2018 December Colony Magazine

Your Hometown Magazine - Atascadero, Santa Margarita, Creston Your Hometown Magazine - Atascadero, Santa Margarita, Creston

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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

Sun-Thu: 4-9p / Fri-Sat: 4-11p Inside the Historic Carlton Hotel Join us for our Holiday Parties! Christmas Eve & Christimas Day Special Christmas Offerings New Year’s Eve Reserve a Setting for Two • Live Music & Festivities during Holidays See: nauticalcowboy.com for special menus from your 805-461-5100 nauticalcowboy.com 6005 El Camino Real, Atascadero Now Taking Reservations Take Out: Call to Order Email: nauticalcowboy@the-carlton.com December 2018, COLONY Magazine colonymagazine.com | 11

Sun-Thu: 4-9p / Fri-Sat: 4-11p<br />

Inside the Historic Carlton Hotel<br />

Join us for our<br />

Holiday Parties!<br />

Christmas Eve & Christimas Day<br />

Special Christmas Offerings<br />

New Year’s Eve<br />

Reserve a Setting for Two<br />

• Live Music & Festivities during Holidays<br />

See: nauticalcowboy.com for special menus<br />

from your<br />

805-461-5100 nauticalcowboy.com<br />

6005 El Camino Real, Atascadero<br />

Now Taking Reservations<br />

Take Out: Call to Order<br />

Email: nauticalcowboy@the-carlton.com<br />

<strong>December</strong> <strong>2018</strong>, COLONY <strong>Magazine</strong> colonymagazine.com | 11

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