Amy G. Hall – Worth A Dam

ABOUT THAT CHALK DRAWING AT THE BEAVER FESTIVAL

heidi08 Beavers July 4, 2022

Gosh don’t you wish you could watch Amy Hall’s art all unfold again at the festival? Maybe filmed by a professional in an ideal high place? Now seems as good a time as any to introduce you to Cristina Joy Valverde a filmaker working on a larger project about beavers who wanted to interview me and came down the day before the festival. She took this amazing stop motion by placing the camera atop Jon’s ladder on a lamp post and I’m so happy she did. You will be too.

ECOSYSTEMS UNFOLDING

heidi08 Beaver Art, Beavers, Festival June 29, 2019

It wasn’t just us either. Everyone who stopped by and gazed changed from indifferent or hurried to awestruck and gazing. Groups of children on a field trip, parents rushing to the car after dropping someone off, and passing elders out for their morning stroll. I swear even the public works crew came four times during the day to admire her progress.

I did my best to keep up with the unfolding wonders and record them so that we could remember. I even managed a messy record of the day. I know this is frantic but if you watch it you will totally understand how she was able to make something from nothing.

No matter how fast I took pictures her creation still surprised and startled me. Creatures seemed to pop from nothingness into glorious color faster than I could comprehend.

First they were not there. And then they were there. I can’t explain it any better than that. Even the nature in the park knew they were witnessing something special. When Amy was drawing the dragonfly an actual dragonfly landed on her hand! And when she was finishing the swallowtail a real one fluttered across our eyes and flitted around the trees for an hour.

This was a magical day.

For a woman who only does one chalk event a year, she had an amazing sense of her self and her timing. In addition to being crazy talented, Amy is astoundingly pleasant and and easy to please, appreciative of everything we did to make her job easier. She insists our festival is the best she ever attended, Last year she had so much fun with the snake exhibits at the festival she and her husband went home and bought a snake!

I just hope there’s no place you can buy bats?

This is what the park looked like when she left that evening. She said it looked like the world because in her mind beavers could HELP the whole world. Which of course they could. I’ve been thinking of that and playing with lyrics.

We are the world
We are the beavers
We are the ones who’d make a better place with more believers…

Come today and see it completed. Come listen to music, bid on amazing goods help your child find a lost key, admire the bats and watch a crowd of people feel good about beavers for an entire day.

In all the world, in all the festivals, I have learned there is no other event quite like it.

IT’S BEAVER EVE!

heidi08 Beaver Art, Beaver ecological impact June 28, 2019

Which did you like better as a child? Christmas Day or Christmas Eve?

Okay I realize if you’re Jewish that question is meaningless and kind of annoying, but in my mind that is a question represents whether you are the kind of person who loves anticipating, planning and imagining how things are going to be or the kind who loves to actually get them/taste them/use them and see how they turn out.

I’m definitely the former.

Last year,watching Amy begin her masterpiece on Friday was my favorite day. She was so creative, friendly and fun that I was total fan-girl on the benches. I remember I stayed long enough to need shade and Jon brought me a canopy so I could see more dynamic unfolding at work. It all makes me excited about today, and not nearly as nervous about tomorrow as I should be.

But how could you NOT love this simple starting place?

Or where it leads?

This is a different design and a different year. Last year she started at the top and did the landscape and wildlife first saving the beavers mostly for the festival. This year she’s doing the round mandala and there’s no way to draw the beaver last because pastels don’t appreciate being sat on. Less landscaping and more rewilding. Who knows how this will unfold?

I also found out yesterday that beaver heroine, maker of the amazing beaver-and-fire film and now-assistant professor at Cal State Channel Islands is FLYING IN specifically for the festival! Yesterday I sent her Rob Waltons fantastic article in the Oregonian and said she needed to write one for California. And guess what she replied? That she would be and that part of her thinking in coming to the festival is looking for collaborators.

To which of course I replied MEMEMEMEME!

She also said she’d be bringing one of my google VR headsets for virtually visiting beaver ponds if anyone wants to try it!!!!

Poor woman. I’m sure she has zero idea how popular she will be!

I just looked up that pond and saw that her CV is on line and mentions the pond being reported on the WORTH A DAM website. Good lord, I need to be careful of my horrific typos and slapdash humor. I always forget this website gets read.

Type like nobody else is watching my irish grandma would say! If in fact I had an Irish Grandma.

Here’s a friendly reminder of why we love Emily:

And if you need it, here’s a friendly reminder of why we love Amy.

BEAUTY AND THE ‘BEAST’

heidi08 Beavers June 25, 2019

Things are starting to clutter in preparation for Saturday. It’s time we remember that the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. This comforts me

The artist Amy G, Hall wasn’t afraid of that big empty square last year. She just sat down and begin to work. She just focused on her goal and went one step of a time. And it didn’t matter if Cert just let me know that they were doing a ‘stop the bleed” training in city hall Saturday morning and needed the parking lot even though we signed up six months ago or five people just wrote to ask for a space even though they hadn’t registered for the festival.

She just stayed focused and did her job creating beauty out of empty space.

Amy is ready to do it all again. She is excited for the chance to create something from nothing. Here I am stressing about parking spaces and booth size but she is just quietly practicing her shading.
And in the end she has this to show for it all.

It all starts again Friday morning. I can’t wait.

THANKFUL FOR BEAVERS

heidi08 Beaver Book, Who's saving beavers now? November 22, 2018

There is much to be thankful for this year in the beaver world. It has been one of the best years to support flat-tails we have ever known. Let me just give a shortlist of reminders before start the day with friends and family.

I’m thankful that this may our story and beavers appeared in the National Wildlife Federation’s “Ranger Rick Magazine” where they could be seen by children all over the country and beyond. We were so lucky for Suzi Eszterhas photos with our beavers. Happy Thanksgiving, Suzi!

The very next month Ben’s book was published and the beaver world has never been the same since.I’m so grateful that we got to be part of that story and part of the brilliant torch that got passed forward on this journey. Happy Thanksgiving, Ben.

Our beaver festival was held in a new park for the first time, and graced with the amazingly generous artwork of Amy G. Hall who gave two days of intensive labor to create this. Happy Thanksgiving, Amy.

What a year. And thanks to you all for making it happen.

A final somber wish for the day goes to the peace and recovery of our friends and neighbors in Paradise. Remember them today in your warm homes with all your loved one gathered because they are reminding us all what it means to be thankful for what you have left even after unthinkable tragedy when we keep listening for the still, small voice.