FTB Podcast episode 11 now available

The latest episode of The FTB podcast is now available for your listening pleasure.  We are trying something new this week.  We are adding a complimentary post with art work we reference in the podcast.  You can listen to the podcast here.

Here we see the painting by Earl Carpenter that Shannon references when talking about the sparkle of  plein air studies for bigger paintings. 

 Carl's photos from Grand Central Terminal

The Immigrants sculpture (detail) Battery Park.

Have a great Labor Day Everybody!

Carl and Shannon

The Flying Tortuga Brothers

Latest Podcast with Harun Mehmedinović co creator of Project Skyglow

This Week's Flying Tortuga Brothers Podcast episode is an interview with Harun Mehmedinović, co-creator of Project Skyglow.  Harun is a photographer / Filmmaker/ Environmental Advocate.  Project Skyglow is dedicated to raising awareness about the vanishing dark sky places in the world and the effects it has on people and animals.  We sat down for nearly and hour and had a great conversation. Here is the link to Episode 10 of the FTB podcast.  Harun's passion for the subject comes through in the conversation and in the amazing films Project Skyglow is making.Both Shannon and myself have looked to the night skies as inspiration for creating our art and plan to spend a lot more time working on it if we are selected as artists in Residence in the Dry Tortugas in 2020.

Milkyway over the Everglades by Carl Stoveland

Milkyway by Shannon Torrence

Latest Podcast with Kelly Clark

Hi Friends of the FTB

Shannon really brought home the bacon when he found our guest for this weeks episode of the Flying Tortuga Brothers Podcast.  Kelly Clark works for the national Park Service and served as a Park Ranger in Dry Tortugas National Park for sixteen years!  Kelly shares her passion and knowledge for the Dry Tortugas with us in this episode.  I speak for Shannon and myself when I say we both thought we'd be inspired by what Kelly had to say.  I don't think either of us was prepared for how much of an impact the interview would have on us and we are even more inspired to be (hopefully) selected as artists in residence for 2020.  Both Shannon and myself have had as a motivation for doing this residency to be able to shine a light on the National Parks and the need preserve and defend them.  Second only to our our desire to experience the power of exploring being cut off from society and what it does to our collective creative inspiration.  As we get further into this series of podcasts and interviewing amazing people like Kelly a subtle yet monumental shift has occurred.  We find the need to be ambassadors for the National Parks and the environment (most notably coastal Florida and the Everglades but honestly across the globe) as our primary motivating factor.  Using all the gifts in our artistic tool-bags to heighten awareness of the importance of safe-guarding our National Pparks and wild places.

Shannon and I hope you enjoy this latest episode of the podcast.  We will be bringing you more episodes with guest interviews who can speak on art, residencies and the Dry Tortugas.   So stay tuned and subscribe to the podcast!

loggerhead 2020 or Bust!

Carl and Shannon

The Flying Tortuga Brothers

What inspires me to create?

Hi Gang

Flying Tortuga Brother Carl here:

I have been thinking a lot about something we discussed in the last episode of the podcast when we interviewed artist Beatriz Chachamovits.  I had stated the importance for an artist to have a strong point of view to create great art.  I stand by that with an addition.  A point of view is critical when you are competing against others to get selected for a show with a theme or for a residency.  This is what can take a good artist and have their work stand out from others.  There is something else that I ignored or did not think about and that is passion.  As an artist you must be passionate about the creating of your art.  If you'd rather finish a piece you are working on than eat dinner then you have passion for the work or the process.  That is the building block needed for all art.  It is what allows you to express your point of view but can stand alone also without having a point of view it can be about being profoundly moved by something and wanting to share it with others.  That can also be the well great and important art comes from.  I have been kicking around these ideas on the nature of art and thinking about where do I fit on this scale.  I don't see them as opposites but more as overlapping motives like a Venn Diagram.  I'll go so far as to say these factors go hand in hand and are always pushing artists forward.

What does this mean for me.  I think of it as micro and macro.  The wide-angle view for me photographing the natural world to make people aware of the need to protect our open green spaces.  It is good for the planet and has the benefit of being great for people who get out and experience it and then become advocates for saving these spaces for future generations.  On the closeup personal level I am affected by the beauty of these spaces and want to capture them for myself and other, but the selfish part of this the secret cause as it were is the magic I experience in being out in nature.  I came to these ideas by spending a good portion of my summer out in nature with my camera.  The truth is while I loved capturing it with my camera.  The experience of being there is what made my heart soar.  Early in this summer I camped for 8 days in Oregon and Washington exploring the coastline, Mt Hood and Olympic National Park.  It had a profound affect on me as I reconnected with nature and experienced the grand scale of the Pacific NorthWest.  Then this week I again was struck by the beauty of our world in the area I am focusing my work on making people aware of; that is the Everglades and Big Cypress Swamp.  I met my guide Scott Randolph from Clyde Butcher's Big Cypress Gallery before dawn and headed into the swamp in darkness to be able to experience the dawn chorus of frogs and birds as the theater of light came up in the east while were out in the dome and then as the light strengthened we were under the canopy with the soft golden early morning light.  It was breathtaking.  I was able to really connect with the swamp and was moved to create photos that I can share with others to help explain why restoring the flow to the Everglades and Big Cypress is so important to the environment but also so important as a place for people to go and explore.  I really can't explain how fulfilling it is to be out in that water becoming enveloped by nature.  So I produce my work and hope to be doing many residencies in the National Parks so that I can experience this feeling of wonder for myself over and over and also share it through my photos and motivate others to get outside and enjoy, support and protect nature.

Loggerhead 2020 or bust,
Carl