The Triumph of Seeds: Our huge debt to tiny marvels <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">"THAT spark of dormant life may be hidden and hard to measure, but mother plants will do almost anything to protect it," writes conservation biologist Thor Hansen, describing the marvels that are seeds.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">This post is entirely taken from the New Scientist </span></span></span><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">review ... see link below. </span></span><br />
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<ul class="notlist bookbx bxbg" style="background-color: #f2f2f2; border: 0px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style: none outside; margin: 10px 20px 20px 0px; padding: 10px;">
<li style="border: 0px; font-size: 1em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><b class="highlight" style="border: 0px; color: #00759a; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Book information</b></li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-size: 1em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://www.basicbooks.com/full-details?isbn=9780465055999" style="border: 0px; color: #34a3d1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><b style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><i style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The Triumph of Seeds: How grains, nuts, kernels, pulses, and pips conquered the plant kingdom and shaped human history</i></b></a> by Thor Hansen</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-size: 1em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Published by: Basic Books</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-size: 1em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Price: $26.99</li>
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Read a recent review by New Scientist:<br />
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<a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22630170.600-the-triumph-of-seeds-our-huge-debt-to-tiny-marvels.html#.VTuAs9xf9xt.blogger">The Triumph of Seeds: Our huge debt to tiny marvels - life - 19 April 2015 - New Scientist</a><br />
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<span style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22630170.600-the-triumph-of-seeds-our-huge-debt-to-tiny-marvels.html#.VTuAs9xf9xt.blogger"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG3TP8tF2_TscIGfl5HCC7apY2rAjSSfEwG8YH4RCHzuG0X90H_Xnc4pu4_BYXNYzPxE2C9ZU4DXtN1vt60H-RSio6bHu-RST4Ay_fEFM9HuCeu4yGbbLRVH3o36g0BnVoUDFcQhQV_N8/s1600/mg22630170.600-2_628.jpg" height="640" width="424" /></a></span></div>
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"With light, engaging prose Hansen shows how the little spheroids we tip out of a packet are in fact supremely elegant genetic time capsules. <i style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The Triumph of Seeds</i> takes you past the casing into the extraordinary inner working of objects without which our landscapes, dinner plates and gardens would be unrecognisable. You will never be able to look at an orange pip or a sunflower seed in the same way again.</div>
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<i style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">This article appeared in print under the headline "Seeding the future"</i></div>
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<i style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><b style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Adrian Barnett</b> is a rainforest ecologist at Brazil's National Institute of Amazonian Research in Manaus</i></div>
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<img class="article-img-full" src="http://www.newscientist.com/data/images/ns/cms/mg22630170.600/mg22630170.600-1_1200.jpg" height="426" width="640" /></div>
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Seeds have many cunning survival strategies, including desiccation <i style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">(Image: Frederique Jouval/picturetank)</i></div>
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<i>Well worth a read!</i></div>
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Sophie Munnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02797068983613314554noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5675961259717563037.post-31893776524117315252015-02-23T16:25:00.005+10:002015-02-23T16:25:56.854+10:00CATCHING UP : FEBRUARY<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Its been too long between posts ... so a little update is called for.</div>
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Often I post at Twitter when sharing Seed Conservation material these days. Its surprisingly efficient and attracts such a good exchange of stories that I will suggest you drop into Sophie Munns <b><a href="https://twitter.com/sophiemunns" target="_blank">twitter feed</a> </b> if you wish to take a look. </div>
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This is where I would find many of the articles I would like to share here at this blog time permitting.</div>
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I retweeted this post below last night for example: </div>
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<a class="ProfileTweet-originalAuthorLink u-linkComplex js-nav js-user-profile-link" data-user-id="416535828" href="https://twitter.com/BillJBaker" style="color: #7d3915; text-decoration: none !important;"><img alt="" class="ProfileTweet-avatar js-action-profile-avatar" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1850295674/Colombia_201108_219WB_2_normal.jpg" style="border-bottom-left-radius: 4px; border-bottom-right-radius: 4px; border-top-left-radius: 4px; border-top-right-radius: 4px; border: 0px; float: left; height: 24px; margin: 0px 6px 0px 0px; width: 24px;" /><span class="ProfileTweet-originalAuthor u-floatLeft u-textTruncate js-action-profile-name" style="display: block; float: left !important; max-width: 95%; overflow: hidden !important; text-overflow: ellipsis !important; white-space: nowrap !important; word-wrap: normal !important;"><b class="ProfileTweet-fullname u-linkComplex-target" data-aria-label-part="" style="color: #292f33;">Bill Baker</b> <span class="ProfileTweet-screenname u-dir" data-aria-label-part="" dir="ltr" style="color: #8899a6; direction: ltr !important; font-size: 13px; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span class="at">@</span>BillJBaker</span></span></a><span class="u-floatLeft" style="float: left !important;"> · </span><span class="u-floatLeft" style="float: left !important;"><a class="ProfileTweet-timestamp js-permalink js-nav js-tooltip" href="https://twitter.com/BillJBaker/status/553534162087723008" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.15s; color: #8899a6; display: inline-block; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.15s; white-space: nowrap;" title="10:50 PM - 9 Jan 2015"><span class="js-short-timestamp " data-aria-label-part="last" data-long-form="true" data-time="1420807803">Jan 9</span></a></span></div>
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Stunning palm art by Lucy Smith <a class="twitter-timeline-link" data-expanded-url="https://www.facebook.com/Palmsmithy" dir="ltr" href="https://t.co/KAqc5NerBB" rel="nofollow" style="color: #7d3915; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank" title="https://www.facebook.com/Palmsmithy"><span class="tco-ellipsis"></span><span class="invisible" style="font-size: 0px; line-height: 0;">https://www.</span><span class="js-display-url">facebook.com/Palmsmithy</span><span class="invisible" style="font-size: 0px; line-height: 0;"></span><span class="tco-ellipsis"><span class="invisible" style="font-size: 0px; line-height: 0;"> </span></span></a> on display until 1 Feb <a class="twitter-timeline-link" data-expanded-url="http://www.kew.org/visit-kew-gardens/whats-on/inspiring-kew" dir="ltr" href="http://t.co/95DmHKZPhR" rel="nofollow" style="color: #7d3915; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank" title="http://www.kew.org/visit-kew-gardens/whats-on/inspiring-kew"><span class="tco-ellipsis"></span><span class="invisible" style="font-size: 0px; line-height: 0;">http://www.</span><span class="js-display-url">kew.org/visit-kew-gard</span><span class="invisible" style="font-size: 0px; line-height: 0;">ens/whats-on/inspiring-kew</span><span class="tco-ellipsis"><span class="invisible" style="font-size: 0px; line-height: 0;"> </span>…</span></a> <a class="twitter-atreply pretty-link" dir="ltr" href="https://twitter.com/kewgardens" style="color: #7d3915; text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #b18872;">@</span>kewgardens</a> </div>
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I highly recommend taking a look if you wish to be linked to many in the world of Seed Conservation Science and all things seeds, plants, food culture and sometimes Art + politics.</div>
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And <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Homage-to-the-seed/276713165689916" target="_blank">Facebook: Homage to the Seed</a></b> page is where I also share and follow in the search for quality information. </div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Last week I shared the three images of the Caasowary bird and their habitat and rainforest fruit diet by National Geographic Photographer<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; line-height: 20px;"> Christian Ziegler... see the whole photo series ~ 'Cassowary: Big bird in trouble' at this Nat Geo link:</span><a href="http://tinyurl.com/q7ljyhr" rel="nofollow nofollow" style="background-color: white; color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; line-height: 20px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://tinyurl.com/q7ljyhr</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; line-height: 20px;"> </span></span></div>
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And the image below I've shared at FB, Twitter, <b><a href="https://www.pinterest.com/homagetotheseed/" target="_blank">Pinterest</a></b>, <b><a href="https://instagram.com/sophiemunns/" target="_blank">Instagram</a></b> and on <b><a href="http://sophiemunns.blogspot.com.au/" target="_blank">Visual Eclectica blog</a> </b>... I'm preparing to have an online shop set up to make available Archival quality Limited Edition prints.</div>
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The other plan thats now in focus is writing the book thats been in the wings for some time. My last post<b><a href="http://sophiemunns.blogspot.com.au/2015/02/february-2015.html" target="_blank"> here </a></b>touched on that.</div>
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Ive been collating material for the last 4 years, photographic, text-based, articles etc ... notes have been made on copious subjects and on blogs and various formats... but what I have recently focused on was a snubber of days working with simple pen and watercolour paper capturing the key concepts and directions I wish to pursue... </div>
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This format was more fluid and being able to work between idea, text and image was incredibly useful for drawing ideas together at this particular stage. I plan to self-publish a draft of chapter one with a simple online book template to work through initial ideas and be able to engage with others who will be contributing to this book on the Seed Project covering the last 5 years.</div>
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Its both a very exciting and/or overwhelming task ... depending on which day of the week it is and what else is pressing at the time. There is so much scope so the main task is nutting out what to include and what's going to be unnecessary. I imagine that in itself will require tremendous focus right up to the last stage.</div>
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Contact me<b><a href="mailto:sophiemunns@iinet.net.au" target="_blank"> here</a></b> if you have any inquiries.</div>
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Sophie Munnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02797068983613314554noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5675961259717563037.post-41194552608436603292014-12-13T15:32:00.003+10:002015-08-27T03:36:19.169+10:00Seed diversity in all its visual splendour!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Last night trawling around online I came across <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/TrustMeIAmaSeedScientist" target="_blank">'Trust me I Am a Seed Scientist' at FB</a></b> and was smitten with their gallery of amazing photographs ...</div>
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... this species was just one of many that caught my eye.</div>
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"<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Scorpiurus muricatus is an annual legume species, widespread in pastures of the basin of the Mediterranean Sea and it has tiny pea-like flowers and simple leaves uncharacteristic of a legume. Its contorted, pubescent p</span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">ods give rise to its common name "Prickly Caterpillar".</span></div>
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Be sure to take a look at that sight for amazing posts on Seed diversity!</div>
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Sophie Munnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02797068983613314554noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5675961259717563037.post-41175273745176304902014-11-14T17:28:00.002+10:002015-08-27T03:36:50.925+10:00#thebigseeddraw this SUNDAY + OPEN STUDIO NOV 22 - 30<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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This Sunday I am conducting a drawing workshop with a difference ... this one will be FREE, communal and relaxed... with all materials provided. </div>
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<span style="color: orange; font-size: large;">UPDATE: SORRY TO SAY THIS EVENT HAS NOW BEEN CANCELLED DUE TO EXTREME TEMPERATURES TODAY IN BRISBANE. </span></div>
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<span style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Brisbane City Council OH & S made a call on this yesterday afternoon when 42C was confirmed as likely temperature for the day. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: large;">NB: I'lll be offering this free activity at my Studio over 9 days starting next weekend.</span></div>
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Between 9am and 1pm on Sunday morning people will be able to wander into an large marquee set up next to the Community Gardens at Seventeen Mile Rocks on the Brisbane River north west of the city cbd. </div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">This is a close up of the program where The Big Seed Draw is listed. Read that<b><a href="http://g20cultural.initiatives.qld.gov.au/media/4001/dpc4089-g20-cc-great-get-together-towers-17-mile-rocks-print.pdf" target="_blank"> program</a></b> here. </span></div>
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Anyone who takes part in THE BIG SEED DRAW can take a photo of their drawing and post on FB, Twitter or Instagram with HASHTAG #thebigseeddraw to go in the draw for prizes listed on this flyer below:</div>
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I will also be running some sessions of the #TheBigSeedDraw at the upcoming OPEN STUDIO event from November 22 to 30 at my SeedArtLab Studio in Chermside, Brisbane. </div>
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So if your based in the Brisbane region but can't make Sunday please put the studio event in your diary and come and join us there... from Midday till 5pm over 9 days.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Student work from QACI </td></tr>
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OPEN STUDIO EVENT coming up at my studio!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOOMlf1iu1a-Qwgtsp_BPOWWtV5L1TJyqEvQDYHF3hyphenhyphenCBJ41VChdsOLh8YQbjcFbFxGtpqRB482JeXjuz8hv61FdlT2Ip1ah9y5fUF3VPBOMoYXXTyLskRHNDAJrYfCRc6yee7WPTr1vA/s1600/10425013_917393161621910_1454498278913148915_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOOMlf1iu1a-Qwgtsp_BPOWWtV5L1TJyqEvQDYHF3hyphenhyphenCBJ41VChdsOLh8YQbjcFbFxGtpqRB482JeXjuz8hv61FdlT2Ip1ah9y5fUF3VPBOMoYXXTyLskRHNDAJrYfCRc6yee7WPTr1vA/s640/10425013_917393161621910_1454498278913148915_n.jpg" width="442" /></a></div>
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If you have any questions please contact me ... and watch my <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Homage-to-the-seed/276713165689916?ref=stream" target="_blank">FB page</a></b> and <b><a href="http://instagram.com/sophiemunns" target="_blank">Instagram</a></b> for updates. We will have several special things you can participate in during this 9 day event.</div>
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I'll be back with photo from this event soon!<br />
Sophie<br />
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Sophie Munnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02797068983613314554noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5675961259717563037.post-66665408895568891112014-11-06T18:00:00.001+10:002014-11-06T18:00:19.646+10:00Sacred Sites and Biodiversity - Scenes from Standing on Sacred Ground<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/f-iUk7urehw" width="480"></iframe>Sophie Munnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02797068983613314554noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5675961259717563037.post-70193787897989205862014-10-18T00:27:00.000+10:002014-10-18T00:31:39.156+10:00A Short Residency at Food Connect Brisbane<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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This week I had the pleasure of spending my days with a Brisbane Social Enterprise FOOD CONNECT whose mission is supplying '<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Avenir LT W01 85 Heavy'; line-height: 20px;">Local. Seasonal. Ecological Food Direct From Your Farmer'.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Avenir LT W01 85 Heavy;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><b>T</b>ext from<b> Food Connect</b> <b><a href="https://www.foodconnect.com.au/about-us" target="_blank">website</a></b> ~</span></span><br />
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">'Food Connect works to encourage a fair, healthy and flourishing food culture where food and the work of those who grow, produce, process, transport, pack and distribute (that’s the value chain) are recognised and rewarded fairly. </span><span style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Food Connect Brisbane was established as a </span><a href="https://www.foodconnect.com.au/our-mission" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #76a235; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">social enterprise</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> in 2005 by ex-dairy farmer, </span><a href="http://foodconnectfoundation.org.au/profile-robert-pekin" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #76a235; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Robert Pekin</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">, who when forced off his dairy farm in the late 1990’s vowed to create a fairer food system for everyone. We are now achieving this by delivering seasonal, ecological food direct from local farmers to our community of appreciative customers in South East Queensland.</span><span style="text-align: center;"> '</span></div>
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<span style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Partners Robert Pekin and Emma-Kate Rose are also involved in the Fair Food movement, through the <b><a href="http://www.australianfoodsovereigntyalliance.org/" target="_blank">Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance</a></b> </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">From the AFSA website:</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 24px;">The AUSTRALIAN FOOD SOVEREIGNTY ALLIANCE (AFSA) is a collaboration of organisations and individuals working together towards a food system in which people have the opportunity to choose, create and manage their food supply from paddock to plate. </span></span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 24px;">OUR PURPOSE is to cooperate, to create an equitable, sustainable and resilient food system for all Australians.</span></div>
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<span style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">This week the AFSA held a national promotion called</span></span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; text-align: center;"> </span><b style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; text-align: center;"><a href="http://fairfoodweek.org.au/" target="_blank">Fair Food Week</a> </b><span style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">which is the reason I spent the week on residency with Food </span></span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Connect. </span></span></div>
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I've a few more images to add, one of a giant collage I made from Fruit and Veg boxes... and further notes to add to document this busy and fascinating week. Back soon!</div>
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Sophie Munnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02797068983613314554noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5675961259717563037.post-88443288250733144102014-08-13T12:55:00.001+10:002014-08-13T12:55:45.897+10:00REBLOGGED ARTICLE: Ancient life forms fed through fractal arms - life - 11 August 2014 - New Scientist<a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn26035-ancient-life-forms-fed-through-fractal-arms.html#.U-rTFK0LYr3.blogger">Ancient life forms fed through fractal arms - life - 11 August 2014 - New Scientist</a><br /><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="infuse" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 20px; padding: 0px;">PLEASE NOTE THIS ARTICLE IS REBLOGGED from the Hyperlink above!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn26035-ancient-life-forms-fed-through-fractal-arms.html#.U-rTFK0LYr3.blogger"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirFjCqOl0xKzCjka_pvSl5lRyMys69q-ej64YX-lIt1QFMo_E1hb_vlJ1C-XUdvW6W_DTrUcNIuYSXWu5lidfZPAWQRBq9Wz3O2VkXLuejervKU2aRzLRbVuji1o5-Stdr0NrBzjpr2Zo/s1600/dn26035-1_1200.jpg" height="640" width="610" /></a></span></div><div class="infuse" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 20px; padding: 0px;"><i style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">(Image: University of Cambridge)</i></div><br /><br />
<div class="infuse" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 20px; padding: 0px;">Is it a tree? Is it a fern? No, it's a rangeomorph, one of the first complex organisms to evolve on Earth. A new analysis of their fossils suggests that rangeomorphs' strange bodies evolved to absorb as much food as possible from the surrounding water.</div><div class="infuse" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 20px; padding: 0px;">Rangeomorphs ruled the oceans for around 40 million years, beginning 575 million years ago, in a period called the <a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19425991.500-ediacarans-the-long-fuse-of-the-cambrian-explosion.html" style="border: 0px; color: #34a3d1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Ediacaran</a>. Before them, <a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn20477-oxygen-oases-saved-first-animals-from-asphyxiation.html" style="border: 0px; color: #34a3d1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">life was microscopic</a>. They grew on the sea bed, far too deep to harvest sunlight for photosynthesis. Up to 2 metres long, they had no organs, mouths or means of moving, so they had to passively absorb nutrients from the surrounding water.</div><div class="infuse" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 20px; padding: 0px;">"Geometrically, they were perfectly organised for doing that, creating the greatest possible surface area for absorption in whatever space they occupied," says <a href="http://www.esc.cam.ac.uk/people/research-staff/dr-jennifer-hoyal-cuthill" style="border: 0px; color: #34a3d1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Jennifer Hoyal Cuthill</a> of the University of Cambridge. With<a href="http://www.esc.cam.ac.uk/people/academic-staff/simon-conway-morris" style="border: 0px; color: #34a3d1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Simon Conway Morris</a>, she studied how the anatomy of 11 types of rangeomorph evolved, using fossils to create computer replicas of each one.</div><div class="infuse" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 20px; padding: 0px;">Hoyal Cuthill found three main types. Some were tall and slender, like fir trees, projecting fronds at regular intervals from a central stem. Others had longer fronds that stuck out more to the side, like many deciduous trees. The last group were sponge-like, sprawling over the sea floor.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 20px; padding: 0px;"></div><div class="infuse" id="zd_newid_26817" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 20px; padding: 0px;">Each rangeomorph body plan was a <a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn6162-fractal-patterns-of-early-life-revealed.html" style="border: 0px; color: #34a3d1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">fractal</a>, so it looked the same at different scales. That maximised their outer surface area, boosting food absorption. One of the sponge-like rangeomorphs had a surface area of 58 square metres, almost the same as the interior of a human lung.</div><div class="infuse" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 20px; padding: 0px;">Rangeomorphs vanish from the fossil record around 542 million years ago during the <a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg14820063.200-evolutions-big-bang-explained.html" style="border: 0px; color: #34a3d1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Cambrian explosion</a>, a sudden profusion of new life forms that could move and hunt, and had exoskeletons. The rangeomorphs were outmatched. "They were both being deprived of food and probably becoming food themselves," says Hoyal Cuthill.</div><div class="infuse" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 20px; padding: 0px;">Journal reference: <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1408542111" style="border: 0px; color: #34a3d1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><i style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">PNAS</i>, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1408542111</a></div><br /><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Sophie Munnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02797068983613314554noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5675961259717563037.post-90012784285282813812014-08-11T11:02:00.000+10:002014-08-11T11:02:02.552+10:00Art in support of crop preservation at the Global Crop Diversity Trust <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span aria-live="polite" class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" style="display: inline; line-height: 18px; outline: none; width: auto;" tabindex="0"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">When the <b><a href="http://www.croptrust.org/" target="_blank">Global Crop Diversity Trust</a></b> approached me late last year about using an image of one of my seed artworks for their Festive Season greeting card I was delighted to share an image. This Not-for-profit organisation's role is so central in the global preservation of seeds for food ... they partner on critical projects with Govts, foundations and Institutions such as the Millennium Seedbank at Kew Garden's West Sussex site where I spent a fascinating 3 weeks on residency in 2011. </span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This image was used on the card and last week included in the Annual Report of the Crop Trust.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span aria-live="polite" class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" style="color: #333333; display: inline; line-height: 18px; outline: none; width: auto;" tabindex="0">I've followed their work since late 2010... gaining a considerable education by reading the <b><a href="http://agro.biodiver.se/" target="_blank">Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog </a></b>by </span><span style="background-color: #f5f8fa;"><span style="color: #292f33;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">Luigi Guarino & Jeremy Cherfas where they discuss the diversity of crops, livestock, microbes and food ways. Their blog was a </span></span></span><span style="color: #292f33;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">launch-pad to all kinds of information in this vast realm... so it was a cross-roads ... a place to learn of the broadest spectrum of issues around this central theme.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #292f33; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">Since launching the Homage to the Seed project in 2010 I've pursued both Agricultural Biodiversity and Habitat Biodiversity in equal measure ... covering seed stories from remote, pristine habitats to what's on our tables and everything in between. Ive realised how unusual this approach is from the fact some attack me now and then over the fact I don't take one single view of seeds and stay neatly in that niche.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #292f33; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">I learnt in the first year into this project how easy it was to be misinformed. I posted something here</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #292f33; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">that brought massive attention from people, bloggers I'd never heard of... so that was the last time I ever posted a story that I had no background or context for.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #292f33; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">Even when I did post that controversial story I'd written to a number of individuals asking if they'd heard the story... so it wasn't that I'd been completely naive. I was very grateful for that incident because it gave me the conviction to dig much deeper with my own research and track stories over a long time to see what could be learned in the attempt to sort fact from fiction. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #292f33; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">Last week's ANNUAL REPORT from the Crop Trust featured my artwork on Page 21 </span></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.croptrust.org/sites/default/files/documents/files/Annual%20Report%202013_Desktop.pdf" rel="nofollow nofollow" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://www.croptrust.org/<wbr></wbr><span class="word_break" style="display: inline-block;"></span>sites/default/files/<wbr></wbr><span class="word_break" style="display: inline-block;"></span>documents/files/<wbr></wbr><span class="word_break" style="display: inline-block;"></span>Annual%20Report%202013_Desk<wbr></wbr><span class="word_break" style="display: inline-block;"></span>top.pdf</a></div>
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To read about a 4 min video the Crop Trust made on my work go to my Studio Archive Blog : </div>
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<a href="http://sophiemunnsstudio.blogspot.com.au/2014/01/video-homage-to-seed-crop-trust-and.html">http://sophiemunnsstudio.blogspot.com.au/2014/01/video-homage-to-seed-crop-trust-and.html</a></div>
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I'll close with this piece I added to the post sharing the Annual Report Story on my <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Homage-to-the-seed/276713165689916" target="_blank">Facebook page</a>. After the two paragraph overview <span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;">I'd added some personal thoughts... however ... this morning it occurred to me it was better to post the additional part on this blog so moved that content to this forum. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;">Time permitting, read on:</span></div>
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<span aria-live="polite" class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" id="fbPhotoSnowliftCaption" style="display: inline; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; outline: none; width: auto;" tabindex="0">Thank you to the <a data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/page.php?id=137504498303" href="https://www.facebook.com/globalcropdiversitytrust" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">Global Crop Diversity Trust</a> in Bonn, Germany for featuring <a data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/page.php?id=276713165689916" href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Homage-to-the-seed/276713165689916?fref=photo" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">Homage to the seed</a> artwork in their visually stunning and informative Annual Report :<a href="http://www.croptrust.org/sites/default/files/documents/files/Annual%20Report%202013_Desktop.pdf" rel="nofollow nofollow" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://www.croptrust.org/<wbr></wbr><span class="word_break" style="display: inline-block;"></span>sites/default/files/<wbr></wbr><span class="word_break" style="display: inline-block;"></span>documents/files/<wbr></wbr><span class="word_break" style="display: inline-block;"></span>Annual%20Report%202013_Desk<wbr></wbr><span class="word_break" style="display: inline-block;"></span>top.pdf</a><br /><br />This important Not-for-profit was set up in 2004 to help create a global system for the conservation and availability of crop diversity. At <span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">this FB page I focus frequently on inspiring work happening to counter Biodiversity loss or gene erosion thus supporting every kind of SMALL LOCAL INITIATIVE as well as STATE + NATIONAL organisations contributing to the increasingly critical task of safe-guarding and preserving seeds and with them food cultures, natural resources and eco-systems.</span></span></div>
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<span aria-live="polite" class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" style="display: inline; line-height: 18px; outline: none; width: auto;" tabindex="0"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"><br /><span style="color: #0c343d;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">I've added some personal notes below for you to read, time permitting! </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">In the past 5 years I've researched + connected with some key International initiatives and hard-working individuals through my growing understanding of the complex layers of work going on around seeds. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Profoundly impressed at the diligence and passion many bring to this work... every residency I undertake only serves to strengthen the belief I'm meeting fine people who's commitment extends far beyond self-interest and feathering of nests .... whether they be volunteers at a local habitat nursery or community garden, educators or scientists at esteemed Institutions. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Passion is powerful YET when research and knowledge are ignored one-track thinking can + does close down crucial public discourse and everyday conversations. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">My third day on recent PLANTBANK residency at the </span><a data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/page.php?id=129088943798999" href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Australian-Botanic-Garden-Mount-Annan/129088943798999" style="cursor: pointer; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none;">Australian Botanic Garden Mount Annan</a><span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> I received an email on my iPhone from a stranger attacking me for accepting money from transnational corporation Syngenta and a host of other sins. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">NOT HAPPY on this occasion for a number of reasons it wasn't the first and won't be the last foolish email or comment aimed at me... but given my funding comes through patronage of an octogenarian mother who grew up on a farm and understands the importance of this project and a wonderful array of art collectors, academics, schools and organisations who approach me with freelance work I was not amused. A large part of my year I see no income as I am simply way too busy producing content and researching to run an online shop or monetise my solo work. I ADORE the people who support my project... support that includes FB likes, comments and shares, Art sales and work offers... it all counts and I never take it for granted. But no ... Syngenta has not put me on their payroll! </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Its simply NOT GOOD ENOUGH to fail to look more deeply. Asking deeper, broader questions is not just polite but its critical! </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">I've spent 5 years digging into the questions around seeds and started to realise in 2011 what the general public misses about seeds is extraordinary. One story is discussed ... do I have to mention which story? That is an important story but after 4 years evaluating all that I've been coming across the story of Biodiversity and gene loss is still so ignored, so remote from most people ... yet i'm convinced the biggest risk to the Global Seed inheritance is what is not understood about how species are lost and what small and big things we can do about it. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">What if it wasn't a company that was failing to take care of plant species but our own actions? A story from a fascinating old hippy in Vermont got me thinking. Despite being infamous in the US for his personal seed-saving mission and alternative methods he feels its the easiest thing in the world for people to blame Monsanto and puts genetic erosion down to sometime back in the early C20th when individuals began outsourcing for seeds creating a vacuum that left it to the vagaries of the market-place to supply seeds.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">I'm sure that could be argued over endlessly ... but I'm convinced that this the work and knowledge on stalling species loss must be shared ... and it will take effort and initiative at every level of community very much including agencies like the Global Crop Diversity Trust who store the seeds of the country or organisation for that very same country and organisation. What Australia sends to Svarlbad in the Arctic Circle remains the property of the Australian Govt. When the Syrian Genebank was disrupted by war a couple of years ago seed material was sent to Svarlbad and the operation moved to a nearby country. Already extreme weather events have destroyed gene banks around the planet. If you don't know about these matters I urge you to read websites like </span><a href="http://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.croptrust.org%2F&h=AAQHFTsLA&enc=AZNCmgDTX60InFQcwNSuA_FjlFpTDAUMZk8a6ez3ope0pEw_MbPZ8WEttsk1dV4oXy1qQAJtMdKmqPNLaBckkFW0dvYdFWoIphvoSbw2uAizgZX6H2vY7LcBPBxSSKGC4fBaI6loHcwIjpifhr9_ALP4&s=1" rel="nofollow nofollow" style="cursor: pointer; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://www.croptrust.org/</a><span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">, </span><a href="http://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.seedpartnership.org.au%2F&h=UAQHtRtCy&enc=AZNavgGrW2f2N5tZoOwYbRTdke-5FKMTPfjpaD-Vz2v6oWdUdHdI7icJZe-iFzwqNO627f7qCiz_9eM0uPCG8vu4Fin5vhHk5RzBts9YD5V00Q843GNw4iUVCKKAx_fpXem5UxyYFccjFGlH_Jpd4HIr&s=1" rel="nofollow nofollow" style="cursor: pointer; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://<wbr></wbr><span class="word_break" style="display: inline-block;"></span>www.seedpartnership.org.au/</a><span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">, </span><a href="http://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.plantbank.org.au%2F&h=WAQF8qpcf&enc=AZNXTCttkNy2FyTV3w95UWEi4O7iiUQWDXmaXP_y3tfCwwklU8tPA62_Cnh8X-aJtt8yTf51J4zNP9jjpiA1QUrO0WiBuX7g4S-Wb96p_HEplJ1zgs4cU5kDIvAyZZTJ0d5QAEGZs2-ugdGP3_69cswO&s=1" rel="nofollow nofollow" style="cursor: pointer; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://<wbr></wbr><span class="word_break" style="display: inline-block;"></span>www.plantbank.org.au/</a><span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> to name a few!</span><br /></span></span></span></div>
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Sophie Munnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02797068983613314554noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5675961259717563037.post-64154131684744774242014-08-09T10:37:00.001+10:002014-08-09T10:37:03.870+10:00Seeds of Time | Global Crop Diversity TrustWatch the trailer for this important new film Seeds of Time. I'm attempting to find out when and where in Australia in might be shown.<br /><br />
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<a href="http://www.croptrust.org/content/seeds-time#.U-VsFvQGQJA.blogger">Seeds of Time | Global Crop Diversity Trust</a><br /><br />
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<a href="http://vimeo.com/73726895">http://vimeo.com/73726895</a>Sophie Munnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02797068983613314554noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5675961259717563037.post-90182541579048050502014-06-02T02:17:00.001+10:002014-06-02T02:17:34.007+10:00Killing species at 1000 times the natural rate: 29 May 2014 - New ScientistThis post comes directly from New Scientist ENVIRONMENT Page<br /><br />
ONLINE:<br /><br />
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<a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn25645-we-are-killing-species-at-1000-times-the-natural-rate.html#.U4tRQ4nPyll.blogger">We are killing species at 1000 times the natural rate - environment - 29 May 2014 - New Scientist</a><br /><br />
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<div class="hldpg" id="pgtop" style="border: 0px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 10px auto 0px; padding: 0px; width: 970px;"><ul class="markerlist" style="border: 0px; list-style: none outside; margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><li style="background-image: url(http://www.newscientist.com/img/icon/icon_arrow.gif); background-position: 0px 5px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; font-size: 1em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 10px;">19:00 29 May 2014 by <a href="http://www.newscientist.com/search?rbauthors=Peter+Aldhous" style="border: 0px; color: #34a3d1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><b style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Peter Aldhous</b></a></li>
<li style="background-image: url(http://www.newscientist.com/img/icon/icon_arrow.gif); background-position: 0px 5px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; font-size: 1em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 10px;">For similar stories, visit the <a href="http://www.newscientist.com/topic/endangered-species" style="border: 0px; color: #34a3d1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><b style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Endangered Species</b></a> and <a href="http://www.newscientist.com/topic/evolution" style="border: 0px; color: #34a3d1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><b style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Evolution</b></a> Topic Guides</li>
</ul></div><div class="hldpg floatclearfix" id="hldmain" style="border: 0px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 20px auto 40px; padding: 0px; width: 970px;"><div class="floatleft" id="hldcontent" style="border: 0px; float: left; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 795px;"><div class="floatleft instapaper_body" id="maincol" style="border-top-color: rgb(167, 167, 167); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 1px 0px 0px; float: left; margin: 0px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; width: 480px;"><div class="infuse" style="border: 0px; font-size: 1em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 20px; padding: 0px;">First the bad news. Humans are driving species to extinction at around 1000 times the natural rate, at the top of the range of an earlier estimate. We also don't know how many species we can afford to lose.</div><div class="infuse" style="border: 0px; font-size: 1em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 20px; padding: 0px;">Now the good news. Armed with your smartphone, you can help conservationists save them.</div><div class="infuse" style="border: 0px; font-size: 1em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 20px; padding: 0px;"><img alt="Birds from Brazil: let get more threatened species in the red zone <i>(Image: Clinton Jenkins)</i>" height="488" src="http://www.newscientist.com/data/images/ns/cms/dn25645/dn25645-1_300.jpg" title="Birds from Brazil: let get more threatened species in the red zone <i>(Image: Clinton Jenkins)</i>" width="640" /></div><div class="infuse" style="border: 0px; font-size: 1em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 20px; padding: 0px;"><br /></div><div class="infuse" style="border: 0px; font-size: 1em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 20px; padding: 0px;"><b style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Interactive map:</b>: <a href="http://biodiversity.newscientistapps.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #34a3d1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Where the threatened wild things are</a></div><div class="infuse" style="border: 0px; font-size: 1em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 20px; padding: 0px;">The new estimate of the global rate of extinction comes from <a href="http://nicholas.duke.edu/people/faculty/pimm" style="border: 0px; color: #34a3d1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Stuart Pimm</a> of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, and colleagues. It updates a calculation Pimm's team released in 1995, that human activities were driving species out of existence at 100 to 1000 times the background rate (<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.269.5222.347" style="border: 0px; color: #34a3d1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><i style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Science</i>, doi.org/fq2sfs</a>).</div><div class="infuse" style="border: 0px; font-size: 1em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 20px; padding: 0px;">It turns out that Pimm's earlier calculations both underestimated the rate at which species are now disappearing, and overestimated the background rate over the past 10 to 20 million years.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-size: 1em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 20px; padding: 0px;"></div><h3 class="crosshead" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 117, 154); border-bottom-style: solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; color: #717171; font-size: 1.1em; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px 20px 10px 10px; padding: 0px;">Gone gone gone</h3><div class="infuse" style="border: 0px; font-size: 1em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 20px; padding: 0px;">The <a href="http://www.iucnredlist.org/" style="border: 0px; color: #34a3d1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Red List</a> assessments of endangered species, conducted by the<a href="http://www.iucn.org/" style="border: 0px; color: #34a3d1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">International Union for Conservation of Nature</a> (IUCN), are key to Pimm's analysis. They have evolved from patchy lists of threatened species into comprehensive surveys of animal groups and regions.</div><div class="infuse" style="border: 0px; font-size: 1em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 20px; padding: 0px;">"Twenty years ago we simply didn't have the breadth of underlying data with 70,000 species assessments in hand," says team member <a href="http://www.iucn.org/media/iucn_experts/?11667/Thomas-Brooks-Head-IUCN-Science-and-Knowledge-Unit" style="border: 0px; color: #34a3d1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Thomas Brooks</a> of the IUCN in Gland, Switzerland.</div><div class="infuse" style="border: 0px; font-size: 1em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 20px; padding: 0px;">By studying animals' DNA, biologists have also created family trees for many groups of animals, allowing them to calculate when new species emerged. On average, it seems each vertebrate species gives rise to a new species once every 10 million years.</div><div class="infuse" style="border: 0px; font-size: 1em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 20px; padding: 0px;">It's hard to measure the natural rate of extinction, but there is a workaround. Before we started destroying habitats, new species seem to have been appearing faster than old ones disappeared. That means the natural extinction rate cannot be higher than the rate at which they were forming, says Pimm.</div><div class="infuse" style="border: 0px; font-size: 1em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 20px; padding: 0px;">For the most part, the higher estimate of the modern extinction rate is not caused by any acceleration in extinctions since 1995. One exception is an increase in threats to amphibians, partly due to <a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg15821400.300-a-great-leap-forward.html" style="border: 0px; color: #34a3d1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">the global spread of the killer chytrid fungus</a>.</div><h3 class="crosshead" id="zd_newid_26817" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 117, 154); border-bottom-style: solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; color: #717171; font-size: 1.1em; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px 20px 10px 10px; padding: 0px;">Save everything</h3><div class="infuse" style="border: 0px; font-size: 1em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 20px; padding: 0px;">The big unknown is what the high current extinction rate means for <a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21829174.000-new-red-list-to-focus-on-ecosystems-rather-than-species.html" style="border: 0px; color: #34a3d1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">the health of entire ecosystems</a>. Some researchers have suggested <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/495305a" style="border: 0px; color: #34a3d1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">"sustainable" targets for species' loss</a>, but there's still no scientific way to predict <a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21929333.000-stop-global-warming-and-save-biodiversity-yes-we-can.html" style="border: 0px; color: #34a3d1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">at what point cumulative extinctions cause an ecosystem to collapse</a>. "People who say that are pulling numbers out of the air," says Pimm.</div><div class="infuse" style="border: 0px; font-size: 1em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 20px; padding: 0px;">Still, it seems unlikely that extinctions running at 1000 times the background rate can be sustained for long. "You can be sure that there will be a price to be paid," says Brooks.</div><div class="infuse" style="border: 0px; font-size: 1em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 20px; padding: 0px;">Pimm's team has also compiled <a href="http://biodiversity.newscientistapps.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #34a3d1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">detailed global maps of biodiversity</a>, showing the numbers of threatened species and total species richness in a global grid consisting of squares 10 kilometres across.</div><div class="infuse" style="border: 0px; font-size: 1em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 20px; padding: 0px;">Such maps can help conservationists decide what to do.</div><div class="infuse" style="border: 0px; font-size: 1em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 20px; padding: 0px;">For instance, Pimm and his colleague <a href="http://clintonjenkins.org/index.html" style="border: 0px; color: #34a3d1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Clinton Jenkins</a> of the Institute for Ecological Research in Nazaré Paulista, Brazil, noticed high numbers of threatened species on Brazil's Atlantic coast. Local forests were being cleared for cattle ranching. So they are working with a Brazilian group, the Golden Lion Tamarin Association, to <a href="http://savingspecies.org/projects/past-projects/saving-species-the-golden-lion-tamarin/" style="border: 0px; color: #34a3d1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">buy land and reconnect isolated forest fragments</a>.</div><div class="infuse" style="border: 0px; font-size: 1em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 20px; padding: 0px;">But conservationists need more data, and you can help, through projects like<a href="http://www.inaturalist.org/" style="border: 0px; color: #34a3d1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">iNaturalist</a>. Users share photos of the creatures they see via <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/inaturalist/id421397028?mt=8" style="border: 0px; color: #34a3d1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">iPhone</a> and<a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.inaturalist.android" style="border: 0px; color: #34a3d1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Android</a> apps, and experts identify them. "Right now, someone is posting an observation about every 30 seconds," says co-director <a href="http://www.stanford.edu/~loarie" style="border: 0px; color: #34a3d1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Scott Loarie</a> of the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco.</div><div class="infuse" style="border: 0px; font-size: 1em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 20px; padding: 0px;"><b style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Interactive map</b>: <a href="http://biodiversity.newscientistapps.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #34a3d1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Where the threatened wild things are</a></div><div class="infuse" style="border: 0px; font-size: 1em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 20px; padding: 0px;">Journal reference: <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1246752" style="border: 0px; color: #34a3d1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><i style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Science</i>, DOI: 10.1126/science.1246752</a></div></div></div></div>Sophie Munnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02797068983613314554noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5675961259717563037.post-17470234577054683482014-05-06T16:21:00.006+10:002014-05-06T16:21:54.933+10:00Images from the PLANTBANK residency<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Today is Tuesday and I leave PLANTBANK on Friday, May 9th so it has been an intensely busy period. I've been recording the days on my Facebook page : <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Homage-to-the-seed/276713165689916" target="_blank">Homage to the Seed </a></b>and on <b><a href="http://instagram.com/sophiemunns" target="_blank">Instagram</a></b>.<br />
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<b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Homage-to-the-seed/276713165689916?id=276713165689916&sk=photos_stream" target="_blank">This is the photo feed from FB</a></b>. You will need to refer to May, 2014 for the appropriate images if you are reading this after May, 2014.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUwHI0rBxC4TFVpKCXCm9jm9pHOjp1O6fhuTmVlgs5YwZ8UBxBDBeSXNAIxkPJb-I-FCnf_1U_peE74t_kLArqPWPb8Izwd17DnhvOr0zACjrSdgmbaa3lMYMUNVzJKzDq-CoPZnfYFwg/s1600/header.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUwHI0rBxC4TFVpKCXCm9jm9pHOjp1O6fhuTmVlgs5YwZ8UBxBDBeSXNAIxkPJb-I-FCnf_1U_peE74t_kLArqPWPb8Izwd17DnhvOr0zACjrSdgmbaa3lMYMUNVzJKzDq-CoPZnfYFwg/s1600/header.jpg" height="449" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An introduction to the PLANTBANK Residency</td></tr>
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In 2008 I bought a Mac Desktop computer and really for the first time started documenting images reasonably successfully, and frequently. In May 2009 I started blogging at <b><a href="http://sophiemunns.blogspot.com.au/" target="_blank">Visual Eclectica</a></b> and that PLUS getting onto a Mac computer, which gradually I could navigate with ease, represented a revolution in a sense for my Art Practice.<br />
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From a painter normally surrounded by canvases and works on paper, unceasingly productive whenever circumstances allowed, I gradually shifted the focus of my art practice so that writing became more public, articulating ideas and influences, researching and in time, further developing the Homage to the seed project after its launch in 2010 for a Residency at Brisbane Botanic Gardens.<br />
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Interactions particularly ... and research ... shaped what I investigated, how and when... and gradually that morphed into whole new chapters and directions, all within the Homage to the Seed project.<br />
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Why I mention this is to highlight the fact that whilst photography has long been a process of documentation for me .... its never been an art form in that I never took it seriously as a way for me to express what I wanted to say.<br />
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I've been surprised when positive comments were made about some images in the last few years because it actually forced me to reflect on what one is doing when one photographs. As a painter I am not drawn to replicate everyday reality. My paintings invariably lean to abstraction no matter the starting point. Aesthetically I like nature to appear dusty and raw... seeds are often dusty and can easily disintegrate over time. Creating highly polished renditions never seemed to make all that much sense to me as a way of interpreting material as art work.<br />
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Scientifically speaking Botanical Illustration makes absolute sense and can certainly be perceived as very beautiful or remarkable in its own right. And without doubt they can be artworks of great integrity. But personally I am pulled to a different journey in responding to seed material... be it pods, capsules, seeds and interpretations via micro imagery, drawings or photos.<br />
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At times though favouring abstract painting over photographing and drawing seeds has seemed at odds with something I very much like to do... and that is showcase the extraordinary diversity of seed forms. But back in the studio there are compering demands on my time and focus and without the availability of what I can access at a place like this the<br />
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On this residency the Microscopy Room has been like a voyage to another world ... one that I've been hoping to visit for some time. There is a lot more I could say about what this has given me but this in not the time as I have a painting in progress.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLWwlCaCw4vnDFxTwRFT2dx3pibgacJ1Tjs76Xu4cdsYXiO1DOKkrtohSSI3OFzyQiRl21ZGQBNLRR07ZL8FbMiFBIoR8o9QZxv0S1bp2a5ULn9VtKtb9u9n2MKqdJ3Q0r8uYDaqRJJ80/s1600/microscopy+room.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLWwlCaCw4vnDFxTwRFT2dx3pibgacJ1Tjs76Xu4cdsYXiO1DOKkrtohSSI3OFzyQiRl21ZGQBNLRR07ZL8FbMiFBIoR8o9QZxv0S1bp2a5ULn9VtKtb9u9n2MKqdJ3Q0r8uYDaqRJJ80/s1600/microscopy+room.jpg" height="400" width="380" /></a></div>
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Two processes available in this room are the X-ray machine and Micro-imaging computer. I have worked on both finding X-raying seeds brought the best results to date. It takes time however and I made only a rudimentary start n the Micro-imaging.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3-vW5t0dBD-OMFEWp3fxVIyOJ1m_LNU2MYSRtT-_09xTwPaC6Mk-fr_xD2M6wmnfGT28ijfnTogSJzNfJIwIh4sZ9Tee8CKcMWCJr3tt7E7fj3iB7gZbqUSv-VQL_7w8jAOyMQevwrLM/s1600/spilling+seeds.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3-vW5t0dBD-OMFEWp3fxVIyOJ1m_LNU2MYSRtT-_09xTwPaC6Mk-fr_xD2M6wmnfGT28ijfnTogSJzNfJIwIh4sZ9Tee8CKcMWCJr3tt7E7fj3iB7gZbqUSv-VQL_7w8jAOyMQevwrLM/s1600/spilling+seeds.jpg" height="640" width="612" /></a></div>
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This eucalyptus species, <b><a href="http://anpsa.org.au/e-ery.html" target="_blank">Eucalyptus erythrocorys </a></b>, was the perfect example of a seed that at first glance seems quite ordinary. 100's of seeds fall from each capsule and its only when gathered up in a petrie dish like below... that one begins to notice each seed look different to the naked eye... size and shape vary a great deal. Three dimensional, the complexity is obvious under the microscope... but under the x-ray machine something even more fascinating can be observed.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxrGpbjJGLlCbZrjeATTxbfbVbs5vETlRaoUgBmcXrgKMfaEmM2WAwxyNo9GYPK09WE3edr3OoytKeBBRTrkCXAJs7gQFeHMBSZBhybIwvc1DtOLxuwdSBDt68Bp28xXJOkcjIhXhQlQ8/s1600/eucalyptus+eryth.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxrGpbjJGLlCbZrjeATTxbfbVbs5vETlRaoUgBmcXrgKMfaEmM2WAwxyNo9GYPK09WE3edr3OoytKeBBRTrkCXAJs7gQFeHMBSZBhybIwvc1DtOLxuwdSBDt68Bp28xXJOkcjIhXhQlQ8/s1600/eucalyptus+eryth.jpg" height="640" width="564" /></a></div>
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These are the x-rays of this same seed ...</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQTDrc07UMILcU7FK3fg_a_OiE0pgpyWD6pm3fTJave3S9OGLsTSHNdERw7hvWb9WXuB6uUZrVTYNp1rU0GVo8FtrzKbOlaxiz-e3HITEevBOTjRa9d5HIESrDsqaiy6Q44w80qMvc9H4/s1600/IMG_7764.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQTDrc07UMILcU7FK3fg_a_OiE0pgpyWD6pm3fTJave3S9OGLsTSHNdERw7hvWb9WXuB6uUZrVTYNp1rU0GVo8FtrzKbOlaxiz-e3HITEevBOTjRa9d5HIESrDsqaiy6Q44w80qMvc9H4/s1600/IMG_7764.jpg" height="357" width="400" /></a></div>
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In this image I was reminded how well over-lapping works</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTe6p_eb_toAVXzxNKYYSsmXzBFUrnKi9Ny_5PHJTAxvJQxD4AtlqVGnRj051ZBpi5ITz35wmNwxYnYVwEZwq0oIs_wTOfNLCg97YKAfkb7jgeGFBjmT01cd9zkqmbWaMIvAJUSS9xJFc/s1600/IMG_7771.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTe6p_eb_toAVXzxNKYYSsmXzBFUrnKi9Ny_5PHJTAxvJQxD4AtlqVGnRj051ZBpi5ITz35wmNwxYnYVwEZwq0oIs_wTOfNLCg97YKAfkb7jgeGFBjmT01cd9zkqmbWaMIvAJUSS9xJFc/s1600/IMG_7771.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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so made a point of crowding the seeds together in the petrie dish for this next image</div>
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<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiQyd0pMuKAH4bkZUUgDVKQvnx50HSw7_AN6wl2GC-KpEImbXj2NjgtFKr2x30wcE1p_eLCz8kE6TclCpjc8Z6eUQjADTqCvEhnlOv2bM4BB6Dhe3eYcpcsf6nlWDPTgIclGWFGP9NTvQ/s1600/IMG_7772.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiQyd0pMuKAH4bkZUUgDVKQvnx50HSw7_AN6wl2GC-KpEImbXj2NjgtFKr2x30wcE1p_eLCz8kE6TclCpjc8Z6eUQjADTqCvEhnlOv2bM4BB6Dhe3eYcpcsf6nlWDPTgIclGWFGP9NTvQ/s1600/IMG_7772.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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... then focused in and altered the back and white contrast tabs, using my iPhone camera to take a large series of variations and close-ups in preference to using the machine to capture images and slowly save each one... one at a time.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl6936AMkK_sS6ZgmxhRUmQ9CexW7Le1RJikip6ZbZyt0e5ThTZitYqZ6aq2COoNAj9cVgx3Rw1cz4xCfE79edjXZapCNoSrnFhCIwjksUgKqIg8-ae2EVN_hvgDM1c126BE4DOU_yGqQ/s1600/IMG_7773.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl6936AMkK_sS6ZgmxhRUmQ9CexW7Le1RJikip6ZbZyt0e5ThTZitYqZ6aq2COoNAj9cVgx3Rw1cz4xCfE79edjXZapCNoSrnFhCIwjksUgKqIg8-ae2EVN_hvgDM1c126BE4DOU_yGqQ/s1600/IMG_7773.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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This imagery lends itself beautifully to artistic interpretation. It already has the appearance of a beautifully rendered tonal drawing.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIeuu5ZMfNeftSmx3GixaLUcg6TcqOxfh7UpjtlO5jWtXtogJV1ugVcbv0GI5mKHEdyxGMZyWq6lyC50Lj1ZH9crOAzCKFpcDKEwbmV6nJCKGXA4VMDKExExioPrn-QaFTkA1-8w-l-V8/s1600/IMG_7677.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIeuu5ZMfNeftSmx3GixaLUcg6TcqOxfh7UpjtlO5jWtXtogJV1ugVcbv0GI5mKHEdyxGMZyWq6lyC50Lj1ZH9crOAzCKFpcDKEwbmV6nJCKGXA4VMDKExExioPrn-QaFTkA1-8w-l-V8/s1600/IMG_7677.jpg" height="400" width="400" /></a></div>
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I will be downloading more images soon... Ive taken 100's. Until then you can go to Facebook for updates on this residency. </div>
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Sophie</div>
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Sophie Munnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02797068983613314554noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5675961259717563037.post-18395141971187104452014-04-28T22:00:00.000+10:002014-04-28T22:00:05.617+10:00On residency at PLANTBANK till May 9th.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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This is a very quick post on my current residency at <b><a href="http://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/annan/Australian_plantbank" target="_blank">Plantbank</a></b> at the <b><a href="http://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/annan" target="_blank">Australian Botanic Gardens, Mt Annan</a></b>, which is in South West Sydney, NSW.</div>
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Sophie Munnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02797068983613314554noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5675961259717563037.post-6452819157795673072014-04-19T07:26:00.001+10:002014-04-19T07:27:51.949+10:00Use of genetic diversity to adapt crops to human needs is as old as the Neolithic revolution<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: small;">Global Ex-Situ Crop Diversity Conservation and the Svalbard Global Seed Vault: Assessing the Current Status</span></h1>
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<span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Sophie Munns : Today I am sharing the Introduction to an article well worth reading if you wish to understand more on this topic. </span></div>
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"The use of genetic diversity to adapt crops to human needs is as old as the Neolithic revolution<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi/10.1371/journal.pone.0064146#pone.0064146-Darwin1" style="color: #3c63af; text-decoration: none;">[1]</a>. In the 1920s the Russian geneticist and botanist Nicolai Vavilov started systematically collecting and conserving genetic diversity as <em>a resource</em> for crop breeding, making <em>ex-situ</em> (off-site) conservation part of the agricultural R&D system <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi/10.1371/journal.pone.0064146#pone.0064146-Harlan1" style="color: #3c63af; text-decoration: none;">[2]</a>. Crops producing seeds that can be conserved at low relative humidity and low temperature (orthodox seeds) are now commonly conserved <em>ex-situ</em> in genebanks. The two-fold rationale for genebanks is, on the one hand, to conserve diversity that is threatened <em>in-situ</em> (in farmers' fields or in the wild) and, on the other hand, to make genetic resources accessible to users <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi/10.1371/journal.pone.0064146#pone.0064146-Fowler1" style="color: #3c63af; text-decoration: none;">[3]</a>. In the 1930s, the barley breeder Harry V. Harlan was among the first to sound the alarm on <em>genetic erosion</em> of crop genetic resources<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi/10.1371/journal.pone.0064146#pone.0064146-Gepts1" style="color: #3c63af; text-decoration: none;">[4]</a>, and, in 1967, a conference in the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) initiated what has become the genetic resources movement <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi/10.1371/journal.pone.0064146#pone.0064146-Frankel1" style="color: #3c63af; text-decoration: none;">[5]</a>. In the early 1970s, other hallmark conferences laid out practical action plans for the FAO and the Consultative Group on Agricultural Research (CGIAR) to establish an international network of conservation activities and genebanks <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi/10.1371/journal.pone.0064146#pone.0064146-Frankel2" style="color: #3c63af; text-decoration: none;">[6]</a>, <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi/10.1371/journal.pone.0064146#pone.0064146-Pistorius1" style="color: #3c63af; text-decoration: none;">[7]</a>. While the initial focus was on establishing a small number of genebanks with a global mandate, the FAO currently reports that there are 1750 genebanks around the world <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi/10.1371/journal.pone.0064146#pone.0064146-FAO1" style="color: #3c63af; text-decoration: none;">[8]</a>. Precarious funding, in combination with less than perfect collaboration and coordination among genebanks, has called into question the ability of many of these facilities to ensure long-term conservation, and genetic erosion <em>inside</em> genebanks has become a major concern <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi/10.1371/journal.pone.0064146#pone.0064146-FAO1" style="color: #3c63af; text-decoration: none;">[8]</a>, <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi/10.1371/journal.pone.0064146#pone.0064146-FAO2" style="color: #3c63af; text-decoration: none;">[9]</a>. The need for proper safety duplication of the world's unique crop genetic resources is therefore an important international priority <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi/10.1371/journal.pone.0064146#pone.0064146-FAO1" style="color: #3c63af; text-decoration: none;">[8]</a>, <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi/10.1371/journal.pone.0064146#pone.0064146-Frankel3" style="color: #3c63af; text-decoration: none;">[10]</a>, <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi/10.1371/journal.pone.0064146#pone.0064146-FAO3" style="color: #3c63af; text-decoration: none;">[11]</a>."</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Photo: A conservationist holds two vials of peas at the Svalbard Global Seed Vault." src="http://images.nationalgeographic.com/wpf/media-live/photos/000/557/overrides/rio-20-seed-bank-svalbard-holding-seeds_55732_600x450.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cary Fowler, former Executive Director of Global Crop Diversity Trust</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #999999; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 19px;">Photograph by Jim Richardson, National Geographic</span></div>
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"The Svalbard Global Seed Vault was established with the “<em>objective to provide a safety net for the international conservation system of plant genetic resources, and to contribute to the securing of the maximum amount of plant genetic diversity of importance to humanity for the long term in accordance with the latest scientific knowledge and most appropriate techniques</em>”<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi/10.1371/journal.pone.0064146#pone.0064146-NMAF1" style="color: #3c63af; text-decoration: none;">[12]</a>.The Seed Vault is managed in partnership by the Government of Norway, the Nordic Genetic Resource Center (NordGen) and the Global Crop Diversity Trust (the Trust). NordGen is a public regional institute supported by the governments of the Nordic countries, and the Trust an independent international organization based in Bonn, Germany. The Norwegian Ministry of Agriculture and Food is the legally responsible authority for the Seed Vault, and its operation is overseen by an International Advisory Council consisting of international technical and policy experts representing, among others, the FAO, national genebanks, the CGIAR and the Governing Body of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA). The Seed Vault provides free-of-charge, long-term storage of duplicates from genebanks around the world and works as an insurance policy against incremental or catastrophic loss of the original collections (<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi/10.1371/journal.pone.0064146#pone-0064146-g001" style="color: #3c63af; text-decoration: none;">Fig. 1</a>). The international community has called for an effective, efficient and sustainable global system to conserve Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (PGRFA) in the Global Plan of Action for Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (GPA) <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi/10.1371/journal.pone.0064146#pone.0064146-FAO4" style="color: #3c63af; text-decoration: none;">[13]</a>, <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi/10.1371/journal.pone.0064146#pone.0064146-FAO5" style="color: #3c63af; text-decoration: none;">[14]</a> and the ITPGRFA <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi/10.1371/journal.pone.0064146#pone.0064146-FAO6" style="color: #3c63af; text-decoration: none;">[15]</a>. The Seed Vault has, in its five years of operation, become a cornerstone in the global system emerging from within this international policy and legal framework, and good progress has been made towards the target of duplicating all the distinct accessions of PGRFA conserved as orthodox seeds around the world. At its fifth anniversary in February 2013, the collection stood at 774,601 seed samples, originating from 95% of the 193 UN member states. All seed samples are safety duplicates of accessions already stored in conventional genebanks, with 53 genebanks having deposited material so far (<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi/10.1371/journal.pone.0064146#pone-0064146-g002" style="color: #3c63af; text-decoration: none;">Fig. 2</a>)."</div>
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<span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">To read more on this, + view images and graphs go to <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi/10.1371/journal.pone.0064146" target="_blank">ARTICLE.</a></span></div>
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At the conclusion is this:</div>
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<span style="color: #134f5c; font-size: large;"><b>Symbol for the larger cause</b></span></div>
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The Seed Vault has gained considerable international media attention and even fame <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi/10.1371/journal.pone.0064146#pone.0064146-GCDT1" style="color: #3c63af; text-decoration: none;">[40]</a>. We believe that media reports, though occasionally inaccurate, have contributed to increased public awareness about the importance of crop diversity. While conservation of genetic resources has been part of the environmental movement since the seminal UN conference on the human environment held in Stockholm in 1972, it has often been overshadowed by other issues. The Seed Vault has contributed towards raising the profile of this issue on the broader environmental and food security agenda. In the words of the late Nobel Laureate, Wangari Maathai: “<em>The significant public interest in the seed vault project indicates that collectively we are changing the way we think about environmental conservation. We now understand that along with international movements to save endangered species and the rainforests of the world, it is just as important for us to conserve the diversity of the world</em>'<em>s crops for future generations.</em>” The Seed vault is not a panacea for securing the future's food supply, but it is an important element in safely conserving the genetic resources necessary for agricultural development. As the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said on the occasion of his visit in the Seed Vault in 2009: “<em>Sustainable food production may not begin in this cold arctic environment, but it does begin by conserving crop diversity.</em>”</div>
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In light of the huge media attention directed towards the Seed Vault, it is important to stress that it only makes sense as a part of a global conservation system. The conventional genebanks spread around the world are doing the essential job of conserving, regenerating, multiplying and distributing seeds to those that use them for applied and basic research for agricultural development and increased food security. The Seed Vault is, on the one hand, a high-profile environment and development project and, on the other, a low-tech practical solution increasingly serving a basic global need for the safety duplication of seeds held in conventional genebanks, as documented in our analyses. There are important synergies between these two aspects, and the Seed Vault plays an important symbolic role for enhanced integration and cooperation in the global <em>ex-situ</em> conservation efforts.</div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">You might also like to read more of<b><a href="http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/07/food-ark/siebert-text" target="_blank"> this article below from National Geographic</a></b>:</span></div>
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Food Ark</h2>
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A crisis is looming: To feed our growing population, we’ll need to double food production. Yet crop yields aren’t increasing fast enough, and climate change and new diseases threaten the limited varieties we’ve come to depend on for food. Luckily we still have the seeds and breeds to ensure our future food supply—but we must take steps to save them.</h3>
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By Charles Siebert</div>
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<b style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 26px;">It took more than 10,000 years</b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 26px;"> of domestication for humans to create the vast biodiversity in our food supply that we're now watching ebb away. Selectively breeding a wild plant or animal species for certain desirable traits began as a fitful process of trial and error motivated by that age-old imperative: hunger. Wild wheat, for example, drops its ripened kernels to the ground, or shatters, so that the plant can reseed itself. Early farmers selected out wheat that, due to a random genetic mutation, didn't shatter and was thus ideal for harvesting. </span></div>
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Sophie Munnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02797068983613314554noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5675961259717563037.post-23842486022283154902014-04-10T09:56:00.002+10:002014-04-10T09:56:38.118+10:00OPEN STUDIO EVENT at Seed.Art.Lab this weekend, April 12 + 13 in Brisbane<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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This is a quick post ahead of a big weekend at my Brisbane Studio: <b>Seed.Art.Lab</b> to let you know all are welcome if you happen to be in this region and would like to come along!</div>
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I've just been finessing plans for our wee Pop-up cafe on the side of the Studio plans.... and went back to a favourite book of mine by <b><a href="http://dianahenry.co.uk/books/" target="_blank">Diana Henry</a></b> for the recipe for Yoghurt and Walnut Cake with Coffee Syrup last night. Perhaps the Orange Almond Cake pictured above will be our gluten free offering.... the Walnut cake is not gluten free... but has substantially less flour being laden with walnuts! I go really light on the sugar in it as well... have made this many times and the flavours are sensational without loads of sweetness.</div>
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To read all the details about the event go to the <b><a href="http://sophiemunns.weebly.com/" target="_blank">website home page here</a></b>.</div>
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Also on the home page is the link to the<b> <a href="http://eepurl.com/R1QVT" target="_blank">Latest Newsletter which you can read here</a></b> telling you about my next residency at the brand New Plantbank Seed Research Facility in NSW and this event.</div>
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<b>Address: </b></div>
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48 Meemar St</div>
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Chermside 4032</div>
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Brisbane, QLD</div>
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m: 0430 599 344</div>
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STUDIO HOURS THIS WEEKEND:</div>
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Midday till 5pm both days</div>
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12 + 13 April, 2014</div>
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Sophie Munnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02797068983613314554noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5675961259717563037.post-48867257003941739782014-04-01T19:45:00.000+10:002014-04-01T19:45:28.599+10:00Up-coming Residency at PLANTBANK.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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In Late April I will take up a two week residency at<a href="http://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/annan/Australian_plantbank" target="_blank"> PLANTBANK</a> at The Australian Botanic Garden south west of Sydney, NSW.<br />
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The Australian PlantBank</h1>
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The Australian PlantBank is a science and research facility of the Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust and is located at the <a href="http://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/annan" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153) !important; font-weight: bold;">Australian Botanic Garden, Mount Annan</a>. It houses the Trust's seedbank and research laboratories that specialise in horticultural research and conservation of Australian native plant species, particularly those from New South Wales.</div>
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<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: normal;">Click</span></span><b style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><a href="http://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/annan/Australian_plantbank" target="_blank"> here </a></b><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: normal;">to read much more about this fascinating facility which opened in November 2013 and is a partner project with the KEW Millennium Seedbank in the UK where I did a 3 weeks residency in October 2012.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: normal;">One of the projects I will be following up there is:</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 17px;">Rainforest seed project - a project to save rainforest species, our most vulnerable resource * </span><span style="line-height: 17px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/annan/Australian_plantbank/PlantBank_scientists/Rainforest_seeds" target="_blank">Read more here.</a><br /><br /></span></span><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 3px;">
<img alt="Rainforest fruits" height="132" src="http://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/image/0009/97713/Rainforest_fruits_K._Hamilton_177.JPG" style="border-bottom: rgb(0,0,0) 0px solid; border-left: rgb(0,0,0) 0px solid; border-right: rgb(0,0,0) 0px solid; border-top: rgb(0,0,0) 0px solid;" title="Rainforest fruits" width="177" /><img alt="Sapindaceae" height="131" src="http://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/image/0010/97714/Sapindaceae_K._Hamilton_177.JPG" style="border: 0px solid rgb(0, 0, 0);" title="Sapindaceae" width="177" /><img alt="Persoonia" height="131" src="http://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/image/0005/97718/Persoonia_K._Hamilton_177.JPG" style="border: 0px solid rgb(0, 0, 0);" title="Persoonia" width="177" /></div>
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Images all from the PLantbank site!</div>
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<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: small; line-height: normal;">This will be a very </span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: normal;">tight time frame in which to achieve all that I hope to do... research, documentation, </span></span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: small; line-height: normal;">photos will all be crucial for taking away material I can follow </span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: normal;">throughout on back at home. However I felt it would be better to aim for 2 periods of two week residencies so I can make the most of the available resources!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: normal;">Watch this space for more information.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: normal;">In order to cover expenses I am holding a weekend OPEN STUDIO event April 12 and 13. I'll be posting information on that here and at other sites over the next 10 days. Contact me<b><a href="mailto:sophiemunns@iinet.net.au" target="_blank"> here</a></b> for direct information!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: normal;">Cheers, </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: small; line-height: normal;"> Sophie</span></div>
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Sophie Munnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02797068983613314554noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5675961259717563037.post-62088904510820067622014-03-13T15:21:00.001+10:002014-03-13T15:21:42.876+10:00Australian contributions to the Svarlbad Global Seed Vault<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Today I am sharing a story directly from the blog of the Global Crop Diversity Trust. Recently I was pleased to connect with them and participate in a video made by them on Seed Diversity and Homage to the Seed. Click on the image on the top RHS of the sidebar to watch the video!<div>
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Last week they brought out a wonderful new video which is posted at the previous blog post.<div>
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And now I am posting <b><a href="http://www.croptrust.org/content/australian-deposit-svalbard-and-australias-crop-wild-relatives" target="_blank">this article which involves the Australian partnership found here</a></b> to share with you... will check I have permission from the Crop Trust to do that right now.</div>
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Its well worth a read...</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">NEW AUSTRALIAN SEED DEPOSIT</strong></h2>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Indigenous crop wild relatives, brassica, oats among seeds that find safe haven in Svalbard Global Seed Vault</strong></h3>
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It is cold and white outside. The wind blows snowflakes sideways. But the members of the Australian delegation happily brave the weather. On this February 26, 2014 afternoon, they are far from home, at the other end of the globe, 1300 km north of the Artic Circle. They have come to Longyearbyen, Norway, to personally make the latest Australian seed deposit into the <a href="http://www.croptrust.org/content/svalbard-global-seed-vault" style="border: 0px; color: #0062a0; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Svalbard Global Seed Vault</a>. And with the fail-safe back-up facility as a backdrop, they stand and smile for the cameras. This is a historic moment – for them, for Australia, and the world.</div>
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"These seeds could one day hold the key to boosting productivity or solving the challenges of drought, frost and disease," says<a href="http://www.depi.vic.gov.au/about-us/media-centre/media-releases/heat-is-off-as-seeds-find-safe-haven-in-icy-norway" style="border: 0px; color: #0062a0; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Australian Grains Genebank</a> (AGG) leader Sally Norton.</div>
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She is now inside the Vault, wearing the obligatory blue hardhat. She stands behind 16 blue boxes -- Australia’s largest deposit yet, brought from the AGG base in Horsham, western Victoria, and from the <a href="http://www.sardi.sa.gov.au/information_and_news/news_and_media/media_items/pasture_seeds_head_to_norway" style="border: 0px; color: #0062a0; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Australian Pastures Genebank</a> in Adelaide, South Australia.</div>
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Accompanying Dr. Norton are AGG Curator Bob Redden, Australian Pastures Genebank Curator Steve Hughes and Victorian farmer and the <a href="http://www.crawfordfund.org/" style="border: 0px; color: #0062a0; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Crawford Fund</a> board member Tony Gregson, among others.</div>
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Joining them is former Deputy Prime Minister Tim Fischer, who currently is Vice-Chair of the Executive Board of the Crop Trust. Mr. Fischer has personally contributed to the seed collections being deposited today. Ventura wheat and Graza oat seeds come from his farm and have been sealed and saved inside blue box #10, which he personally places inside the cold storage unit that houses more than 820,000 safety duplicates of seeds from all over the world. </div>
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Dr. Norton and the other members of the delegation place the remaining boxes in the cold room shelves. They then separate in small groups and silently walk the long halls that are filled, floor to ceiling, with boxes.</div>
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“Seeds from Korea, Canada, Peru, Germany, Mexico – the largest collection of crop diversity from across the globe is safeguarded here,” says Mr. Fischer, who assures his compatriots that "the work carried out by the Global Crop Diversity Trust is vital for food security. In times of climatic chaos, the world needs seed diversity and seed security more than ever before.”</div>
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Adding to this diversity, the present shipment includes Australian indigenous wild seed samples, says Dr. Norton.</div>
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“Relatives of sorghum, rice and beans were included, along with the canola, oats, lupins and both temperate and tropical pastures.” She further explains “as Australia is a net importer of crop species, this represents the first deposit of truly Australian indigenous seed material, and is a valuable resource for global food production".</div>
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After a few minutes, the delegation exits the storage unit and slowly makes it s way up the long tunnel that six years ago was carved out of one of the many mountains in Svalbard to create the Vault. </div>
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Outside the wind is still. Night has fallen. And the Australian shipment has reached its final destination. It is also the last the 20,000+ samples originating from over 100 countries that were deposited in the Vault this past February.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">AUSTRALIA: EARLY SUPPORTER OF THE CROP TRUST</strong></h3>
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The <strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Global Crop Diversity Trust</strong> works with partners around the world to ensure the conservation and availability of crop diversity for global food security. In 2003 funding from the Australian Government and the Grains Research and Development Corporation helped support the <strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Crop Trust</strong> <strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Endowment Fund.</strong></div>
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“We have been successful in raising $170 million for the endowment so far”, says Marie Haga, Executive Director of the Crop Trust. “It is a good beginning, but we need roughly three times as much to safeguard the world’s major collections forever.”</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">AUSTRALIA – HOME TO COUNTLESS CROP WILD RELATIVES</strong></h3>
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Though it is relatively close to the Siam-Malaya-Javan region, home to crops such as banana, sugar cane, coconut, breadfruit and mangosteen, Australia has no native crops aside from Macadamia nut. All other foods grown there originally came from elsewhere. Wheat is a good example: with more than 29 millions tons produced in 2012, Australia is one of the world’s largest producers, but the crop was domesticated in the Middle East. The same concept is true for all of Australia’s most important crops, including barley, sugar cane, rapeseed, cotton, sorghum, grapes, and potatoes.</div>
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It therefore may be surprising to realize that Australia contains a wealth of wild relatives of a number of important crops. “Cousins” to the major foods we eat, crop wild relatives contain a diversity of important traits for disease resistance and yield improvement, and may provide critical contributions to breeding for adaptation to climate change.</div>
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The crop wild relatives of Australia include over 150 taxa related to more than 10 crops of major significance -- from the world's most important oil crop (soybean), and one of the world's most important cereals (rice), to crops of major importance for food security in Sub-Saharan Africa (sorghum) and South Asia (pigeon pea).</div>
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In Australia, the greatest wealth of these wild genetic resources occurs in the northern, tropical region, from Western Australia, Northern Territory, and Queensland. And although crop wild relatives are found in all states, this northern region is also where the highest priorities for further collecting are to be found.</div>
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<img alt="" src="http://www.croptrust.org/sites/default/files/documents/images/SPP_AUS_2014_03_06(3).jpg" style="border: 1px solid; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; height: 353px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: bottom; width: 500px;" /></div>
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<img alt="" src="http://www.croptrust.org/sites/default/files/documents/images/GAP_AUS_2014_03_06(2).jpg" style="border: 1px solid; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; height: 353px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: bottom; width: 500px;" /></div>
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Australia has a high number of priority species that still need to be collected. The map above shows hotspots for collecting needs for crop wild relatives in Australia that are in the greatest need of collecting.</div>
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Some of these crop wild relatives have already served as important donors of traits for crop improvement, such as wild rice<em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Oryza rufipogon</em>, which has proved extremely important to rice for traits such as pest and disease resistance. Others await discovery of their particular value for crop breeding.</div>
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Included in the 16 boxes that were recently deposited in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault are indigenous Australian native plants. “Australia's first contribution to the global genepool of genetic resources being truly Australian material”, says Australian Grains Genebank (AGG) leader Sally Norton.</div>
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This is a major step for Australia in the conservation of wild relatives, which will undoubtedly influence the future of the country’s – and the world’s – agriculture.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">ADDITIONAL INFORMATION</strong></h3>
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The <a href="http://ciat.cgiar.org/" style="border: 0px; color: #0062a0; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT)</a> has carried out a gap analysis that helps prioritize the species and locations of crop wild relatives that are in most need of collection. <a href="http://www.cwrdiversity.org/distribution-map/" style="border: 0px; color: #0062a0; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The work</a> is part of a project led by the <strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Global Crop Diversity Trust </strong>in partnership with the <a href="http://www.kew.org/" style="border: 0px; color: #0062a0; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew</a> and is supported by the <strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Government of Norway</strong>. This 10-year project focuses on the wild species in the genepools of 26 crops of major importance to food security that fall under Annex 1 of the <a href="http://www.planttreaty.org/" style="border: 0px; color: #0062a0; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture.</a></div>
<ul style="background-color: #e7e5df; border: 0px; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1.2em; vertical-align: baseline;">
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0px 36pt; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Developed under the project “Adapting Agriculture to Climate Change: Collecting, Protecting, and Preparing Crop Wild Relatives” and building upon its activities, <a href="http://www.cwrdiversity.org/" style="border: 0px; color: #0062a0; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">the Crop Wild Relatives website</a> is dedicated to compiling and providing information on the taxonomy, distribution, conservation status and breeding potential of the wild relatives of major crops.</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0px 36pt; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320713002851" style="border: 0px; color: #0062a0; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A “Prioritized crop wild relative inventory to help underpin global food security</a>” was published last October in <a href="http://www.journals.elsevier.com/biological-conservation/" style="border: 0px; color: #0062a0; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Biological Conservation</a>. The study brings together critical primary information on crop wild relatives’ species identities—distributions and relatedness information— on a global scale in order to inform conservation efforts.</li>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">For More Information on Australia’s work on the conservation of crop diversity:</strong></div>
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<a href="http://www.sardi.sa.gov.au/information_and_news/news_and_media/media_items/pasture_seeds_head_to_norway" style="border: 0px; color: #0062a0; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">SARDI</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.crawfordfund.org/iar/iar-stories/aussie-seeds.html" style="border: 0px; color: #0062a0; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Crawford Fund</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.crawfordfund.org/iar/iar-stories/cropdiversity.html" style="border: 0px; color: #0062a0; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Crawford Fund on Crop Diversity</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-03-04/norway-seed-bank/5296700" style="border: 0px; color: #0062a0; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">ABC News Story on Australian Deposit</a></div>
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Sophie Munnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02797068983613314554noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5675961259717563037.post-90028656513071115502014-03-08T00:04:00.001+10:002014-03-08T00:04:57.253+10:00The Crop Trust, Feeding a Growing World<br /><br />
Please take a look at this just released video from the Global Crop Diversity Trust.<br /><br />
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A must see!<br /><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/BYK11SJzgJk" width="480"></iframe>Sophie Munnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02797068983613314554noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5675961259717563037.post-58434826248512072172014-01-27T01:44:00.002+10:002014-02-06T15:49:22.586+10:00Looking at things from all angles... and a NEW VIDEO!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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The other day I was handed this small branch with a cluster of pods at its head. Passed on by a friend of my mother's to me there was no name offered and I was simply told it had yellow flowers and grew at her house. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7QpdYnSm8MkQXaXVQUdAY4PbRGFl8BReQ_PsO9bgqgBKbyznv70AmTivuyu3zK8wWXKhboQeeJuI85tlpP4xvKOzBSmxHc4qi501JntBE3_qDvjtyMtNdJXqdYX3-uBnt1xmA8anMle4/s1600/IMG_4508.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7QpdYnSm8MkQXaXVQUdAY4PbRGFl8BReQ_PsO9bgqgBKbyznv70AmTivuyu3zK8wWXKhboQeeJuI85tlpP4xvKOzBSmxHc4qi501JntBE3_qDvjtyMtNdJXqdYX3-uBnt1xmA8anMle4/s1600/IMG_4508.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></div>
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Tonight I thought I might draw it but when picking it up, the seeds kept on falling out. That distracted me somewhat so I took out my i-phone to see if I could take some shots that might prove helpful to draw from. As the results from the iPhone are so variable I was unsure if I'd get what I wanted.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuZzYPnUMJPq-RE73GwRSo6UriLmQHSsFTT-2946FNVbN1fMsBBOH8SdEJW98PTkBriMU9RMkToVobzcOYXJ5UIJqI6WwB3IIlCQrDYNHPNmOAuUiJQWZbzXc_dS9ceSRwfTFD_C9i_Z0/s1600/IMG_4512.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuZzYPnUMJPq-RE73GwRSo6UriLmQHSsFTT-2946FNVbN1fMsBBOH8SdEJW98PTkBriMU9RMkToVobzcOYXJ5UIJqI6WwB3IIlCQrDYNHPNmOAuUiJQWZbzXc_dS9ceSRwfTFD_C9i_Z0/s1600/IMG_4512.jpg" height="400" width="400" /></a> </div>
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Too yellow... too unclear... too rough... too everything really!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIv7Ndd5KEtfy6VX3OnmWORoduwcuCY_zlJD0kGnh-rEMERBozcoEbqZNwFY_54GhbRnBbL3PgkTf9yN-AR3DvicTzTZiMQTeADznr5XDRVYf7Rkr25YfM3BYM4LHBf_v4XHbERmPgV0s/s1600/IMG_4516.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIv7Ndd5KEtfy6VX3OnmWORoduwcuCY_zlJD0kGnh-rEMERBozcoEbqZNwFY_54GhbRnBbL3PgkTf9yN-AR3DvicTzTZiMQTeADznr5XDRVYf7Rkr25YfM3BYM4LHBf_v4XHbERmPgV0s/s1600/IMG_4516.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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I persisted in order to see the seeds from various angles and appreciate both the form of the pods and the seeds.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilREpxbPVOgjYEKklo-gQTYWi0l-ett7gfb7StBuf6_xVShkDz36EifuNPNkyxwlgRkdDnNcGy1QLSIkDX6C9eugD3V3ysu19f8WNAJDJktbxMBRIk89H3YVjzi2d1-9NeLYx1n5_wdWU/s1600/IMG_4517.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilREpxbPVOgjYEKklo-gQTYWi0l-ett7gfb7StBuf6_xVShkDz36EifuNPNkyxwlgRkdDnNcGy1QLSIkDX6C9eugD3V3ysu19f8WNAJDJktbxMBRIk89H3YVjzi2d1-9NeLYx1n5_wdWU/s1600/IMG_4517.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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This one was quite natural in appearance</div>
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Trying to get closer was hard.</div>
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Some of the shapes really appealed as I looked closer.</div>
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Tonal qualities accentuated</div>
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Closer</div>
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I liked the seeds in this one</div>
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Photos taken under a light</div>
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I'll come back and draw these this week.</div>
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A poor image looked slightly better in black and white.</div>
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This colour was quite true to life really.</div>
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Textural pods on the lower half of this one</div>
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were in high contrast to this one above</div>
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seeds</div>
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interesting to see the details in form... at first glance they seem all the same</div>
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I'd like to see these under a microscope</div>
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back to the pods</div>
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pods via Instagram</div>
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Close up of seed capsule and pods after photo-shop.</div>
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Last week a video of my artwork with audio of recorded thoughts about the Homage to the Seed project was released and I've written about it at my <b><a href="http://sophiemunnsstudio.blogspot.com.au/2014/01/video-homage-to-seed-crop-trust-and.html" target="_blank">STUDIO blog </a></b>and added links to related sites. This was the result of a collaboration with a leading Seed Not-for-profit organisation in Germany.</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">TO WATCH THE VIDEO CLICK ON THE HYPER-</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">LINKED TEXT UNDER THE LOGO/IMAGE</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiNOmh32G_DdgexuWnaBtCQtYNRxk-zgcTyG1NjNX0VqYYTDrsBVswz-ghkK_or2lBTEIitqCxXtBoJq_xIMI3vMEPVxMvxYpzeCkMU42TUX-tr-22ujBEgGvduUVcajjYqCtCCXKhOhM/s1600/crop+trust+video.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiNOmh32G_DdgexuWnaBtCQtYNRxk-zgcTyG1NjNX0VqYYTDrsBVswz-ghkK_or2lBTEIitqCxXtBoJq_xIMI3vMEPVxMvxYpzeCkMU42TUX-tr-22ujBEgGvduUVcajjYqCtCCXKhOhM/s1600/crop+trust+video.jpg" height="271" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b><span style="background-color: #e69138; color: #38761d;">CLICK HERE:</span></b> </span> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zc5mN-QwAeI" target="_blank">VIDEO _ HOMAGE TO THE SEED</a></div>
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Click and watch this 3 minute video of Cary Fowler discussing one of the <b><a href="http://www.croptrust.org/" target="_blank">Global Crop Diversity Trust</a></b>'s key partnership projects in Norway ... the well-known <b><a href="http://www.croptrust.org/content/svalbard-global-seed-vault" target="_blank">Seed Vault at Svarlbard</a></b> in the Arctic Circle.</div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/LC3SHgRe-bg?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe><br />
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Cary Fowler talks about the Svarlbard Seed Vault in Norway</div>
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Wishing all a very good week!<br />
Sophie<br />
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Sophie Munnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02797068983613314554noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5675961259717563037.post-60291895978856159612014-01-15T16:00:00.000+10:002014-01-15T16:09:17.385+10:00Permaculture + Art = a fascinating Art Practice<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 22px;"><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-size: x-large;">‘Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.’ </span></span><br />
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Having written to Rhonda Ayliffe to get permission to share her material I read at a <b><a href="http://yeomansproject.com/permaculture-in-the-practice/" target="_blank">recent post that was put up on the Yoeman's Project</a></b> I am delighted to share the full version here below.<br />
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What I've in fact done is taken the article from where I first read it but I will also link you to Rhonda's own blog post on this <b><a href="http://www.rhondaayliffe.blogspot.com.au/2013/12/permaculture-in-practice.html" target="_blank">here</a></b>.<br />
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I've been following Ronnie's blog for a few years now. Having lived, in the mid 80's, on the far south coast of NSW I used to drive past the beautiful valley where she lives every so often... so I was drawn to learn of her life there and how she has woven an art practice and masters into a very busy daily schedule on her family Dairy farm, with children and community life also a strong part of the picture.<br />
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I wrote and told her how much I'd appreciated reading this article and hope you have a moment so you can delve into her world and thinking in this quiet but stunningly beautiful corner of NSW.<br />
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I'll leave Ronnie to tell the story here. Note that the introduction in highlighted text is written by Ian Milliss and published 12 Dec, 13.<br />
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Permaculture in the Practice</h1>
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<span class="meta-prep meta-prep-author" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">By </span><span class="author vcard" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a class="url fn n" href="http://yeomansproject.com/author/adminian/" style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; color: #666666; font-size: 11px; font-style: normal; letter-spacing: 0.05em; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; text-transform: uppercase; vertical-align: baseline;" title="View all posts by Ian Milliss">IAN MILLISS</a></span> <span class="meta-sep meta-sep-entry-date" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">| </span><span class="meta-prep meta-prep-entry-date" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Published: </span><span class="entry-date" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><abbr class="published" style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: none; cursor: text; font-size: 11px; font-style: normal; letter-spacing: 0.05em; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase; vertical-align: baseline;" title="2013-12-12T06:24:11+0000">12 DEC ’13</abbr></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">When I first argued in the early 1970s that PA Yeomans could be regarded as an artist it was treated as an absurd proposition yet we now find many artists who use farming, food production and permaculture (developed from Yeomans work) as part of their practice, as just some of the many media available to them. Several artists are featured in the AGNSW exhibition while others will be seen here in the blog over coming weeks. First is Rhonda Ayliffe, an artist and farmer from Cobargo, NSW.</span></div>
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<a href="http://yeomansproject.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/artgesture2.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="Rhonda Ayliffe – one sunflower with repaired/ replaced petal and some bees" class="size-full wp-image-594" height="400" src="http://yeomansproject.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/artgesture2.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px none; height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="400" /></a><br />
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Rhonda Ayliffe – one sunflower with repaired/ replaced petal and some bees</div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">Can permaculture be used as the philosophical foundation of an arts practice? </span>This was a question I posed in my Higher Degree research project <em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">‘codex infinitum – the infinite book</em>’ that ostensibly investigated the future of books and knowledge in a digital world but incorporated permaculture ethics and principles to guide my studio operations. Permaculture has been used in organic horticulture, small and larger scale agriculture, in relocalisation movements such as Transition Towns, and by individuals seeking more sustainable and ecologically responsible lifestyles. What could permaculture offer to an individual art practice and what changes would the adoption of permaculture’s ethics and principles cause to art making became key questions I wanted to address within my research. My essay <em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Permaculture in the practice</em> is an informal account in part drawing on my MFA exegesis.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was born, raised and remain in a small community on the far south coast of NSW. Generations of my family have occupied this same small territory, a tight 10km radius around the tiny township of Cobargo; traditional country of the Yuin people. For the past 25 years I’ve lived on my family’s 360 acre beef property at Sams Creek. I married the neighboring dairy farmer and his 800 acres, and inadvertently have found myself a custodian of a significant swathe of farmland nestled at the outer foothills of Gulaga, the mother mountain. The combined farms are bordered to the west by the Kooraban National Park, with its small and highly vulnerable yet genetically significant koala population, and they encompasses Sams Creek, a small waterway that eventually empties to the east into Wallaga Lake, Batemans Marine Park. The farms feature varied productive pasturelands, remnant temperate rainforest, woodland and indigenous grass species, vital bird and marsupial habitats and wildlife corridors. The combined farming properties are of cultural, historical, economic and environmental importance.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is my place in the world. Connection to place informs every aspect of my creative practice. It was through this sensed connection to place that, two decades ago, I initially became interested in bioregionalism, place-based education, restoration landcare, and permaculture. In 2010, as I commenced my studio-based Master of Fine Arts and completed my Permaculture Design Certificate, I began to speculate about the possibilities of utilising permaculture as the philosophical or ethical basis of an arts practice. This speculation and investigation became an integral aspect of my recently completed higher degree research project: <em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">codex infinitum – the infinite book</em>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Permaculture (initially a contraction of the words ‘permanent’ and ‘agriculture’ but now more readily understood as <a href="http://holmgren.com.au/about-permaculture/" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="‘permanent-culture’">‘permanent-culture’</a>) is a form of systems-thinking design that was developed in the 1970s by Australians<a href="http://permacultureprinciples.com/" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"> Bill Mollison and David Holmgren</a>. Initially applied principally to forms of organic farming and gardening, in recent years permaculture has been explored as a <a href="http://holmgren.com.au/essence-of-permaculture-free/" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">potential philosophical and practical model</a> for <a href="http://loobymacnamara.com/home/" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">business and economics</a>, <a href="http://www.transitionnetwork.org/" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Transitions Towns</a>, the reorganisation of politics and society, and a means for moving to <a href="http://permacultureprinciples.com/product/holistic-life/" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">a more sustainable lifestyle</a>. Permaculture grounds decisions on <a href="http://permacultureprinciples.com/ethics.php" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">three primary ethics</a>: ‘care for the earth, care for people, fair share’ and <a href="http://permacultureprinciples.com/principles/" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">twelve principles</a>.</span></div>
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<a href="http://yeomansproject.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Principles_Poster.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img alt="Permaculture Ethics and Design Principles Poster" class="size-full wp-image-599" height="495" src="http://yeomansproject.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Principles_Poster.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px none; height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="700" /></span></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Permaculture Ethics and Principles poster from permacultureprinciples.com</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These principles as proposed by David Holmgren in <em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Permaculture – Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability</em> and referred to in my research project are:</span></div>
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<li style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Observe and interact</span></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Catch and store energy</span></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Obtain a yield</span></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Apply self-regulation and accept feedback</span></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Use and value renewable resources and services</span></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Produce no waste</span></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Design from patterns to details</span></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Integrate rather than segregate</span></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Use small and slow solutions</span></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Use and value diversity</span></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Use edges and value the marginal</span></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Creatively use and respond to change</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The ethics and principles are used together, along with concepts such as <a href="http://www.neverendingfood.org/b-what-is-permaculture/permaculture-guilds/" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">guilds</a>,<a href="http://www.lovelygreens.com/2012/08/learning-about-permaculture-zones.html" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"> zones</a> and <a href="http://organicmotion.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/FoodForestLayers.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">layers</a> to create an integrated, (w)holistic, ecologically sustainable system that is the cornerstone of permaculture design.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Permaculture, in its traditional, utilitarian form, has been used as a basis for ecological artworks including Nils Norman’s <em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.frieze.com/issue/review/nils-norman/" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Edible Park</a></em>, Fritz Haeg’s various<em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.fritzhaeg.com/wikidiary/" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Edible Estates</a></em>, and Artist as Family’s <em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://thethousands.com.au/sydney/out/food-forest-plant-in/" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Food Forest</a></em>, created as part of the Museum of Contemporary Art’s 2010 exhibition: <em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Balance – Art for a New World</em>. Numerous eco-artists, eco-arts groups/organisations and socially engaged art workers have created work that either consciously or casually relates to the permaculture model. Within my practice and research project I was interested in exploring permaculture not just as the basis of garden or ecological artwork but as a studio methodology and the philosophical foundation of an integrated, holistic, bioregional and permaculturally inclined combination of art, work and life.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Embarking on a life/practice change of this magnitude, the big question of course was ‘where do I start?’ I began with the completion of a Permaculture Design Certificate that empowered me to undertake both a range of practical projects around our 2 acre home/studio garden (this included retrofitting of solar panels, grey water system, reinvigoration of my extensive food gardens and orchard and the construction of an integrated studio/poultry house) and conduct an audit of all studio activities (including inputs, outputs, procedures and business activities).</span></div>
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<a href="http://yeomansproject.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/samscreekstudio.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img alt="The integrated studio and chicken housing at Sams Creek" class="size-full wp-image-600" height="299" src="http://yeomansproject.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/samscreekstudio.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px none; height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="400" /></span></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The integrated studio and chicken housing at Sams Creek</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some of my earliest and simplest permaculture initiatives in the studio included a move to eschew toxic materials (in both art making and studio maintenance) and the composting/ recycling of studio ‘waste’. I have maintained an inter-disciplined or hybrid arts practice and my arts background is in the traditional crafts related to book arts – not the usual areas associated with an eco-art or socially-engaged practice. This presented unique challenges, but by building on simple, practical actions I gained the confidence to consider larger issues inherent in my arts practice that encouraged me to reflect critically on <a href="http://codex-infinitum.blogspot.com.au/2012/01/on-having-arty-kareer-ad-naseum.html" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">what I wanted </a> as an artist.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A project from 2011 signalled possibilities for an integrated holistic permacultural approach. In 2011 I became involved in the Kooraban koala survey and the Australian National University’s <a href="http://www.fieldstudies.com.au/eden-project/eden-project-2011-field-study/" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Eden Project Field Study</a> program. These two independent activities intertwined when I joined ANU field study participants on a <a href="http://www.fieldstudies.com.au/eden-project/talking-koala/" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">koala survey</a> plot near Dignams Creek and was invited to exhibit work in their group show <em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.fieldstudies.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/far-enough-october-20.pdf" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Far Enough: Aesthetic responses to the Far South Coast NSW</a></em>. My corollary work, <em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Kooraban Koalas</em>, consisted of photographic documentation of a temporary artwork that acknowledged and commemorated the koala survey site close to my Sams Creek home. The work was displayed in the Bega Valley Regional Gallery along with a copy of ‘Koala Survey of the Kooraban and Gulaga National Parks’.</span></div>
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<a href="http://yeomansproject.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/koorabankoalas.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img alt="Rhonda Ayliffe – Kooraban Koalas, 2011" class="size-full wp-image-598" height="166" src="http://yeomansproject.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/koorabankoalas.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px none; height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="400" /></span></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rhonda Ayliffe – Kooraban Koalas, 2011</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Kooraban Koalas</em> represented more than just the exhibited photograph –it consisted of collective physical labour, empirical research, oral history, published and informal <a href="http://www.rhondaayliffe.blogspot.com.au/2011/01/koala-survey.html" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">texts</a>, along with site-specific art making. The multifaceted trans-disciplined work also exemplified a way of adopting and interpreting permaculture’s core ethics and principles within my arts practice.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was buoyed by the potentials of an inter- or trans-disciplined approach experienced with <em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Kooraban Koalas</em> and how it signalled a manner in which permaculture could guide choices within my arts practice. For my MFA project I created <em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">honestum circuli – the virtuous circle</em> – a small garden constructed from 217 discarded encyclopedias and based on a quintessential permaculture feature: the herb spiral.</span></div>
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<a href="http://yeomansproject.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/honestum1.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img alt="Rhonda Ayliffe - honestum circuli, 2012" class="size-full wp-image-596" height="265" src="http://yeomansproject.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/honestum1.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px none; height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="400" /></span></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rhonda Ayliffe – honestum circuli, 2012</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Honestum circuli</em> exists both as a semi-permanent structure in my studio garden and an accompanying artist’s book containing documentation of the garden’s construction, plant lists, plans and incidental notes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rhonda Ayliffe – honestum circuli, 2012</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Two other works from my MFA project signaled an alternative, indirect way of incorporating permaculture in my practice. Both<em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> codex inperfecto – the unfinished book</em>, my long coptic bound ‘book’ structure, and <em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">carpe diem</em>, an artist’s book resulting from my ‘art gesture’ series, epitomized how taking a permacultural perspective could influence my art making. The materials utilised in codex inperfecto (40+ volumes of unwanted encyclopaedias) represent a conscious move to ensure that my material choice and purchase proactively assists the environment while simultaneously helping to fund charity work.</span></div>
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<a href="http://yeomansproject.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/codexinperfectodetail.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img alt="codexinperfectodetail" class="size-full wp-image-595" height="293" src="http://yeomansproject.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/codexinperfectodetail.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px none; height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="400" /></span></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rhonda Ayliffe – codex inperfecto – the unfinished book (detail)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The books used in my work have been sourced from charity shops and book fairs (such as Lifeline, Rotary, Salvation Army and St Vincent de Paul) where they usually remained unsold and then required expensive disposal. My purchases ensured that the unsold undesirables were not sent to landfill while the purchase price actively assisted in funding each charity’s projects. This largely undisclosed social, economic and environmental cycle is an integral aspect of the work and an example of the holistic aspirations of my arts practice.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My ongoing ‘<a href="http://rhondaayliffe.blogspot.com.au/2012/01/year-of-arty-gestures.html" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">art gesture</a>’ series is a range of ephemeral artworks based on the interaction of books and site.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These interactions were informed by and created in response to the prevailing local conditions (seasonal change, weather, community and/or natural events) and actively embraced the smart phone and web as both the creative means and destination for the work.</span></div>
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<a href="http://yeomansproject.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/artgesture1.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img alt="artgesture1" class="size-full wp-image-593" height="400" src="http://yeomansproject.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/artgesture1.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px none; height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="400" /></span></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rhonda Ayliffe – one sunflower with repaired/ replaced petal and some bees</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was my observation that creating and distributing work online apparently circumvented some of the less sustainable aspects of the art business world. The combination of smart phone technology/photography and blogging may initially appear incongruous with a permacultural approach – so I usually clarify this by relating the provenance of my equipment and discuss appropriate technology choices as an active aspect of the work’s story. When provided with the opportunity I like to explain that I generally use second hand and discarded equipment – my computer(s) were rescued just before they were due to be binned at the local school and my smart phone is a clunky old model that’s still operating.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These recent works essentially chronicle the evolution of my methodology as I gradually embraced permaculture in my practice. In summary, utilising permaculture as the ethical/philosophical basis of my practice in practical terms has resulted in a move toward:</span></div>
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<li style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> using recycled, reclaimed waste product as my primary studio materials and in auxiliary arts business activities</span></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> using local, homegrown or gathered ‘green’ art materials and associated methods wherever possible and appropriate.</span></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> working ephemerally and recording ephemeral ‘art’ actions in a digital format for sharing digitally and/or online.</span></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> avoiding air flight</span></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> slow working, small working, humble working, performative working, collaborative and collective working.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I would note that my research project did not progress without difficulties and frustrations. Permaculture operates primarily outside both academia and the art world and the atypical combination of books/knowledge as the subject of my studio work and permaculture as methodology created unusual tension. I addressed part of this problem by looking at connections between pragmatic philosophy and permaculture in my MFA exegesis. Both permaculture and the pragmatic texts of John Dewey emphasised holistic and experiential learning/knowledge, intimate immersion in the environment and knowledge-building through practical application. Similarly, both Dewey and Holmgren reject notions of duality or dichotomy between nature and culture, mind and body, form and content as well as the idea of nature (and experience) as closed and static. The combination of pragmatism and permaculture offered a robust and logical foundation in which to explore the ideas about the site and construction of knowledge, the purpose and potential of art, research methodology and the holistic integration of art and life: the central motifs of my research project. As I noted in my MFA exegesis: permaculture provided both a way and a why for my arts practice.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With my MFA project now complete I am contemplating a more enthusiastic and comprehensive embrace of all things permacultural. Future trans-disciplined projects on the farm, in the garden and the studio include waterways restoration work and wildlife corridor construction in conjunction with <a href="http://www.southern.cma.nsw.gov.au/" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Southern Rivers Catchment Management Authority</a> and the<a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/cleanenergyfuture/biodiversity-fund/" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Biodiversity Fund</a> , the establishment of <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Black-Wattle-Place-Based-Education/590059537680609" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Black Wattle Place Based Education hub</a> sited on the farm, and contributing to the foundation of PIP – <a href="http://www.pipmagazine.com.au/" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Australian Permaculture Magazine</a>. I have commenced construction of stage 2 of the studio dye garden with the spring planting of calendula, woad, Japanese and Australian indigo and I’ve started researching/ experimenting with natural protein based (milk and egg) paint bases from our farm produce.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The adoption and application of permaculture’s ethics and principles within my practice is, and necessarily will remain, an ongoing activity and the creation of a perfected exemplar has not been my prime objective. Instead I am keen to promote the notion that it is possible to achieve positive change by incorporating permaculture within any arts practice and the best way to do this is to start small, build upon success, accept imperfections and adopt the <a href="http://thinkexist.com/quotation/start_where_you_are-use_what_you_have-do_what_you/150911.html" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">maxim</a>: ‘Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.’ Permaculture in my practice means acknowledging that all the myriad aspects of my life and work are interconnected – so tending the garden, preserving the abundance, assisting a sick animal, remediating farmland, counting koala scat, working beside local school children, making ephemeral art, blogging or binding a book are ALL aspects of my intertwined, inter-disciplined, bioregional, permacultural arts practice.</span></div>
<blockquote style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #666666; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; margin: 0px 3em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; quotes: none; vertical-align: baseline;">
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“It is not the project but the living process that will be the measure of our actions.” <a href="http://www.futurescenarios.org/content/view/37/45/" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">David Holmgren</a></div>
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Rhonda Ayliffe<br />
Sams Creek, Cobargo NSW<br />
November 2013.</div>
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Sophie Munnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02797068983613314554noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5675961259717563037.post-44931281183947684702013-12-24T01:25:00.001+10:002013-12-24T02:26:43.132+10:00'Perennial Symbols of the Botanical Realm I'<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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This artwork <span style="text-align: center;"><b>'Perennial Symbols of the Botanical Realm I'</b></span>, 60 x 120 cm, was originally a Dyptich and began its life in the studio I occupied in Paddington in the second half of 2010. </div>
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After a few days of working on this painting following Xmas, 2010 a full month of intense, drenching rains led to the first major flooding Brisbane had seen in decades. Although the studio was high up on a hilly ridge it was a bit wet when I returned to find how things were. All was fine though. During the flood I was forced to stay put at home in Clayfield. Roads had been cut off everywhere so it didn't even bear thinking about trying to get in to the studio to work. Most of Queensland had gone under water, flooding had devastated some areas and loss of life was serious.</div>
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As I'd grown up in a river town in Northern NSW flooding brought back stark memories. Summer was swallowed up by rains and grey skies and difficult stories of how it had been for others. This painting languished for a couple of weeks and I moved out of the studio soon after. It was months later I started work on it again... but in my small studio at home it was a bit crowded working on such a large canvas and I never was sure where this was going.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEedkchq1qgcA-SkEjEZFZNXc9S8VGWs0BjtV8lFBdYX2j8eaZZa1Swn47v7Fv08qEOKcoC7rc8xw1HyFXt6N7AGZOuOKcr0xGfoqBxTWAFCVeD0nTEudiGs8IVIBTNFxQZ5MK_JMAILI/s1600/IMG_5037.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEedkchq1qgcA-SkEjEZFZNXc9S8VGWs0BjtV8lFBdYX2j8eaZZa1Swn47v7Fv08qEOKcoC7rc8xw1HyFXt6N7AGZOuOKcr0xGfoqBxTWAFCVeD0nTEudiGs8IVIBTNFxQZ5MK_JMAILI/s400/IMG_5037.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Getting started at the Paddington Studio... painting on the right</div>
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was a Dyptich that eventually evolved into something complete.</div>
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For ages there was something very heavy, very stuck </div>
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about this work ... I was unable to lighten it up in any way.</div>
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to say I worked and reworked this canvas is an understatement.</div>
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And yet...</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq3lpbbFUgn06b28Xb92bPi3jVfMSViSjm3pDGa16UVgQBlTKCbJq6ehNc_sy1NlJ5-MKVL0nBWslz8gCD1R7b94wfk8R6izCC-f4ANY_UD9ReX3lFMszV8_FymMLEc0DckYudoKX36GE/s1600/IMG_5039.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq3lpbbFUgn06b28Xb92bPi3jVfMSViSjm3pDGa16UVgQBlTKCbJq6ehNc_sy1NlJ5-MKVL0nBWslz8gCD1R7b94wfk8R6izCC-f4ANY_UD9ReX3lFMszV8_FymMLEc0DckYudoKX36GE/s400/IMG_5039.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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... this other work in the blue green palette never presented </div>
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that problem and instead, just came gradually to life! </div>
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If you look at this section of the finished artwork below you'll note I was eventually able to find a way into this work but not before I took a paintbrush to it and radically altered it by whiting over areas of the painting in order to start building up colour dynamics and layers from scratch again.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVlVYiIa3kocwXnnLK1EOTKygzYAzlq7ISb0T7oGfVc1RFVTi63O8UcE3W3OVZm2VzcBPKEU2uPsyfRzcZ7W3aDYQjY91rRKdbARcUIpOaUOx-OZiVblPGA6VGLeXfytswdAVCe0v8zuw/s1600/resize+C.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="586" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVlVYiIa3kocwXnnLK1EOTKygzYAzlq7ISb0T7oGfVc1RFVTi63O8UcE3W3OVZm2VzcBPKEU2uPsyfRzcZ7W3aDYQjY91rRKdbARcUIpOaUOx-OZiVblPGA6VGLeXfytswdAVCe0v8zuw/s640/resize+C.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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This time around the eye had space to rest and areas of the work acted like pathways, breathing spaces between intense sections of colour and pattern.</div>
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Here is a small section which highlights the interplay of colour and form, patterns and motif.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw69FFgcRz3uHgcJUY1EXLcX6ocwuaMz7kRlpoXTcjdJ-G-gX108jECkYQRi6ZXencfYysWtQxI4TH6N8HXhEe9_e4bSlchC9alF_8r3JEyn1r4JMFo1plO3Nn8fhyTsbHLFSR5Dtrsnw/s1600/resize+D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw69FFgcRz3uHgcJUY1EXLcX6ocwuaMz7kRlpoXTcjdJ-G-gX108jECkYQRi6ZXencfYysWtQxI4TH6N8HXhEe9_e4bSlchC9alF_8r3JEyn1r4JMFo1plO3Nn8fhyTsbHLFSR5Dtrsnw/s640/resize+D.jpg" width="580" /></a></div>
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Recently I put this work in my <b><a href="http://seedartlabshop.tumblr.com/post/68871206349/section-of-a-large-painting-perennial-symbols-of" target="_blank">Online Shop</a></b> as a print... making the image above this one available as an archival Limited Edition print. </div>
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The original artwork was shown as two separate artworks at my February Exhibition and both works sold on Opening night which was interesting given I'd separated them. The owner of this work kindly indulged me when I decided I needed to tinker slightly with the work before she collected it after the exhibition was over. I'm very glad for that extra bit of time to add some layering after I'd had the chance during the exhibition to ponder the work. When I finally parted with it I felt it was fine... even if it took a little over two years.</div>
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Given that rather involved story its been interesting to find this work being chosen ( a section of the work that is) for use on a christmas card for an organisation based in Bonn, in Germany.</div>
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The organisation's agenda happens aligns surprisingly well with the artwork's essential message... referring as it does to the perpetual cycles of the Seed inheritance from around the globe, through layers and laters of small seed forms. </div>
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The <b><a href="http://www.croptrust.org/" target="_blank">Global Crop Diversity Trust</a></b> is<i> '<span style="background-color: white; color: #4d4c46; font-family: NimbusSanNov-Reg; font-size: 17px; line-height: 21px;">an independent international organization working to guarantee the conservation of crop diversity. Forever.' </span></i></div>
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This excerpt below is quoted directly from their page WHO ARE WE?</div>
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Crop diversity is one of the world’s least recognized but most valuable resources. Individual crop varieties, such as the 200,000 varieties of wheat, have different traits for drought or heat tolerance, nutritional quality, disease resistance and every other possible characteristic. </div>
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Crop diversity is therefore the raw material for improving and adapting crops to meet all future challenges. Yet at the moment much of the world’s crop diversity is neither safely conserved, nor readily available to scientists and farmers who rely on it to safeguard agricultural productivity. Diversity is being lost, and with it the biological basis of our food supply.</div>
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The Global Crop Diversity Trust is the only worldwide response to this funding crisis. In a world where there are many important, and apparently overwhelming, issues demanding attention, it is important to note how the Trust differs from other organizations competing for donations</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Its mission is achievable.</strong> It is rare that the world faces a major problem which has highly disturbing implications but an identifiable and achievable solution. This is preciselywhat the Trust offers; a costed, measurable plan, relying on existing institutions and simple proven technologies.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">It is the only solution.</strong> Crop diversity is disappearing, and the Trust is the sole dedicated worldwide funding organization for its conservation. The Trust itself is operating in a unique political "window of opportunity", following the entering into force of the new International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources, and has partnered with all the important organisations in this field. The Trust offers a unique opportunity to put in place a rational and cost-effective system for the conservation of the resources which underpin all agriculture and the world's future food supplies.</div>
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This is one of the organisations I began visiting online as I researched for the residency at Mt Coot-tha in 2010. Investigating Biodiversity initially was through the website of the UN International Year of Biodiversity in 2010 and also <b><a href="http://kew.org/" target="_blank"> Kew Gardens </a></b>and the <b><a href="http://www.kew.org/science-conservation/save-seed-prosper/millennium-seed-bank/index.htm" target="_blank">Millennium Seedbank</a>. </b>This had been a springboard to <b><a href="http://www.bioversityinternational.org/" target="_blank">Bioversity International</a></b> and the Global Crop Diversity Trust.</div>
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Hence, I've posted frequently here at this blog on these organisations. You might to read their website to consider the work being carried out in connection with numerous countries, organisations and individuals. My Scoop-it site <b><a href="http://www.scoop.it/t/bio-cultural-diversity" target="_blank">Bio-cultural Diversity</a></b> when I get time is one of the places where I get feeds from the Crop Trust. </div>
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I've often rescooped posts by Luigi Guarino, senior scientist at the Crop Trust. Click to visit his sites.</div>
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<a class="profile-username" href="http://www.scoop.it/u/LuigiG" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: #2f2e2c; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; font-family: helvetica_neue_boldcond, Arial, sans; margin-right: 10px; max-width: 390px; overflow: hidden; text-decoration: none; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><span style="font-size: small;">Luigi Guarino</span></a></h1>
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Luigi Guarino & Jeremy Cherfas discuss the diversity of crops, livestock, microbes and foodways at the Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog... and here.</div>
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I was contacted by Luis Salazar from Bonn who arranged for this Xmas card to feature my work and a follow up later in January with promo on the Homage to the Seed Project.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs9BatqvXiW-RKWvMg11Ase3ko10lQBToeJqJlne1AB5E94ImoFQgV2A4ke_YAXwF5UhpMxLzjZkpE9gXI1xiwnG4obf2PS-qW02tmXZr5qoywITicKOv2zVjFrnf7xV63LSIhLNpwgnw/s1600/Bonn+card.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="418" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs9BatqvXiW-RKWvMg11Ase3ko10lQBToeJqJlne1AB5E94ImoFQgV2A4ke_YAXwF5UhpMxLzjZkpE9gXI1xiwnG4obf2PS-qW02tmXZr5qoywITicKOv2zVjFrnf7xV63LSIhLNpwgnw/s640/Bonn+card.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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I'm very pleased to have been able to share this work with this very unique and fascinating Not-for-Profit organisation, especially knowing the enormous value of the work they do and are connected with. I've often started my day trawling through sites like their website, Luigi's Scoops or similar. Before I'm up and into the day I've often spent two hours reading current news from around the world on seeds, biodiversity and so on. Its a pattern that has become somewhat fixed over several years now.</div>
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I used to trawl art and design websites most days when I could, and spend hours blogging per week. But as the climate shifts and life on this globe of ours is ever more pressured I find it is of utmost relevance to have a sense of where I am, and where we all are, through these stories. </div>
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My language remains very visual although I'm prompter at times to need to write. I paint for intense periods when I can. However, the painting is very often a meditation... a stilling of the mind as all the reading and thinking settles into a place where I can feel my response and make choices about how to proceed and think my way to the next thing.</div>
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Its late now but I did want to make this post tonight so I can share it as this year is winding down fast. My intern Jane, a 17 yr old student is coming in the morning. I haven't packed to go up the range on Boxing day for 5 days of painting in the Springbrook National Park. Xmas day I guess I can do that. </div>
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This painting of Perennial Symbols which started in the big rains of late 2010 into 2011 is alive and well in spirit. Now more than ever it seems we must find ways to celebrate our natural heritage and care for it. Our way may not be the same as another's. And perhaps conversations are a really good starting point.</div>
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During the last five years of this project on seeds I've had to deal with moments of interrogation or angry monologues from the odd person who needed to point out to me that Scientists were evil and why was I working with them ... and Seed banks were very evil. At first I wondered what they knew that I didn't. I was prepared to admit my knowledge was poor. In the end I realised that if it wasn't a two way, mutual conversation they maybe didn't know terribly much ... but neither did they seem to have the desire to be open or learn either.</div>
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Don't forget ... you can enter my intern Sam's Competition Survey. I will draw the winner on my return at New years... so get your answers in! Its the previous post where she wrote about entering the survey.</div>
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Best wishes to all for a very peaceful festive season, wherever you are.</div>
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Sophie</div>
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Sophie Munnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02797068983613314554noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5675961259717563037.post-91194878183568635202013-12-19T15:49:00.001+10:002013-12-23T22:19:43.589+10:00Be in the running to win a PRIZE ... FILL OUT OUR SURVEY!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Hi all, </div>
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My name is Sam and I am currently doing an internship with Sophie on her Homage to the Seed project. Last week was my first time working at the Seed Art Lab. I wrote a <b><a href="http://sophiemunns.blogspot.com.au/2013/12/news-seedartlab-internships-ii.html?m=0" target="_blank">blog post</a></b> about my art while I was there. </div>
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So I'm back again to talk about an idea that Sophie for us to conduct an interesting survey on seeds. </div>
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<span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">We wanted to test people's awareness of seeds.</span> </span></div>
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All you have to do is answer these questions and be in the running for some of Sophie's <b>post cards</b> and another <b>prize</b>. (original Sophie Munns artwork) The purpose of this survey is to see how differently adults and people around my age (15) respond to this. </div>
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Hope to hear from you </div>
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If you can send us <b><a href="mailto:sophiemunns@iinet.net.au" target="_blank">an email</a></b> with your answers here we will be sending out a postcard to the first 5 responses and the best response of all will receive an original artwork like this example from a recent series of watercolours: </div>
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Message from sophie: this page at my Seed.Art.Lab where I have this series of artworks for sale. The prize will be one of these artworks that is available.</div>
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"50 Watercolour paintings" A series of works on 300gm Cotton paper, 10 cm x 21 cm. Some in the series of 50 are now sold. If you are interested in these I can send images via email.</div>
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$75 each or series of 3 for $180.</div>
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MORE INFO and background story in the <a href="http://sophiemunns.blogspot.com.au/2013/10/responding-to-words-and-ideas-that.html" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.5s ease-out; color: #000203; transition: color 0.5s ease-out;" target="_blank" title="blog">Blog Post.</a></div>
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Looking forward to hearing from you everyone!</div>
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Sophie Munnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02797068983613314554noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5675961259717563037.post-20250940717315413622013-11-16T08:55:00.001+10:002013-12-23T22:14:57.647+10:007 days till the Studio: Seed.Art.Lab Launch<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://sophiemunnsstudio.blogspot.com.au/2013/11/7-days-till-studio-seedartlab-launch.html#sthash.dtotwMfa.cmfs">7 days till the Studio: Seed.Art.Lab Launch</a><br />
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I've shared this post directly from my Studio Archive blog as its a hugely busy week and I wanted to be sure to keep you informed in case you are in these parts next weekend and can attend the Studio Launch!<br />
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This lovely new glass cabinet has pride of place in the new studio...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEG3T9CCykBdXzEaHfoTb8_OrDU2P9BdBK4MJQhUJxjQC_OFYarVoMLPFo8whmRM2Bnpk03STNu5YTWgrLiWgfTKui9m6heqZUxmSlkgWsOP5yPXMo5MMN9sUktzdJD25_NJ7FvYKJs4M/s1600/seed+cab+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEG3T9CCykBdXzEaHfoTb8_OrDU2P9BdBK4MJQhUJxjQC_OFYarVoMLPFo8whmRM2Bnpk03STNu5YTWgrLiWgfTKui9m6heqZUxmSlkgWsOP5yPXMo5MMN9sUktzdJD25_NJ7FvYKJs4M/s640/seed+cab+2.jpg" width="438" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Recently<span style="background-color: transparent;"> </span>I was part of a Artist-in-residence program that brought 5 artists together to work with the Jump-start Program at Kelvin Grove Secondary College in Brisbane.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I wrote about it at the <a href="http://sophiemunns2010.blogspot.com.au/2013/10/whats-coming-up.html#.Uoaf96VEwUU" style="color: #641329; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Homage to the Seed</a> blog and he ought I'd post here something I wrote for the exhibition which started with the quoted above from Tom Waits from an interview with him in 2006.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">This project really prompted me to think very deeply about the children inheriting this planet now and the silence of too many adults around the state of the planet. It must leave them asking a lot of questions quietly to themselves late at night if not elsewhere in their lives.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">This is then what I wrote.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">ITS GETTING HOT AROUND HERE : The Seeds and Bio-diversity story. </span><br />
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Artist Statement from Sophie Munns </span><br />
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In the 21st Century no longer can we take for granted continuation of life for thousands of plant species... including some of the 30,000 known edible species and countless other highly useful species we rely on. In fact we don't even know what remarkable seeds might be lost to us given that scientists are still discovering species, particularly in fragile Rainforest eco-systems. Certain plants have long been commodified for use as fuels, glues, plastics, fibres, textiles, papers, rubber, building materials, medications (traditional to bio-molecular), beverages... and the list goes on. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Chocolate and coffee lovers around the planet are waking up to the rude fact that their favourite of tropical crops does not like it getting hotter. This has demanded swift response from plant science, farmers and a growing sector of coffee and chocolate companies to shift focus from quick-growth profit margins to the crucial step of increasing sustainability in the way coffee and cacao crops are grown, delivered to market, and understood by the public... all in the effort to ensure these potentially endangered species are maintained for the long term. This story is repeated over and over with many other species we like to put on our tables. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Seed viability, the capacity of seeds to produce new life, is indeed a concern not always understood. Artist Residencies undertaken by Sophie Munns in Seed Bank Labs and Botanic Gardens since 2010 have led to ongoing exchanges with plant scientists, with access to an expanding field of scientific knowledge revealing precisely how changes in climate go on to impact the capacity of plants to survive in particular locations that for hundreds, even thousands of years, saw plants prosper in those very same regions. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">All around the globe the up-scaling of research on complex impacts on plants and eco-systems is bringing out a plethora of profoundly significant material that rarely reaches a general public audience. Dispersing information to the broader public has become an increasingly important task for the Science community and all who recognise the difference quality education makes. This is without doubt a potent and invaluable role the Arts can play in aiding the communication of critical material to a wider audience. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Bringing ‘Seeds and Biodiversity’ to the <span style="font-weight: 700;">Jump Start project </span>the artist spent 4 sessions with a group of students examining key issues around Seeds and Biodiversity informed by current global research across Plant Science, Agriculture and related social, political and cultural issues. Students were given an overview of the role seeds have played across time, going back to the earliest known civilisations. We explored the cultural heritages of each individual in our group ... noting, wherever possible, links to family and ancestors from all over the globe and the unique relationship to plants and food growing they may have had or perhaps still have. We thought about how this shaped the cuisines and traditions we may have inherited or perhaps have some inkling of. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Also discussed was the extraordinary number of ways that humans work with seeds and plant material, use them for hobbies and leisure, or pursuits with artistic or cultural purpose. Crucially, we considered <span style="font-weight: 700;">why seeds need our protection right now in order to ensure our own well-being into the future. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">For inspiration the artist brought examples of her artwork, seed collections and items made from seed and plant material. Additionally we explored with work of two key artists ... Brisbane painter Robert McPherson’s series of bold graphic painted signage in large wall installations provided an ideal visual strategy and NY artist Keith Haring who rose to prominence in the 80’s for his strong grafitti style and extraordinary 'symbol + text' images. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The graphic work exhibited here may at first glance appear simple, even unsophisticated. Look further at the ideas and thoughts being expressed and a potent truth may be revealed. These year 7 students are emerging into a very different world than the one familiar to those currently in the driving seats of our communities, organisations and institutions. Thoughtful students can often see a different world to the one their elders see. They possess enthusiasm for wide-ranging questions given the opportunity, and its evident they may not think it’s smart leaving nature and the environment out of planning strategies and decision-making. A desire to discover more on the complex, often contradictory aspects of how our world is evolving is heightened wherever interest in ideas, research and sharing of thoughts is encouraged. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Given the young are inheriting a world slow to learn or act on changes already proven necessary its crucial they be able to explore and evaluate ideas and information. The case of Tobacco companies maintaining the fight to exist in the market-place despite conclusive medical science research and Govt public health campaigns demonstrate s clearly that where economics is concerned its up to each of us to question what the ads and headlines are telling us! <span style="color: #030303;">Education has never been more vital if we want young people to be informed in taking on the challenge of climate change and the increasing call for sustainable practices that are effective, pragmatic and life-preserving. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The capacity to think creatively, to bring both passion and critical thinking to the finding of new solutions is championed in this program which recognises our future is here... that the thinkers and creators of the future are here in this room tonight! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-weight: 700;">Bravo to all the students taking part in JumpstART! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Sophie Munns wishes to thank the excellent JumpstART team for this unique and highly stimulating opportunity to engage with these young thinkers and creators before us. Their insights and efforts to navigate the changing conditions of this planet demand our encouragement, sustained interest and respect as we all learn what it means to tread more carefully around this home we all share. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I've returned over the years many times to working with children of all ages for one reason or another. Teaching posts and substitute teaching for one, then there have been classes given due to requests from parents for quality lessons not so easy to come by these days.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Recently I had two very alert students come for a 4.5 hr intensive in the holidays .... drawing and thinking about plant science. This is the direction I intend to keep on with... small groups sessions with people of all ages, focused on seeds and biodiversity and ways to think and interpret this material visually.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">More on that soon. For now I am delighted to share a small image of my new glass cabinet for seed collections taking pride of place in the new studio.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Its a beauty! Even the colour I love.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">And a reminder that if in this part of the world you are welcome to come along to the launch next weekend... contact me if you need to find out more.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Busy times... back soon. Go well everyone!</span></div>
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Sophie Munnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02797068983613314554noreply@blogger.com0