What is Tracking Art--short version
Animal tracking art--wildlife tracking art--is deep-time art of the human/animal interface as seen through the eyes of animal trackers and wild life artists and others who are inspired by wildlife and the signs of passage they leave. Although the arts have always been central to tracking--especially story telling and dance--- there has never been a gallery show focused on the visual art as seen through the eyes of trackers. Signs of Passage aspires to exhibit a juried collection of these images as expressed in painting, drawing, photography, fabric art, sculpture and possibly other media.
Animal tracking art--wildlife tracking art--is deep-time art of the human/animal interface as seen through the eyes of animal trackers and wild life artists and others who are inspired by wildlife and the signs of passage they leave. Although the arts have always been central to tracking--especially story telling and dance--- there has never been a gallery show focused on the visual art as seen through the eyes of trackers. Signs of Passage aspires to exhibit a juried collection of these images as expressed in painting, drawing, photography, fabric art, sculpture and possibly other media.
Jim Sullivan Biography
Jim Sullivan is a 4th generation Sonoma County native who lives near Occidental, California. A long time environmental activist, he also wrote a popular column for the Bodega Bay Navigator for 8 years. He is perhaps best know for having led the campaign to open California State beaches for night access, and for serving as the first president of both the Rural Alliance and of the Sonoma county Farmlands Group, and for his involvement in a number of contentious land use issues. He also served on the boards of over a dozen other non-profits, from the Sonoma Land Trust and C.O.A.A.S.T. to Native Species Network.
A graduate of Notre Dame in biology, he also studied in Vienna, Austria, and did graduate work at UCSB and still takes --and teaches--classes and workshops at the Santa Rosa Junior College and elsewhere. He served 4 years in the infantry, including an extended tour in Korea with the United Nations occupation forces, where in 1962 he resigned his commission in protest over US policies in Asia. Upon return to the States, he lived in Santa Barbara, but by the mid-60s found himself in the Haight Ashbury, where he became involved in the civil rights and anti-war movements. During that time he also was instrumental in launching the natural foods movement, got married, moved to Marin county and raised 4 kids.
Returning to Sonoma county with the back to the land movement in 1976, he settled on Joy Ridge, near Bodega, where his ancestors settled in the early 1870s. After a career as a landscape designer/contractor, he retired in the early 90s and has been painting almost daily since.
In May, 2010, Jim was first qualified by Mark Elbroch as one of about 600 internationally certified animal trackers. Currently he is teaching two monthly tracking/bird language classes a month, as well as bi-monthly workshops, occasional lectures, and participating in wildlife surveys.
Notable Art Awards:
2000 Second Place: American Impressionists Society annual show in Cincinnati, Ohio.
2003 Best of Show: Bodega Bay Fisherman's Festival.
Jim Sullivan is a 4th generation Sonoma County native who lives near Occidental, California. A long time environmental activist, he also wrote a popular column for the Bodega Bay Navigator for 8 years. He is perhaps best know for having led the campaign to open California State beaches for night access, and for serving as the first president of both the Rural Alliance and of the Sonoma county Farmlands Group, and for his involvement in a number of contentious land use issues. He also served on the boards of over a dozen other non-profits, from the Sonoma Land Trust and C.O.A.A.S.T. to Native Species Network.
A graduate of Notre Dame in biology, he also studied in Vienna, Austria, and did graduate work at UCSB and still takes --and teaches--classes and workshops at the Santa Rosa Junior College and elsewhere. He served 4 years in the infantry, including an extended tour in Korea with the United Nations occupation forces, where in 1962 he resigned his commission in protest over US policies in Asia. Upon return to the States, he lived in Santa Barbara, but by the mid-60s found himself in the Haight Ashbury, where he became involved in the civil rights and anti-war movements. During that time he also was instrumental in launching the natural foods movement, got married, moved to Marin county and raised 4 kids.
Returning to Sonoma county with the back to the land movement in 1976, he settled on Joy Ridge, near Bodega, where his ancestors settled in the early 1870s. After a career as a landscape designer/contractor, he retired in the early 90s and has been painting almost daily since.
In May, 2010, Jim was first qualified by Mark Elbroch as one of about 600 internationally certified animal trackers. Currently he is teaching two monthly tracking/bird language classes a month, as well as bi-monthly workshops, occasional lectures, and participating in wildlife surveys.
Notable Art Awards:
2000 Second Place: American Impressionists Society annual show in Cincinnati, Ohio.
2003 Best of Show: Bodega Bay Fisherman's Festival.
Benjamin Benson, Juror
Ben is an environmental anthropologist and cultural ecologist who specializes in understanding the systems of environmental management that are utilized by Native cultures throughout the world to establish long-term sustainability. With publications in ethnobotany, ethnographic art, and environmental science, Ben is also a well-known public speaker and instructor at Santa Rosa Junior College and Pepperwood. Ben also serves as a museum anthropologist and exhibit curator who has designed four small museums, including the Sarah Jesse Peter Museum at SRJC. As Cultural Resources Coordinator, Ben helps to incorporate the Native environmental perspectives of the Pomo, Miwok, and Wappo into Pepperwood’s long-term planning. Ben’s field research illuminates the preserve’s “prehistory” with a focus on the ancient obsidian tools found at Pepperwood’s cultural sites.
Ben is an environmental anthropologist and cultural ecologist who specializes in understanding the systems of environmental management that are utilized by Native cultures throughout the world to establish long-term sustainability. With publications in ethnobotany, ethnographic art, and environmental science, Ben is also a well-known public speaker and instructor at Santa Rosa Junior College and Pepperwood. Ben also serves as a museum anthropologist and exhibit curator who has designed four small museums, including the Sarah Jesse Peter Museum at SRJC. As Cultural Resources Coordinator, Ben helps to incorporate the Native environmental perspectives of the Pomo, Miwok, and Wappo into Pepperwood’s long-term planning. Ben’s field research illuminates the preserve’s “prehistory” with a focus on the ancient obsidian tools found at Pepperwood’s cultural sites.