Out of the Sea!

September 17, 2024 Kelly Jadon

Sea Turtle Head—In Progress, Fiber, Plastic, Metal; KJadon, 2024

Sometimes I think about art as something more than a wall hanging just to glance at, or to complement a room. I think that art should have meaning or purpose.

Past generations dealt with illiteracy and used paintings and sculptures to tell the story. Understanding what the art was saying was important. The art needed to be “read” or studied carefully. Color, shading, symbolism, and the expression on faces helped make the message known.

For example, the Statue of Liberty, just off the coast of New York City, rises up out of the sea, to speak to generations of Americans. She tells us a great deal about what our country values. For those who emigrated through New York, it stood for freedom, colossal freedom. Liberty’s sculptor, Bartholdi, studied colossal sculpture with size in mind. A Frenchman, Bartholdi formed the idea of a massive sculpture to be gifted to the United States by France, signifying their mutual friendship and recognizing the American centennial in 1886.

Years ago, we could climb up the twisting staircase inside Liberty, to peer out of her crown toward Europe. That diadem has seven rays, symbolizing the seven continents and the seven seas of earth to which the light of freedom extends. The sculpture holds a tablet, inscribed July 4, 1776, in Roman numerals. At her foot, a broken shackle and chains, remembering also the end of slavery.

Lifted high, a torch is held up by Liberty, for all to observe.

Art speaks. It brings to the eyes, the intangible, the unseen, making it tangible, understandable.

Recently, I began a new type of project, featuring fiber art (cloth, thread, yarn, etc..) to create a replication of the endangered Florida coral reef system. You can follow its progress on Instagram. Once again, my medium is 99% recyclable and repurposed. Trying a new technique, I made large sequins from plastic Pellegrino bottles for the sea turtle’s body!

Take a look at my work. What am I saying?

Go Big or Go Home! Larger Art Pieces are Here!

July 19, 2024 Kelly Jadon

Greater Seahorse 3, KJadon 2024; Glass & Resin, 15 x 22; Now Available

Seahorses are like people, some tall, and some short! The largest of the creatures is the Big-Bellied Seahorse, not a very romantic name, but it does give you a good visual. The Big-Bellies can grow more than one foot long! They inhabit shallow waters of Southern Australia and New Zealand.

Greater Seahorse 2, KJadon, 2024; Glass & Resin, Sold

Rather fascinatingly, the Big-Bellies can take their long tails and wind them in or wind them out, anchoring themselves to seagrass or even to other seahorses. Mating for life, a pair of Big-Bellies will hang out together for about six years down under.

Greater Seahorse 1, KJadon, 2024; Glass & Resin; Available at Do Over Decor, Jensen Beach, FL

When mating, the female will push her belly against the male’s brood pouch, at the base of his tail. She will inject 300-500 eggs through an egg duct. The brood pouch becomes a placenta, sustaining the foals with nutrients. Like all seahorses, the male carries the eggs until they are ready to swim on their own.

These larger art pieces are created upon reclaimed glass shelving. This type of glass is thick and durable and able to hold the glass and resin that I layer atop.

Other pieces of glass are remnants from bottles, vases, fancy dishes, stemware and plates. I use these types of glass because they have shape, curves, texture and sometimes prints that are unusual. I especially like to place them as the crowns on the seahorses’ heads. Some small shards are leftovers from other artists’ stained glasswork. Approximately 99% of my art is eco-art, utilizing repurposed and recycled glass. It arrives from friends, thrift shops and a garage sale or two!

See my Stone, Shell and Jewelry Art! Paintings Smaller Glass Pieces

Artwork Available Locally at Do Over Decor and Sand & Sea Boutique

The Law and the Seahorse

April 12, 2024 Kelly Jadon

Panoramic View of Biscayne Bay, Wikipedia, CC Lic.

Last week I spoke to a visitor to Jensen Beach. He and his wife were in Martin County looking for an affordable home on the water. They wanted to get out of Miami. At the time, we were in the Sand & Sea Boutique on the Indian River. I spoke up when I saw him looking at my seahorse creations.

A well-spoken man, he told me about his former profession—a shrimper in Biscayne Bay during the 1980s. As he netted shrimp, he’d also netted seahorses, pulling them up from their anchors in tropical waters. The shrimper said that if he’d thrown the seahorses back, they wouldn’t have survived, so he’d donated many of them to a local city aquarium.

The seahorses, he stated, were every color of the rainbow.

Biscayne Bay is a subtropical lagoon, a shallow with meadows of seagrass and corals, to the east of Miami. The north end of the bay is home to downtown Miami. The southern portion of the lagoon is a part of Biscayne National Park and is pretty much undeveloped. It’s about 35 miles long, heading south into the upper Florida Keys.

Three types of seahorses inhabit Biscayne Bay.

Seahorses caught in fishing nets dragged on the bottom of the lagoon, are known as “bycatch.” Trawl fishing is a danger to the creatures.

In 2018, Emilie Stump, a Project Seahorse artist and writer, wrote about the continued live-bait shrimping in Biscayne Bay. According to a 1997 University of Miami report, the trawls cause “substantial damage to potential seahorse holdfasts.” Seahorses use their lengthy tails to anchor themselves to these corals at the lagoon bottom. Dr. Joe Serafy published a survey in 1997 revealing that “roller-frame trawls are also known to catch at least eight species of seahorse or pipefish in Biscayne National Park as bycatch.” In addition, Dr. Julia Baum published research, estimating “72,000 lined seahorses per year” are bycatch from 31 trawlers off Hernando Beach, in the Gulf of Mexico.

It is important to recognize the dangers of trawling to seahorses because these creatures are the health marker of our coastal seas. If they are protected, our Florida waters will survive and thrive.

How do coastal waters retain their naturalness when more than 22 million and a half people live on its periphery?

President Lyndon B. Johnson signed a law to create Biscayne National Monument in 1968. It was expanded in 1974, and again in 1980 when Congress created Biscayne National Park in 1980.

Yet the bait shrimp trawling was continued to be permitted in Biscayne Bay. Why?

In 1974, the Florida Legislature created the Biscayne Bay Aquatic Preserve. In 1975, it created the Biscayne Bay-Cape Florida to Monroe County Line Aquatic Preserve.

The waters directly around the State of Florida belong to Florida, therefore, the responsibility of maintaining them, belongs to the State. Who is the State of Florida? Florida residents are. It is the responsibility of Florida residents to make sure that their coastal waters survive. Leaders are elected and put in place to accomplish these things.

The current Director of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Division of Marine Fisheries Management is Jessica R. McCawley.

Shrimp trawling around the coastal waters of Florida continues to be permitted. Why?

Laws were necessary in the past to preserve large areas of coastal waters. Laws must be made and updated to protect coastal areas around Florida where seahorses live. They are the flagship of our waters’ health. As seahorses are protected, coastal seas will be preserved for future generations.

Dwarf Seahorse, KJadon, 2024, Available At Sand & Sea Boutique, Jensen Beach, FL

The Florida Seahorses

March 19, 2024 Kelly Jadon

Lined Seahorse Blue Heron Bridge, FL 6/19/11 Spectacular seahorse. Looked dull brown before lit up with the strobes. He was hauling ass (if a seahorse can) across the bottom. By Matt Sullivan from Boston, MA, USA, Wikipedia, CC Lic.

Several years ago, my husband and I were out on Hutchinson Island on the dock across the street from the House of Refuge. A man was there netting fish. On this occasion, he’d also caught a seahorse! There are in fact, three different types of seahorses native to Floridian waters.

I’ve recently read Seahorses: A Life-Size Guide to Every Species by Sara Lourie. The author has a Ph.D. in the science of seahorses and has made their study and preservation her life’s work. Fascinating!

Dwarf Seahorse by Will Thomas, Wikipedia, CC. Lic.

In the world, there are approximately 50 various types of seahorse. The tiniest may be the size of a bean!

Often, their colors blend with their environment for protection. Their camouflage normally includes mottling, spots, and stripes. They have crowns, little frills, and points like spikes. The creatures swim slowly in an upright position, and are usually found in coastal waters anchored by their tails to seagrass, mangroves, coral, etc.. Their long snouts are used to suction in tiny invertebrates.

During courtship, they are seen waltzing.

The male seahorse will carry fertilized eggs and then give birth to them. How many? Some seahorses birth thousands!

Aqua Jeweled Seahorse, Kelly Jadon 2024, Available at Sand & Sea 3/21/24

Currently, I’m creating a series of seahorses. They can be viewed or purchased at the Sand & Sea Boutique in Jensen Beach, Florida.

This Dwarf Seahorse is found around the Florida Keys!

Dwarf Seahorse, Layered Stained Glass, Resin Finish Kelly Jadon, 2024

Do Dolphins Blush?

February 21, 2024 Kelly Jadon

“Pinky 2” Glass and Resin, Kelly Jadon, 2024

In the Gulf of Mexico, along the coast of Louisiana, a pink dolphin or two skim waves, bottlenosing into the depths again. One in particular is known as “Pinky.” Some scientists believe that she has a genetic mutation causing her pinkish hue. Other biologists think she may be an albino dolphin. She, however, is a delight to those who catch a glimpse of her.

Pinky lives in a pod of normal grayish colored bottlenose dolphins. Recently, she was seen with her own little pinky calf.

Artists love color. My dolphin projects are specifically chosen to highlight the need to protect these water mammals, especially those which garner public attention.

“Dolphins” Glass and Resin, Kelly Jadon, 2023

The Sarasota Dolphin Research Program explains that as the waters of the Gulf of Mexico increase in temperature, it is not uncommon to notice in summer months, that dolphins will have a pinkish color, known as “blushing” on their underbelly. Beings mammals, they too get hot and need a way to release excess heat. Humans can sweat. Because the creatures live under water, they cannot perspire. Their excess heat is given off by sending it to the outer perimeter of their bodies where it comes into contact with the cooler water. This creates the “blush” on the bellies of dolphins.

Rose-hued dolphins can be seen off the coasts of Louisiana, Florida and Texas.

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Where it all begins...

February 5, 2024 Kelly Jadon

Pinky Two, Kelly Jadon, Glass and Resin, 2024

Where do I get these strange ideas—breaking up glass to make something new? I really don’t know. I just look at a piece of glassware—a teacup, a vase, a plate—and I think, “Could I do something with this?”

“Will the color work for a seahorse, a dolphin, or waves?”

I recently completed this piece, “Pinky Too,” a second repurposed dolphin glass sculpture. The dolphins are dimensional mosaics made of tiny pieces. The waves are a recycled vase or two with crushed glass applied to the tips. The dolphins are positioned, as jumping out of a long conical vase that’s been turned on its side. Little circular glass pieces adorn the entire piece, as if they are water bubbles.

Beneath the glass bricks is the base—a former glass picture frame.

I take cutters and break the glass into the shapes I need. For Christmas, I received a special pair of gloves to protect my hands while completing this task. Who’d have thought there was such a thing? :)

At times, I need very tiny pieces of glass. My cuttings are saved for this very purpose. Some of it is so small, it looks like its sand.

January 6, 2024 Kelly Jadon

You can now find pieces of my artwork, those related to beautiful South Florida's beach and waves at Sand & Sea, a handmade boutique where Jensen Beach deadends at the Indian River in downtown Jensen. Come by and see the store! Let me know what you think.

Thanks!

Kelly Jadon