Patmos Habitats raises €14,000 with art sale to support cleaning the Patmos sea and beaches As Patmos Habitats followers may remember, the NEPO-WATER exhibition held at the Old Primary School, Chora, Patmos, from 3 August to 24 August 2014 aimed at bringing together artists who are full-time residents of Patmos, summer residents, or friends of the island to raise awareness of the problems that the Patmos faces on the one hand from severe shortage of fresh water, and on the other hand from damage to the marine environment through pollution and overfishing. We are delighted to report that the show was a great success. 42 artists took part, 17 photographers and 25 painters, contributing 100 works inspired by or documenting fresh water or the sea. In alphabetical order, they are: Randa Bishop, James Brown, Julia Condon, Stefanos Daskalakis, George Derpapas, Michael Derpapas, Antonis Dimas, Lena Economidou, Maria Efstratiou, Alecos Fassianos, Maria Filopoulou, Panormitis Gambierakis, Zoe Gambieraki, Vanessa Geroulanou, Spyros Giamaios, Irini Iliopoulou, Marina Karella, Calliope Karvouni, Sister Kassiani, George Kavouras, Herbert List, Holly Lueders, Alexandros Malagaris, Costa Manos, Robert McCabe, Despoina Melianou, Katerina Mourati, Christina Nakou, Theodosis Pappas, Jannis Paschalides, Manolis Pentes, Philippos Photiades, Venetia Sacret Young, Konstantinos Stamboulis, John Stefanidis, Nikos Stefanou, Cyril Tricaud, Alexis Veroucas, Sozos Vorgias, Christos Vouyiouklis, Petros Xynas. Ioanna Grilli and Sakos Ikonomopoulos lent traditional metal and terracotta water vessels for an installation. The exhibition was held under the official aegis of the Holy Monastery of St. John the Theologian, and with the warm support of Abbot Kyrillos, whose speech at the opening was posted on Patmos Habitats some time ago. Marilena Liakopoulou of the Athens Art Gallery was the honorary patron of the show. The exhibition benefited from the generous sponsorship of the Mission Water Program of the Coca Cola System in Greece (Coca-Cola Hellenic and Coca-Cola Tria Epsilon). We are particularly grateful to Maria Alexiou, the exhibition designer, and to Alexis Veroucas, who designed the poster, banners, and invitations. Nikos Stefanou and Irini Iliopoulou also kindly helped with the hanging of the show. Many thanks also to Christianna Vitzanaki, who was the attendant at the show, and kept count of the more than 2000 visitors who attended. We had very nice coverage in the media thanks to Athina Isaia and our communications sponsor, the Patmiaka Chronika newspaper. The generosity of the artists, who donated between 40% and 100% of the price of their works, and of the collectors who purchased works of art, enabled us to raise 14,000 Euros to date to support the activities of the Volunteer Divers of Patmos. Sixteen works of art were sold to this date (and any other work that might be sold from now onwards will added to the donation to the Divers). €524.40 was collected in the donations box, in exchange for vintage postcards of Aspronissi (kindly donated by Randa Bishop), or the hologram LOVE PATMOS SAVE WATER stickers. Exhibition costs were underwritten by Robert McCabe, so that all funds raised from sales could go to the Divers. On 13 August fifty children (local and foreign) participated in an art workshop organized by Anita Aslanoglou and Christina Meri. The children had a tour of the exhibition, listened to the traditional Patmian song O Siane mou Potame, and made paintings in blue and green acrylic colors on wooden boards including the word Water in many languages. Each child was given a LOVE PATMOS SAVE WATER sticker, together with a Water Saving Kit (three filters to economize water flow from taps and showers) donated by the Mission Water program of Coca-Cola Tria Epsilon in conjunction with the Global Water Partnership-Mediterranean. The paintings by the children will be displayed all together at the Symposium on sustainable fresh water management which Patmos Habitats is organizing in 2015, and then will be divided among public buildings on the island such as the Town Hall, KEP, Post Office, Port Police, banks, etc. The Divers are an informal group of about 15 Patmians who in their free time collect enormous amounts of trash from the beaches of Patmos and from under the sea. The donation has made it possible to cover equipment and supplies which until now the volunteers had paid for themselves, for example filling scuba tanks, buying nets, rubber gloves, and fuel for the vehicles transporting waste. After the summer season came to an end, the Volunteer Divers of Patmos resumed their efforts to clean the sea and beaches of Patmos. On 4 October, some of the Divers took part in a cleanup effort in Skala harbor, removing a truckload of trash. On 17 October, in partnership with the Port Police of Patmos and HELMEPA, the Hellenic Marine Environment Protection Association, and with the support of the Municipality of Patmos and Astoria Travel, the Divers conducted a cleaning session at Diakofti. Children from the islands three secondary schools participated in the event, and each was given a HELMEPA poster depicting the length of time common trash items take to decompose in the sea, and a commemorative certificate signed by the Chief of the Port Police Stylianos Siarbas. A GoPro video camera was also purchased so that the Divers can create a record of their future work--we look forward to sharing the results with you. We are entertaining talks with the Volunteer Divers on future plans on how to best make use of the collected funds in the future. Thanks to all who supported this important effort to preserve the natural environment of our beloved Patmos. Your kindness makes it possible for residents of island, visitors, and sea creatures to enjoy cleaner waters and beaches. The good work will continue, and we will keep you informed!
Posted on: Mon, 03 Nov 2014 07:41:17 +0000
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