http://www.calacademy.org/medialibrary/blogs/thelongview The Long View Project Thu, 22 Oct 2009 00:21:51 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en If yesterday's flag was battered, today's is positively tattered. This wind-ravaged field marker is marvelously soft and delicate to the touch, a featherweight ghost of its former self. Much thanks to my friend Sharona Thompson, connoiseur of the worn and weathered, for this unique find from the windiest continent on ... http://www.calacademy.org/medialibrary/blogs/thelongview/2009/10/antarctic-item-046/ Antarctica has no official flag since it’s not a nation nor ruled by any single government. But if there were to be a flag, I'd nominate this ‘ready-made’ for a few reasons: Field marker flags such as this abound on the Ice and practically represent the continent already. Design-wise, the ... http://www.calacademy.org/medialibrary/blogs/thelongview/2009/10/antarctic-item-064/ This week I'll be featuring discarded flag fabric from Antarctica. Flags are ubiquitous on the Ice where a typical day offers encounters with any number of safety flags, warning flags, field flags, trail flags, military flags, and of course national flags including Old Glory itself. The flag above was retired from ... http://www.calacademy.org/medialibrary/blogs/thelongview/2009/10/antarctic-item-052/ This diptych pays homage to Antarctic explorer Sir Tannatt William Edgeworth David, director of scientific staff on Shackleton's 1907-09 Nimrod Expedition. On that voyage, David led the first parties ever to reach the South Magnetic Pole and the summit of Mt. Erebus, the world's southernmost active volcano. He was also ... http://www.calacademy.org/medialibrary/blogs/thelongview/2009/10/long-view-study-no-6-7/ Back in March I posted a sketchbook page of imagined Antarctic life forms. Here's a new generation of undiscovered microorganisms with added whimsy. They remind me of the inadvertently comical Myxosporea I found in an otherwise serious Crary Library book here, fourth image down. This study was created in graphite and ... http://www.calacademy.org/medialibrary/blogs/thelongview/2009/10/long-view-study-5/ It's been a gratifying month in the studio as many of the Long View Project's one hundred 12" square artworks began to materialize. A first step in the process is preparing the base panels. Above, Lili Ong applies gesso to the panels' fronts and sides to create white acid-free surfaces for ... http://www.calacademy.org/medialibrary/blogs/thelongview/2009/09/work-in-progress/ As promised, more artwork about stacks of stuff. This one imagines the stuff and activity in Shackleton's Cape Royds hut as they worked the letterpress. The press itself was removed from the premises long ago and was said to be returned to England. Whether it was kept as an historic ... http://www.calacademy.org/medialibrary/blogs/thelongview/2009/08/lv-sketchbook-page-031/ The 1988 Madrid Protocol, as I mentioned yesterday, calls for all Antarctic Treaty countries to remove their old trash as well as their newly generated waste from the continent. Twenty years on, cleaning up the old stuff remains the taller order because of irreversible early waste management practices. One such ... http://www.calacademy.org/medialibrary/blogs/thelongview/2009/08/lv-sketchbook-page-025/ These two compositions allude to a time when open burning of garbage was common in Antarctica. The practice lasted well into the 1980s alongside proliferating dumps, sea-bound sewage, contaminant fuel and lubricant spills, and casual littering (providing for most of the found items showcased on this site). 1988, however, marked ... http://www.calacademy.org/medialibrary/blogs/thelongview/2009/08/long-view-studies-3-4/ The Long View blog returns next week from summer vacation. In the meanwhile, Antarctica is never far from mind. We sighted a penguin today on our road trip, a fascinating species we dubbed Legonicus legoliae. An entertaining variety, but not nearly as active as the CalAcademy's African Penguins. http://www.calacademy.org/medialibrary/blogs/thelongview/2009/08/long-view-on-vacation/