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"At high tide in a Great Barrier Reef lagoon, Black-back Butterflyfish, Orange-spine Unicorn Fish, Lined Surgeonfish, Lined Fangblenny, Neon Damsel and Royal Damsel explore for food around a brain coral, scalped by its exposure at low tide. Humbug Dascyllus and Golden Damsel venture out from their refuge, while Long-finned Cod and Five-line Cardinalfish peer up from below. Around this brain coral the more vulnerable staghorn coral has died, unable to cope with rising water temperatures due to global warming. This is becoming a more frequent sight in coral lagoons as the frequency of damage increases and the ability to recover diminishes."
"At high tide in a Great Barrier Reef lagoon, Black-back Butterflyfish, Orange-spine Unicorn Fish, Lined Surgeonfish, Lined Fangblenny, Neon Damsel and Royal Damsel explore for food around a brain coral, scalped by its exposure at low tide. Humbug Dascyllus and Golden Damsel venture out from their refuge, while Long-finned Cod and Five-line Cardinalfish peer up from below. Around this brain coral the more vulnerable staghorn coral has died, unable to cope with rising water temperatures due to global warming. This is becoming a more frequent sight in coral lagoons as the frequency of damage increases and the ability to recover diminishes."
http://dailanpugh.com/
Artist's statement:
"Being raised in an artistic household in the bush created the strong nexus between art, natural environments and conservation that has directed me down life's path.
My style is directed by the medium I am using and the environment I am depicting, while being limited by my desire to reasonably depict reality. I principally use design, natural patterns and perspective to compose my works. My explorations with oils are relatively new and I am still developing both my skills and style. I wait to see where the environment will lead me next.
Most recently my efforts to conserve and understand marine environments have led me into a return to artwork to promote their conservation. At the same time I am using the marine environment to develop my oil painting style. This time I am resisting the temptation to be totally diverted by research and activism and instead I am focusing on developing my oil painting.
Thinking Coral is taken from the series Coral Gardens.
A series of oil-paintings celebrating tropical coral reefs (most notably the Great Barrier Reef) and highlighting the biological patterns which form them.
The Great Barrier Reef is one of the world's natural wonders and an outstanding component of the world's natural heritage. A visit to its coral gardens, with their multitude of weird and wonderful inhabitants, is an inspirational experience.
Brightly coloured and intricately patterned fish hover tantalisingly just out of reach. Vast schools envelop you as they pass by. Occasionally a patrolling shark may get the heart racing until you recognise that it is one of the harmless ones. You may also be awed as one of the giants, such as a Manta Ray, idly glides past.
It is an indictment of our generation that soon my paintings may be all that is left to evoke memories of what the Great Barrier Reef used to be like.
Coral reefs are now under dire threat. There have been five occasions in the earth's history where the environment has gone berserk resulting in mass extinction events, with the last one causing the extinction of dinosaurs some 65 million years ago. Around that time atmospheric levels of CO2 reached extreme levels, the oceans acidified, sea-levels fluctuated widely and cyclonic storms became rampant. Most corals disappeared.
We are now initiating the sixth great mass extinction, a process that will soon become irreversible if we continue on our present course. While some say it is already too late, other say we have less than a decade to change our ways and avert the worst.
The Great Barrier Reef is formed by corals which have a symbiotic relationship with algae. The algae convert sunlight into food. Though when water temperatures get too high the algae produce toxic amounts of oxygen are so are expelled by the corals which then start to die. When the waters cool again some corals can take back the algae and slowly recover. If it happens too frequently or lasts too long even the hardy corals die. In 1998, on the Great Barrier Reef, two thirds of the inshore reefs and 14% of offshore reefs suffered moderate to high levels of coral bleaching. Such events are becoming more frequent, and will become annual events by 2030 on current trends.
Though it is not just global warming that is a threat to our oceans. They are absorbing around half of our carbon emissions and this is making them more acidic. The consequence of this is that it becomes
harder for many species to extract calcium carbonate from seawater to make their skeletons.
In the southern oceans phytoplankton are already being affected, which in turn affects the krill which feed upon them, and the whales that feed upon them. Since 1990 the growth rate of corals on the Great Barrier Reef has been reduced by 14%. By the middle of this century it will become impossible for many marine organisms to make their skeletons or shells, and thereafter they, along with what's left of the Great Barrier Reef, will begin to dissolve.
We are rapidly running out of time to change our ways if we want to give the Great Barrier Reef a future."
Brief Biography Dailan Pugh OAM
Born in 1955 to parents Clifton Pugh and Marlene Harvey. Raised in an artistic household in bushland near Melbourne. Playing in the bush and raising orphaned native animals developed a deep love and appreciation of the Australian environment. This was broadened by extensive travels around Australia and beach holidays.
Early 1970's pursued a pottery apprenticeship and pen and ink drawings of ground orchids.
Mid 1970's worked making mud bricks and as builders labourer. Wrote and illustrated book 'Mudbricks, Making and Laying'.
Late 1970s Moved to northern NSW. Bought and ran the Cawongla General Store for 2 years, co-founder of Fundamental Foods in Lismore. Did pen and ink rainforest drawings and became involved in rainforest conservation, being arrested for hindering passage of a bulldozer at Terania Creek in 1979.
Early 1980s Resumed building work. Rainforest drawings were used for posters, pamphlets, T-shirts and books in rainforest campaigns within Australia and, through the Rainforest Information Centre, around the world. Co-authored and illustrated book 'A Guide to Rainforests of Far North East NSW', contributed drawings to 'A Year of Orchids'.
Mid 1980sSold drawings through local galleries and prepared visitor interpretive materials (signs, pamphlets) for national parks. Wrote chapter for, and illustrated, 'Discovering New South Wales Rainforests', and illustrated 'Thinking Like a Mountain'. Wrote and illustrated kids activity books; 'Forests', 'Deserts and Woodlands', 'Wetlands and Heaths', and 'Getting to Know Botanical Gardens'. Expanded to gouache painting.
Late 1980s Became increasingly involved in forest conservation, preparing various national park proposals and co-ordinating legal proceedings to protect a key area of old-growth forest. Co-founder of the North East Forest Alliance in 1989.
1990s Primarily dedicated to forest conservation, Involved in site assessments, research, submissions, networking, blockades, public relations, lobbying, and legal proceedings. Represented conservation interests on numerous state and federal Government committees. This ultimately resulted in a doubling of the reserve system in north-east NSW. Early 1990s illustrated 'An Interim Guide to Identification of Insectivorous Bats of South-eastern Australia' and the kid's book 'Secrets of the Rainforest'.
Early 2000s
Involved in native vegetation reforms, marine protection and range of conservation issues around Byron Bay. Awarded the Peter Rawlinson Conservation Award by the Australian Conservation Foundation in 2001, for outstanding contributions to environmental conservation. Awarded an Order of Australia in 2003 for services to forest conservation. Frog Philoria pughii named in 2004 in recognition of conservation efforts. Began refocusing on artwork, starting with pastel life drawings, then gouache landscapes from extensive travels around Australia.
Mid 2000s
pursued full time oil painting, focusing on the marine environment. First exhibition of oil paintings "Through the Looking Glass", Escape Gallery, Murwillumbah, 2008.
Currently
Exhibition 'Marine Wonderland' at Lismore Regional Gallery, opened by Minister for Arts and Environment, Peter Garrett on 8 July 2009, continues until 5th September.
Prizes
Byron Underwater Festival 2007 Marine Visions Art Competition - won the Creative Flair Award, Tweed Naturally 2007 - second place, Byron Underwater Festival 2008 Marine Visions Art Competition - won the Environment Awareness Award.
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