pollinators: our bees, ourselves /  by kelly heaton

Excellent article in the New York Times: http://nyti.ms/1zDc7Vw

Image: Katie Scott.  Article: Mark Winston.  Source: New York Times

God Will Save Me

A terrible storm came into a town and local officials sent out an emergency warning that the riverbanks would soon overflow and flood the nearby homes. They ordered everyone in the town to evacuate immediately.

A faithful Christian man heard the warning and decided to stay, saying to himself, “I will trust God and if I am in danger, then God will send a divine miracle to save me.”

The neighbors came by his house and said to him, “We’re leaving and there is room for you in our car, please come with us!” But the man declined. “I have faith that God will save me.”

As the man stood on his porch watching the water rise up the steps, a man in a canoe paddled by and called to him, “Hurry and come into my canoe, the waters are rising quickly!” But the man again said, “No thanks, God will save me.”

The floodwaters rose higher pouring water into his living room and the man had to retreat to the second floor. A police motorboat came by and saw him at the window. “We will come up and rescue you!” they shouted. But the man refused, waving them off saying, “Use your time to save someone else! I have faith that God will save me!”

The flood waters rose higher and higher and the man had to climb up to his rooftop.

A helicopter spotted him and dropped a rope ladder. A rescue officer came down the ladder and pleaded with the man, "Grab my hand and I will pull you up!" But the man STILL refused, folding his arms tightly to his body. “No thank you! God will save me!”

Shortly after, the house broke up and the floodwaters swept the man away and he drowned.

When in Heaven, the man stood before God and asked, “I put all of my faith in You. Why didn’t You come and save me?”

And God said, “Son, I sent you a warning. I sent you a car. I sent you a canoe. I sent you a motorboat. I sent you a helicopter. What more were you looking for?"

open studio: fake food for pollinators /  by kelly heaton

Media: fabric, cloth, wire and paint.  Work in progress, Kelly Heaton, 2014

pollinators: 1st look into my new hives /  by kelly heaton

Beehive 1 of 2, started from a nuc of locally raised bees in Spring of 2014. Video was shot in early June 2014 (through the smaller, rear entrance).

The Queen of hive 2 of 2

Various images of frames in my new hives, both 1 and 2.  Beautiful!

inspiration: arthur young /  by kelly heaton

A 56-minute documentary about the life and work of Arthur Young. Contains rare early helicopter footage, interviews with Young and his associates, an illustrated narrative introduction to the Theory of Process and much wit and wisdom. Producer/director: Arthur Bloch Associate producer/camera: Michael Shedlin

wild card: the great stalacpipe organ /  by kelly heaton

This is the first ever composition for The Great Stalacpipe Organ, the largest musical instrument in the world, located deep in the caverns of Luray, Virginia. The Organ consists of hand-tuned ancient stalactites of varying sizes that are hit with solenoid-actuated rubber mallets. The mallets are controlled by a custom made pipe organ console.

Leland W. Sprinkle designed and implemented the organ during a 3-year period around 1956.  
From Wikipedia: 

"Two accounts of Sprinkle's conception of the instrument are known. From the discovery of Luray Caverns in 1878 onward, the favorable attributes of the formations for creating musical tones were well known. One of the earliest references to performances of lithophone music in Luray Caverns comes from the tour led by co-discoverer Andrew Campbell for a group sent by the Smithsonian Institution in 1880. According to a summary of the report incorporated into the earliest printed guides to Luray Caverns, Campbell surprised the group by playing a tune on a formation, probably the one that came to be known as the Organ. By the early 20th century, performances of folk tunes, hymns, and other well-known pieces were a regular part of guided tours. According to the modern guided tour, Sprinkle is said to have conceived the idea for the Great Stalacpipe Organ during one of these performances when he toured Luray Caverns on his son's birthday in 1954.

A variation of the story of the instrument's conception is that Sprinkle's son Robert hit his head on a stalactite, producing a tone that inspired Sprinkle to invent the instrument. This account is the one published in a Meccano Magazine article from 1961 and in an article in the 1959 Rosicrucian Digest."

open studio: wedding tree /  by kelly heaton

Pastel drawing and watercolor painting of the old pear tree, beneath which I married Samuel David Burns in 2010.  Kelly Heaton, work-in-progress (2013 - 2014)