The Cool House: Olivia Bouler
Showing posts with label Olivia Bouler. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Olivia Bouler. Show all posts

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Olivia's Birds Event


A big crowd turned out at The Book Revue for the presentation of Olivia's Birds Saving the Gulf.


After her talk Olivia took questions and drew a Chickadee


Then she signed every copy in the store. SOLD OUT! That's my copy (I pre-ordered!)


We left with instructions to build a bird feeder and plant more trees to Save the Birds in our own backyard. Thanks Olivia!

Friday, April 08, 2011

Hanging the Art: Olivia's Birds edition


Just in time for her Huntington, Long Island book signing at The Book Revue on Sunday April 10th, young artist Olivia Bouler's the Great Tern has found his permanent home in the foyer at The Cool House. This drawing was part of Olivia's first venture to help Save the Gulf wildlife from the BP oil spill a year ago.


Olivia's Birds Saving the Gulf is a beautifully drawn, passionate and informative book-part guide book, part environmental resource-detailing her story and illustrated with her paintings of the birds that inspired her to start a campaign to save them. If you can't get to the Book Revue on Sunday at 3 PM you can and should seek out the book at your local store or online, I'm certain you'll be delighted too.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

New Year's Art


Last week I picked up the art I'd selected at the Festivus Art show, along with a few extra surprises. Noted artist Nadine Bouler had slipped in an extra piece of House Art to go with Two if by Sea, a mixed-media piece that mixes architecture and shore imagery, which I've long admired. They are grouped together, under a Arthur Luiz Piza lithiograph, on the credenza in the great room along with a watercolor by Andrew Geller, a Sharyn Bradford nude and Great Tern by Olivia Bouler. And the Puffin peeking out from the frame of Olivia's painting? That's her younger brother Jackson's business card, which he kindly presented to me when we collected the art.


I also found this gorgeous silver bird ornament in Nadine's sack of goodies and I immediately placed it in its new home-the Satellite fruit bowl cage in the dining room.


I've hung my other piece of Festivus art, Louise Millman's collage Joy in the kitchen. I'm thinking of hanging a calender under it to tick off the days until I'm eligible to take the citizenship exam and one step nearer to getting my voting rights restored.

Friday, August 27, 2010

Feeling Creative? Support Seatuck!


When Long Island schoolgirl Olivia Bouler heard about the Gulf oil disaster she set out to help and she did it big time raising over $175,000 to help affected wildlife. Now she is fundraising again - this time locally. She and her family are holding a fundraiser on September 4th for the Seatuck National Wildlife Refuge in Islip, New York. She is asking all artists - and would-be artists - to submit a 5x7 postcard-sized bird image (painting, drawing, photograph, collage, mixed media) which will be displayed at the center and sold for $5.
The event will also include a concert by The Sea Tuckers a group of jazz musicians that includes Olivia, her brother Jackson and their friends. Not only is Olivia a "decent drawer" she's also an extremely talented saxophone player and Jackson will wow you with his cool! More information here

Olivia's Fundraiser
Saturday, September 4th
12:30 to 4:00 p.m.
Suffolk County Environmental Center
550 South Bay Avenue, Islip
Admission - $5


Remember artists of all abilities are welcomed so send your postcards in advance to Seatuck, PO Box 31, Islip, NY 11751.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

11-Year-Old Draws for Gulf Relief


11-Year-Old Draws for Gulf Relief.
Anyone who doubts the impact that ordinary people can have should click the above link to see the interview with Olivia Bouler and her family that aired last night on the Assignment America segment of the CBS news with Katie Couric.

Visit Save the Gulf: Olivia's Bird Illustrations to help too.

Monday, June 14, 2010

Sustainable Energy vs Fossil Fuels


Just over a year ago I wrote this post about a sustainable beach house in the process of being constructed on Long Island's beautiful south shore. With the catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico on everybody's mind right now it seemed the most appropriate time to re-visit the project and ask what measures we can take - and by "we" I mean residents, homeowners, architects and designers - to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels while continuing to enjoy abundant heat, light and electricity.


Built by Bouler Architecture, the house at Oak Beach received the highest energy rating on Long Island. With its geothermal system, photovoltaic solar panels, white EPDM roofing material and use of passive solar techniques - basically careful placement of windows and roof-lines to shade the sun in summer and heat it in winter - it has been performing at a far more efficient level than predicted. Even in the short, sunless winter days the house was producing electricity.


For the moment these "green" technologies incur a greater initial cost than power derived from carbon but they have irrefutable and overriding benefits. Using renewable energy sources, wind or solar, means less pollution of the air and water, and as we have experienced since April, when a disaster occurs in the extraction of oil or gas, the cost to wildlife and the local economy can be devastating.

For more on this sustainable project click on over to Bouler Design's blog where I guest-blogged today.

To help the wildlife affected by the BP oil spill visit Save the Gulf: Olivia's Bird Illustrations

Friday, May 14, 2010

Save the Gulf: Olivia's Bird Illustrations


It's seems odd to me that some people blame natural disasters on other people's lifestyle - or even their dress - and point to this as God showing his displeasure (anger of the gods always struck me as an pagan concept, ironic that it's much touted by "people of faith") while man-made disasters don't seem to incite the same rhetoric from the fundamentalists.
But enough with the negativity, there's a crisis going on in the Gulf of Mexico and other people are doing what they can to mitigate the environmental impact of the oil spill including one 11 year-old Long Island schoolgirl, who with the support of her family, is raising money to save wildlife by drawing birds for donors to various environmental charities. That's my Greater Crested Tern up top. Thanks Olivia!
Support Olivia's project to make a difference here.