MJ McConnell Art

2011-08-30T22:24:00.010-04:00

"Wondering" is on hold. West Papua tribes are rebelling and seeking independence and the Bower Birds will have to wait. Hopefully the children of Hungku will care for them. An author from Maine is writing a children's book about them. Perhaps it can be translated into Indonesian and even Soab, the local language.

Moving on I have turned to fish. My father loved fishing and my first print was for him, a rainbow trout. Now it is koi, bass, herring, sardines and a whole Jimbardin Bay series from Indonesia which will be shown in Spring 2012 at Christopher Brodigan Gallery at the Groton School in Groton, Massachusetts. "Alewife" and "Sardines" recently sold at the Frying Pan Gallery in Wellfleet, Massachusetts. "Koi" prints were sold to the Keys Gallery in New York City.

Ditto press in Concord, New Hampshire is in the process of capturing High resolution prints on German Etching of four feather prints. This is inspired by the sale of eight originals to the well known Robert McKracken Peck of Philadelphia. He has just curated a show on Edward Lear's feathers for Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts to open in spring of 2012.

These sales are wonderful and encouraging but cannot help the Bower Bird. It is good to have a record of their creations.

Visits from my grandchildren in July added fun and enthusiasm. Moments with Michael(age 10) at the Koi pool at the Peabody - Essex museum in Salem, Massachusetts inspired en caustics and a trip for him to Skip Seiglers fishing expedition(www.striper.com) His catch can be added to the help of John Michael La Dodge of Hollywood, California and Tristan Howard of Portland, Maine and Skip Seiglers of Marblehead who has given me fillets, heads, tails, and skins of stripers, mackerel, and herring.

Michael made a nice slide show of my birds and granddaughter Cinnamon(age 6) made a video of her sister Willow(age 4) in my gallery. It can be seen on Youtube "Willow at Joey's House".

Today I am doing my version of a large salmon head. Wonderful black markings!

2011-06-14T18:01:00.016-04:00

With boxes of field notes spread across my studio floor and fourteen paintings of the work (or play) of the Vogelkop Bower Birds, I wonder why I was driven or “fascinated” by feathers. Why collect, arrange, wear, paint feathers? I just read Cynthia Gardner’s “A British Invasion of Fascinators” And last month I bought a book “Plumes from Paradise” by Pamela Swadling and read of Plume trade in the (Vogelkop) Birds Head, West New Guinea. A great invasion of plume hunters in Bower Bird territory. Were the Bower Birds the first to use fascinators? My brilliant friend Jimmy loves them because they remind him of flying, having wings, escaping earthly bonds. Checking the dictionary I read: Fascinator. 1. One who or that which fascinates. 2. A scarf of crochet work, lace or the like, narrowing toward the ends, worn as a head covering by women.

I still wonder.

As I work on the 2010 painting of “Leonardo’s” bower a certain sadness settles over my old enthusiasm. I see no “fascinators” in the display. Are the molted feathers no longer available? Have the Sickle Bill Bird of Paradise, King Parrot and Harpy Eagle left Hungku for a safer forest or have they been destroyed by road workers and hunters? I’m afraid a bit of my fascination has fled. No questions will be asked as I’ve promised guide Yoris I will speak only of the Bower Bird while on this trip in the Arfak Mountains. No questions especially about money, water, missionaries or politics. He won’t talk either.

I wonder.

2010-11-11T20:22:00.016-05:00

Hungku Village has clean water!

The Indonesian government has finished our project. By chartering a truck, hiring a Bugis driver and assistant, we took the new government road to Hungku. The road slices right through the Arfak Mountains. Trees are uprooted and falling off the carved side. There are deep drop-offs on the other. We emerged in a vast meadow of huge lily-like white rhodoendrons! At the tree-line, one looks down upon tiny villages tucked in cloud forest valleys with pristine rivers and gushing waterfalls. A wooden gate divides Hitam and Soab tribal lands and was quickly lifted when they saw Moses!

Yoris, my guide made it clear he would accompany me on this voyage if I asked no questions and spoke only of the Bower Bird. There are obvious tensions and Moses with his "American" experience may be running for Parliament. In this village I saw a cement block and two spigots. People filled buckets with fresh water. The gardens were flourishing.

We climbed to the Bowers and I saw they were undisturbed. The Sicklebill was not present, but Moses insists it will return. We left little glass beads at Bower Four and Moses carefully arranged them on the moss. I gave the children copies of the booklet "The Clever One" from Dowling Walsh. They jumped for joy when they recognized the bowers and elements. As they don't go to school they could read a book of images.

The 2010 painting has a row of beads. I couldn't paint Bower Number Two due to the heavy rain, but Moses posed next to the strange overhang and unusual objects which included a stone, battery and toothbrush.

Uli carries on with the cottage industry work making traditional bags. She made me one of pink and purple which she filled with a pineapple and marquesas from her garden.

Back in Manokwari we cleaned off the layers of mud from the slippery decent and heavy rains and I finally asked Moses

"Is it going to be like Freeport Mining up there?".

"Yes", he said.

"Will the Bower Birds be okay?"

"Yes", he nodded.

"Is the remaining water project money still in the bank?"

"Yes," he said and asked what he should do with it.

"It belongs to Hungku", I said.

Thank you to everyone who has contributed. The environment

cannot be "saved" or totally protected, but this little area of people, plants, and birds has been given a great boost and opportunity to avoid total oblivion in these revolutionary times.

I bought Mose's grandson a guitar and asked him to sing a song about the birds of his forest to tell the people in the city. He seems confused, but stays close to Moses.

2010-06-30T18:19:00.003-04:00

To everybody who saw the PBS documentary and is looking to donate to the Hungku Water Project the address to send your checks is:

Moses Saiba Account

31 Circle St

Marblehead, MA, 01945

Thank you to everyone who sent encouraging words in response to the Frontline Documentary about my work in West Papua, Indonesia.

2010-06-11T12:46:00.039-04:00

Money continues to "dribble" into the Hungku Water Project. I was able to send a check in January, the result of poster sales made at the lecture and film and show at Montseratt School of Art in Beverly, Massachusetts and a large donation from Kim Harbin. In March, John Moore of the West Papua Action Network met with moses and sons in Manokwari and returned with photographs and the assurance the Hungku Water Project money remains safely in the Bank Mandiri. He says money has been pinpointed for this area, but must first get by the local politicians. Dan Lunow of TEAM is presently at Anggi Lakes and will visit Moses in Hungku. We will hope for news in July and then I will return in September.

The April event at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem,

Massachusetts was well attended and the crowds' enthusiasm was

inspirational. Joe Puleo (jose@snapdog.com) recorded the event and two of my favorite veterinarians traveled

many miles to support the Bower Bird (even bearing gifts). Joe even captured this image from the film The Clever One shown on a large screen.

Posters are now being sold at my gallery in Marblehead,

Massachusetts and at Windhover Bird Clinic in Walpole,

Massachusetts.

My documentary will be shown at the end of the Frontline/World show on June 29th at 9pm on PBS. It will be a small section of my trip to Indonesia. If you miss it or are unable to get it please find it on the web at Frontline/World afterward.

2010-01-13T20:19:00.020-05:00

This blog needs an update. The show in Maine (DowlingWalsh.com) went well and brought in almost enough to finish the Hungku Water Project, but then came the bills... pay the gallery, framers, etc. and it was almost gone so i created a poster to sell at lectures, film showings, etc. and feedback on the road raising money. The poster is a collaboration with Moses. He made the central map of Mt. Hungku and I made the surrounding endemic and endangered birds found on his land.

We've had a few large donations but need more. In October, I traveled to West Papua (that is what they call Irian Jaya now). I found Moses and part of his family in rapidly growing Manokwari on the coast of the Vogeltrop. This I fear is the part of the process of the "Indonesian policy of getting the indigenous people out of their traditional habitat and transforming

them into Indonesians... The army builds(concrete) houses, moves the people into them and from there on they have to fend for themselves." And so they were in a concrete house with a few of their little stripped wild pigs and a tiny parched garden all hot and dusty.

Earthquakes were disturbing Indonesia and disrupting transportation. I experienced a small one. My guide Yoris was not his usual self and required a thousand dollars to go with me to Hungku. Moses wanted to take me a "new" way but it would take time to arrange porters and I'd be without Yoris. After weighing the options I decided to wait a year so i could check on the "new" route and change Yoris' mind. Instead, we took Moses and his grandson to the new modern Manokwari supermarket. The little ten year old was terrified but soon helped Moses fill two grocery carts with items of their choice (soap, toothpaste, salt, rice, canned meat, etc.) Cash courtesy of Greta Howard of Marblehead.

Before leaving I was able to arrange a showing of "The Clever One" at a local hotel where it was met with cheers by the locals, staff, Moses, and sons. Other Saiba's and Demis are still in Hungku working the gardens and sending vegetables for sale in Manakwari. Moses proudly presented the finished woven bags for

our largest donors, Kim Harbin and Hunt Slonem. I left Moses a disposable camera and in November he returned it with very good pictures of bowers "one" and "two". I was disappointed it was not Leanardo or Warhol, but glad to know he had returned to the mountains and could use the camera.

All Money donated has been converted to local currency and remains in Manokwari at Bank Mandiri gaining interest. Martin Watofa, our engineer will tell us when we have enough to do serious buying(to avoid storage charges and damp cement). At least the tribe is learning about money and banking.

Thank you for helping.

2009-09-23T21:46:00.013-04:00

The Dowling Walsh Gallery show in Rockland, Maine was a great success. The audience opening night was attractive and inspiring. Paintings sold well and many bought posters to help fund the Hungku Water Project. The documentary "The Clever One" will be included in The Maine Film Festival, October 2 - 4 and will be followed by another reception at Dowling Walsh just two doors from the Strand Theater. Producer Josiah Hooper is expected to attend this second reception. Moses steals the show.

September 25Th I will leave for Indonesia to work on the water project, visit Leonardo(Bower four) and hopefully find a new artist, perhaps Raphael.

Thank you Joe Puleo, at http://www.portraitsoflight.com/, again for your wonderful pictures.

2009-08-18T16:49:00.004-04:00

I am leaving tomorrow for Fridays' fund-raiser in Sag Harbor, New York at Benson-Keyes Gallery.

Joe Puleo has made us a great poster using a painting prepared for the Dowling Walsh show which opens in Maine on September 16th. It's now less then a month away and then its off to Hungku...

Joe Puleo donated his time and materials. Thank you, Joe.

2009-08-10T11:18:00.004-04:00

News from Moses~

They have purchased the pipes, but are now out of money so progress is on hold. I'm hoping my show at the Dowling Walsh Gallery in September will produce needed income. In October I will speak on Hungku and the work of the Bower Birds at the University of Papua in Manokwori. Hopefully this trip will include time in the Mountains to paint.

"The Clever One", a documentary about the work in West Papua is now on the web. See pbs.org/frontlineworld. They have done a wonderful job presenting the project and the delightful people of Hungku. My thanks to PBS Frontline and Josiah Hooper. Moses and his people will be delighted!

2009-04-19T17:30:00.009-04:00

I've just returned from Indonesian New Guinea where I stayed at one of the few remaining hotels in Manokwari after the January earthquake. A warning system saved all lives except that of a little girl who was killed by a falling wall. Moses was in Hungku and said the twenty minute shake made them sick and dizzy, but reports no damage.
We held project meetings at the Mansinam Beach Resort now maintained by several familiar faces from the ruined Hotel Mutiara. Present were engineer, Martin Watofa, Susan Mores, team manager in Manokwari, Chief Moses Saiba, his brother August and three of his sons, Seth, Oni, and Seblum. Professional guide Yoris Wanggai translated.
We have collected twenty five percent of the money needed for the project and it is held in a bank account belonging to Moses Saiba(at a good interest rate I understand). The tribe is discouraged as the mining companies are approaching and the environment will be ruined by mining waste. Why save Hungku when there will be no nature? Yoris and I agree we must make the tribe str0ng and fight the pollution along the way. Martin is in charge of engineering the project and reluctant to buy materials until we have fifty percent of the money(another five thousand). Purchased cement may get damp and ruined.
We have decided to order pipe from Surabaya, Java immediately as it will not spoil, sea freight is slow and the price is rising.
The tribe needed encouragement so I purchased a brass faucet at a local hardware store and gave it to them. They passed it around turning it on and off with wonder and renewed faith. Moses has made a wonderful colored map( 20 inches by 34 inches) of Mt. Hungku, the boundaries of the village, the bowers, rivers, and gardens which I will have copied and use for promotion. He was pleased to announce that the Harpy Eagle still resides atop Mt. Hungku, that there are new Bower Bird and Bird of Paradise babies(chicks) and that he has discovered a cave inhabited by fruit bats.He gave me a red and old crocheted bag made by his daughter for her grandfather "Isak Ahoren". It gave me and idea for a way to involve the tribal women in this Project. Materials were purchased and bags will be made for large donors(five hundred dollars or more) integrating their name. The first will go to Kim Harbin our largest donor. The second will be for New York artist Hunt Slonem.
I met a team of scientists studying the impact of mines on the environment. They invited me to speak at the University of Papua in Manokwari in late September.
The Bower Bird paintings have been transfered to the Dowling and Walsh Gallery in Rockland, Maine(http://www.dowlingwalsh.com/) for a show in September.
There is a benefit planned for late summer for the Hungku Water Project in Sag Harbor, New York.
These paintings were inspired by Sougb expressions as they fingered the single water spicket. "what will the first water look like?" Please send money if you can. We will get there one drop at a time.

2008-12-27T11:40:00.003-05:00

Uranium has been discovered at Auggi Lakes (where Hungku is). Trans-migrants are coming in by the thousands. Thus along with the gold and copper Moses' land is more saleable. Will the tribe resist the temptation to sell to mining companies?

The Water Project has slowed down due to lack of funds, but Moses has opened a bank savings account and is sending us the deposit slips. This is encouraging. Learning about money is another bridge crossed. Your continued support is requested and the rate of exchange is very favorable right now. The 501C3 is still in place. The coastal part of the tribe did sell their land and now work upon their own land as slaves. Moses' tribe is well aware of this example. I'll hope to return in March. More good news. We now have a lawyer volunteering her time.

2008-11-02T10:15:00.006-05:00

I just returned from three weeks in Indonesia where I worked on the Hungku Water Project and continued to paint adding to the "Storm Series" and Jembaran Bay "Fish Series". In Irian the Water Project is under way. The missionary with the funds will be in the Arfak Mountains with Chief Mose Saiba for two months and supervise the work of the engineer who has designed the project. I'll hope to have a progress report in December. We have six of the twenty thousand dollars required for this project, but this is encouraging to the tribe.

The documentary on the Bower Birds in Hungku, "The Clever One" was shown on a wide screen to a small group in Ubud, Bali who have met and aided the Irian Chief Moses Saiba. It was met with enthusiasm especially by the children who also share a love of birds. Hopefully, it will be on P.B.S. soon.

Five New canvases for the "Fish" and "Storm" were removed from their canvas stretchers in Ubud and now await re-stretching on their US standard equivalents.

2008-09-19T20:52:00.007-04:00

I take pleasure welcoming my friends when they often return with their family and friends to tour my house. They are usually speechless. Some call it a living museum, for me it's where I live and cultivate my passions. It's where I find "inspiration", where I "create" my art and where I "meditate".

My House has been in several publications. One of these are Obsessions : Collectors and Their Passions, by Mitchell Beazley Interiors; Stephan Calloway (Available at Amazon.com and Goodreads.com). If you are in France in October look for the newest one Houses around the world by Deidi Von Schaewen.

2008-08-07T16:41:00.009-04:00

I started a non profit organization (501C3) named The Hungku Water Project to help Chief Moses Saiba and his tribe of New Guinea bring fresh water to their village in the Arfak Mountains so they can maintain their land and continue to live on it. Aggressive mining and lumber companies are working their way to the land's natural resources and thus to the destruction of this environment and its many unique species of birds, plants and insects. If the tribe is able to stay, this land and they will prosper. If you would like to donate to this cause please send a check to:

Moses Saiba Account

31 Circle St

Marblehead, MA 01945

2008-07-25T10:26:00.011-04:00

My daughter and grand daughter have convinced me I must enter the 21st century if I want to promote the Bower Bird project or The Hungku Water Project as it's now known. They've created an email address, MJMcConnellArt@gmail.com, and are working on a website (coming soon). I am just focusing on my artwork after my trip to The Gettysburg Festival in June, where I showed my Bower Bird paintings for the first time. I am also planning my annual trip to The Arfak Mountains of Indonesian New Guinea to visit Chief Moses Saiba and to continue studies of the Bower Bird while painting. I am also selling some work at Ditto Editions, http://www.myprints.biz/ then enter artist name, please take a look.