2018 December Colony Magazine

ROUND TOWN
ärt/
Both Sides of the Pond
By Marie Ramey
Since the beginning, Mother Earth has offered her beauty and bounty for all. We are not always good stewards of Earth.
This is an issue shared across our globe. Climate change, pollution, careless industry practices, and more pose a serious
threat to Earth’s water supplies, ecosystems, and oceans.
ärt/ in Atascadero is proud to present Both Sides of the Big Pond: Sharing Common Ground, an exhibit joining together
the vision of two photographers who live an ocean apart. Marty Cullen from Dugannon, Northern Ireland, in County Tyrone
and Michael V. Messina from Atascadero. Each photographer has responded to his own vision to express Earth’s irreplaceable
beauty with the knowledge that as nature’s balance is destroyed, nothing will ever be the same.
DON’T LOOK BACK IN ANGER, BY MARTY CULLEN
Marty Cullen is a fine art photographer,
artist, and sculptor who is a
graduate of law and political philosophy
from Ruskin College, Oxford and
the University of Warwick.
The Sperrin Mountains, Ireland’s
largest mountain range encompasses
a quarter of the landmass of Northern
Ireland. “The People in this rural area
of the Sperrins have a long history of
struggle and a determination not often
found in the towns and cities.” With
his love of the Sperrins and his personal
involvement with people native
MARTY CULLEN
to the land who have formed a grassroots opposition against proposals
currently underway to intensively mine for gold in this sacred place, Marty
brings to us their struggle to maintain their way of life which will disappear
as hundreds of tons of ore waste, along with the chemicals such as
cadmium, mercury, arsenic, zinc, and sodium cyanide are generated in the
process of gold mining destroying this mystical place.
Marty’s photography for Both Sides of the Pond depicts his visual concept
constructed around isolation and loss. His imagery is produced in
monotones and slight hints of duotone and influenced by eastern and
northern European photo realists. The mountains are laid bare for the
viewer to see that the story of the Sperrins is also a shared story of America…loss
of our natural heritage through the destructive footprint of humanity.
Marty will join us through photographs and a video presentation.
FLIGHT OF THE PELICAN, BY MICHAEL MESSINA
Michael V. Messina is an educator
and fine art portrait, wedding, and
travel photographer. He studied
photography at the San Francisco
Academy of Art where he developed
a painterly style that captures
a range of creative themes inspired
by the Renaissance, Baroque, and
Pre-Raphaelite masters.
Traveling by kayak, Michael found
himself not only drawn to the beauty
of the Morro Bay Estuary, but ongoing
concern for the vitality of this
critical wildlife transition from land
MICHAEL V. MESSINA
to sea. This nursery of the sea protects thousands of species that include
migratory birds, mammals, fish, and other wildlife that spend some period
of their developmental lifecycle in the estuary. Human threats to
the native estuary include fertilizers, pet waste, untreated human sewage
from failing septic tanks, industrial discharges, storm water runoff, and
sediment from construction sites.
Michael’s vision began to take place when exploring the estuary by
kayak photographing vegetation, mammals, and migratory birds. In
early morning treks, he began to sense the spirit of the Chumash people
who are an integral part of the estuary and its history as a sacred place.
The estuary and the Chumash Spirit are one. He has woven organic
and textured images captured from an eye-level perspective as seen from
his kayak.
Exhibit to be held at ärt/ — 5806 Traffic Way, Atascadero, CA — runs through January 26, 2019
Because of organizations such as the Morro Bay National Estuary Program, the estuary maintains its vitality. Natural habitats are repaired and
the health of the estuary is continually monitored. Visitors and residents are educated about the critical balance of nature’s nursery. Marty
and Michael would like us to know that the balance of Nature as we know it is within our grasp if we feel the heartbeat of Mother Earth.
10 | colonymagazine.com COLONY Magazine, December 2018