wcw APRIL 2024
Our April issue includes a profile of Sarah Cartwright, the chief curator at The Ringling Museum. PLus our extensive arts coverage including Artist Series Concerts, Sarasota Art Museum, Arts Advocates, Key Chorale and the Sarasota Film Festival.
Our April issue includes a profile of Sarah Cartwright, the chief curator at The Ringling Museum. PLus our extensive arts coverage including Artist Series Concerts, Sarasota Art Museum, Arts Advocates, Key Chorale and the Sarasota Film Festival.
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just some<br />
thoughts<br />
Louise Bruderle<br />
Editor and Publisher<br />
West Coast Woman<br />
Sarah Cartwright<br />
Chief Curator at The Ringling<br />
Sarah Cartwright<br />
Courtesy photo<br />
In addition to being well-versed in her profession,<br />
Sarah, as I was delighted to discover, graduated<br />
from Pine View School and told me about how she<br />
spent part of her youth visiting The Ringling with<br />
her mother and also taking classes there while in<br />
school.<br />
Being an art history major, I have to remind myself<br />
to stay with the interview and not meander into<br />
talking about art. I mostly succeeded and, having<br />
an expert on The Ringling collection, I was able to<br />
learn a lot. For one, being a curator is a lot about<br />
doing research.<br />
Sarah told me of reading John Ringling’s letters - of which there are<br />
many - and exploring his quest for artwork for his home and later his<br />
museum. He was a serious collector, she explains, not a dilettante, and<br />
as they say these days, “he knew his stuff.” There’s a lot that goes into<br />
a curator’s job so I hope that you’ll enjoy reading about the work Sarah<br />
does at The Ringling.<br />
Microplastics<br />
Earth Day is Every Day<br />
Earth Day is on April 22. In Sarasota it seems like a concrete, asphalt<br />
and car covered stretch of Earth but there are many fine organizations<br />
working to preserve the environment, our history and way of life that we<br />
all enjoy.<br />
We have Suncoast Waterkeepers, the Sarasota Audubon Society,<br />
the EcoSummit and Green Living Expo, the Science and Environment<br />
Council, Southface Sarasota, Conservation Foundation of the Gulf<br />
Coast, Sarasota Bay Estuary Program, Friends of Myakka River, Sarasota<br />
Bay Watch, Save our Seabirds and the Tree Foundation and more.<br />
To single out one, Community Harvest SRQ (formerly Transition<br />
Sarasota) tackles the problem of food waste while helping to alleviate<br />
food insecurity. Volunteers harvest and rescue excess produce from<br />
area farms and distribute<br />
to those who could<br />
use that nutritious<br />
produce.<br />
Speaking of volunteers,<br />
April 21-27 is<br />
National Volunteer<br />
Week and all the above<br />
mentioned organizations<br />
depend on volunteers<br />
without whom<br />
they would not be able<br />
to do their work.<br />
This year Earth Day <strong>2024</strong> will focus on eliminating plastic usage “for<br />
the sake of human and planetary health.” There’s a goal to decrease<br />
plastic production by 60% by 2040 through shopping sustainably and<br />
participating in cleanups.<br />
In an article in the Time Picayune in New Orleans going back to 2018,<br />
they noted that chemicals found in plastic are now found in the Gulf of<br />
Mexico’s dolphins.<br />
“A recent study found 71 percent of bottlenose dolphins tested in<br />
Sarasota Bay in southwest Florida had evidence of phthalates, a chemical<br />
compound added to plastic and other products, including paints<br />
and cosmetics. Phthalates (pronounced ‘tha-lates’) have been linked to<br />
a host of health problems in humans, and likely cause similar issues in<br />
dolphins, according to the study published last month in GeoHealth, a<br />
journal of the American Geophysical Union.”<br />
“These chemicals can enter marine waters from urban runoff and<br />
agriculture or industrial emissions, but we also know that there is a<br />
lot of plastic pollution in the environment,” said Leslie Hart, a public<br />
health professor at the College of Charleston in South Carolina and the<br />
study’s lead author.<br />
Dolphins tested had elevated levels of a phthalate type commonly<br />
used in plastics, indicating the Gulf’s growing plastic pollution problem<br />
may be harming marine animals.<br />
A Louisiana State University study determined that the Gulf has one<br />
of the highest concentrations of plastic pollution in the world, putting<br />
it on par with the Black Sea and China’s heavily-industrialized Yangtze<br />
River. Much of the Gulf’s plastic is in the form of tiny bits and fibers.<br />
Some of these “microplastics” are produced when larger items, such as<br />
drink bottles and straws, break down.<br />
Minuscule plastic beads are also common ingredients in toothpastes,<br />
body washes and cosmetics. Millions of storm drains, sinks and<br />
washing machines flush these plastic bits though wastewater systems,<br />
eventually ending up in marine waters. Recycle, pick up trash, use less<br />
plastic - it’s doable and benefits mammals like dolphins and humans.<br />
Strongly Recommend this Exhibit<br />
The Lexow Gallery is hosting the Portrait Ukraine photography exhibition<br />
that will run to April 19. This exhibition presents a collection<br />
of photographs curated from three journeys to Ukraine undertaken<br />
by photojournalist Allan Mestel. The exhibition captures the faces of<br />
resistance amid the chaos of war.<br />
If Lexow Gallery doesn’t ring any bells, that’s because it is located<br />
within the Unitarian Universalist Church at 3975 Fruitville Road in<br />
Sarasota. Gallery Hours: Tuesday - Friday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday<br />
11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.<br />
Within weeks of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February<br />
2022, Allan Mestel embarked on a mission to document the harrowing<br />
realities faced by Ukrainians.<br />
Limited-edition prints of select images from the Portrait Ukraine<br />
collection will be available for purchase from Allan Mestel. Profits will<br />
be used to fund his next journey to Ukraine to continue the Portrait<br />
Ukraine project.<br />
Mestel is a photojournalist, photographer, and filmmaker based in<br />
Southwest Florida who moved here in 2014, Learn more about Allan<br />
Mestel at www.allanmestel.com.<br />
Another West Coast<br />
Woman in the News<br />
Barbara Ford-Coates has filed to run for<br />
re-election this November. Barbara was<br />
first elected as Tax Collector in 1984 and<br />
has been re-elected nine times. I had the<br />
pleasure of meeting Barbara and profiling<br />
her in WCW back in the ‘90s.<br />
The Sarasota County Tax Collector’s Office<br />
is responsible for collecting property,<br />
business and tourist taxes, issuing drivers’<br />
licenses and vehicle registrations, hunting<br />
and fishing licenses, as well as other state<br />
and local services. Barbara has a staff of<br />
100 and a budget of $10+million and according<br />
to her press release, “Ford-Coates<br />
maintains the lowest cost per capita of all<br />
Tax Collectors in Florida.”<br />
As a resident, I also encountered her team over the years and while I<br />
can’t say paying taxes is fun, when I had to call with a question or visit<br />
in person, her staff were all trained to act courteously as well as efficiently.<br />
I kidded her that she made paying taxes almost fun.<br />
Barbara Ford-Coates<br />
Louise Bruderle | Editor and Publisher |<br />
westcoastwoman@comcast.net<br />
We welcome your thoughts and comments on this column and on other columns and features in this issue.<br />
You can reach us at westcoastwoman@comcast.net. We’re on the web at www.WestCoastWoman.com.<br />
4 WEST COAST WOMAN <strong>APRIL</strong> <strong>2024</strong>