Here are some fantastic pictures that Ucup sent along from Indonesia: they feature the two prints, wonderfully stitched together, at the site of the Sidoarjo mud-flow, an environmental and social disaster area in North Java. The desolate area in the background is the result of a blowout of a natural-gas well. Hot volcanic mud has been pouring from the site of the well for years, inundating local villages and fields and displacing thousands. These photos were taken during a recent solidarity campaign organized by Taring Padi artists and activists.

Anti-LNG presentation in Ashland

Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center (otherwise known as KS Wild) organizer Monica Vaughan organized an event in Ashland at Noble Coffee. The prints were hung and Monica and I (Roger) talked about LNG opposition in Oregon and overseas. Now that the pipeline is dead in Northern Oregon, there's a growing feeling that if the developers want to fight for this pipeline idea, they will fight in Southern Oregon. The Jordan Cove terminal in Coos Bay and the planned route through Southern Oregon's forests to the trunk pipeline in Malin are the last hope for a west coast LNG pipeline. Many involved in opposition to these projects now think that the real goal of pipeline development is to export LNG, not to import it. The Ruby pipeline, carrying gas from the rich fields of Wyoming in to Malin from the east, is almost completed, despite rumors of drastic archaeological malfeasance by the crews hired to perform the required surveys. Gas from Wyoming will probably flow to Asia, where gas prices are fully three times higher than in the States. LNG development is being sold as a patriotic route to energy independence by jingoist statesmen who are ostensibly trying to find less hostile sources of hydrocarbons for American lifestyles and industry. In reality, the federal money that pours in to build the import pipeline will be much appreciated by the energy conglomerates eyeing lucrative export contracts. Infrastructure benefits all with the gumption to take advantage of it.

At the BBCRC in Weed, CA, with Justseeds

Here's a few pictures from a showing of the big prints at the Black Butte Center for Railroad Culture, in Weed, CA. The big prints were nicely framed on the exterior of the repurposed refrigerator car, while inside was a showing of the Justseeds RESOURCED portfolio.

Hi Res images and Details of the Prints

Photos from Outreach Events

Olivia Schmidt sent along some great photos of the prints from events that she's been coordinating to spread the word about opposition to LNG projects.

Field trip to the site of the now-defunct Bradwood Landing location, where LNG would have come ashore near the mouth of the Columbia.

Organizers and affected parties with Icky's No LNG poster. (That's Olivia, second from left)

Ted Messing, anti-LNG activist, ogles the banner at the Columbia Riverkeeper benefit auction.

Getting ready to raffle off the small silkscreened edition of the prints.

Here's what Olivia has to say about the variety of events where the prints have been on display in the past several months:

1) Banners were displayed at community meetings with Oregon Citizens Against the Pipelines in Yamhill and Forest Grove. At those meetings landowners impacted by the LNG-related pipeline projects viewed the banners laid out on tables at the end of our meetings, discussed the imagery and tried to identify familiar faces and landmarks in the Oregon piece.

2) Banners were displayed at a community meeting with Anti-LNG activists in Portland at the Portland LNG Working Group meeting. Also on tables after the meeting. At that meeting I laid them out with Indonesia on top and Oregon on bottom which creates a sort of hour glass image (with the conical elements in the center of the image) which one person pointed out has a sort of eerie "time is running out" message.

3) Smaller paper prints of Crisis were displayed at the Lower Columbia 3 meeting in Cathlamet, WA where communities impacted by proposed LNG import terminal development on the Columbia River viewed the prints during our pre-meeting potluck. Vonda Brock is a member of that group and identified with the woman in the fore of the image with a hat and braids (which looks a lot like her). It was totally sweet to see members of that particular community relate so closely with the piece.

4) Banners were displayed at a presentation of LNG:101 (my basic power point) at the Concordia University where 40 attendees heard an LNG info talk, viewed a short documentary about the pipelines and viewed the banners laid out at the front of the room at the end of the lecture. It was really effective to have multi-media methods of communicating about this issue to the audience. Most of the attendees walked to the front of the room to really look at the prints up close.

5) Banners were displayed at the Sierra Club Strategic Planning Retreat near Colton, OR where 30 of Oregon Chapter Sierra Club's core volunteers from across Oregon viewed the images during breaks from our meeting. It was a really effective and subtle way to generate questions and conversation about LNG from attendees without trying to insert that topic into the agenda of our 3-day meeting.

6) 20 people participated in field trip to the proposed site of Oregon LNG's import terminal in Warrenton, OR and viewed the banners as a closing to the day spent on the actual land where Oregon LNG wants to develop. Attendees came from Clatsop, Tillamook and Multnomah Counties in Oregon, and Cowlitz and Wahkiakum Counties in Washington. Attendees included LNG impacted communities as well as Anti-LNG activists not directly impacted by LNG proposals. (you've got pics of this one)

7) Banners displayed at Columbia Riverkeeper auction in PDX with 200 attendees who all viewed the Oregon banner in the hallway and the smaller prints (both Indo. and Or.) in the main silent auction room. Mostly folks from PDX but also some LNG impacted supporters of Columbia Riverkeeper.

SEA Change Show

Here's some photos from the opening at SEA Change gallery in downtown Portland:

Above: Anne Berblinger, co-owner of Gales Meadow Farm (on the Oregon LNG Pipeline). We were pleased to have Anne at the show, since it's people like her that are the real reason for this project.

Above: A small archive of some of Taring Padi's prints from previous street campaigns!

Opening at SEA Change Gallery Aug. 5th!

"WE AGREE: A CRISIS IN COMMON"

POLITICAL ARTS GROUP HIGHLIGHTS RESISTANCE TO LNG

Printmakers from Portland and Indonesia map the resistance to imported liquefied natural gas from

the source to the consumer in two giant relief prints

On Thursday, the 5th of August, Justseeds and SEA Change gallery will present an opening reception for "We Agree: A Crisis in Common". On display will be two large blockprints, one made by the Portland-based members of the Justseeds Artist Cooperative, and the other by members of Taring Padi, an artist cooperative from Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The two prints, each measuring three feet by nine feet, are bold, graphic depictions of the impact of the Natural Gas industry and its satellites on the landscape and peoples of both sides of the Pacific. They were designed and printed collaboratively, with the help of generous funding from RACC and Work for Art. Other artworks by Justseeds and Taring Padi will also be on display. The gallery will open at 5 pm. SEA Change is located at 625 NW Everett St, Gallery #110, in Downtown Portland.

The two of them together

From We Agree: A Crisis in Common

More detailed pictures coming soon!

Poster for BARK

This is a poster I made for BARK in conjunction with their anti-LNG campaign.

Justseeds/TaringPadi Anti-LNG print

Take a look at some of these photos of the printing session we had yesterday in rainy Portland. People came over to help jump up and down on the giant block, in the traditional Taring Padi manner... This print is part of a collaboration with the Indonesian print group Taring Padi, addressing issues of natural gas exploitation on both sides of the Pacific. Next up, the Northwest Natural shareholders meeting on the 27th!

Progress on the Project

Here's some pictures from the ongoing Large Print Project in Portland. Icky, Pete and Roger have begun carving a 3' x 10' block of lino to make a counterpart to the Taring Padi print that Roger brought back from Indonesia a couple months ago.

Printing with Taring Padi

Here's a little photo essay showing the printing process used by Indonesian print cooperative Taring Padi, including images from all stages of the process, from sketching to carving to printing. I had the chance to help print some copies of this massive block, which is the Taring Padi half of a project addressing issues related to natural gas exploitation on both sides of the Pacific: the three Portland Justseedsers (Pete, Icky and Roger) will be working on their half in the coming month. We'll be working with local nonprofit Bark to promote exhibits and displays of the two prints in towns along the route of the proposed Palomar gas pipeline this summer. Enjoy the photos!