Turtles About Town
What is Turtles About Town?
Turtles About Town is a a partnership between Galveston Island's Clay Cup Studios and one of the world’s leading advocates for our oceans, Turtle Island Restoration Network.
"The mission of Turtles About Town is to bring together art, awareness, and advocacy. And what better way to do so than with attractive sea turtle sculptures placed around town!
Once a sculpture is sponsored, it is then carved, molded, and distinctly painted by a local Galveston artist. Each turtle sculpture has an original story and is completely unique. These works of art are stationed at favorite locations around the city, so when you find a turtle take a peek around!"
For more information, please visit: https://www.galveston.com/blog/940/do-you-sea-turtles/
What is my role in the Turtles About Town project?
I was kindly invited as an artist to paint a fiberglass turtle for the city project. I was chosen and sponsored by Moody Gardens. My turtle will be placed outside, in front of the visitor's center, to welcome guests to the attraction. I will be documenting my progress below. This has been one of my biggest works in terms of time commitment, scale, and overall design. I was able to incorporate both my painting skills and sculpting skills into this piece to make it my own.
Unlike the other Turtles About Town projects, my sponsor asked me to work on the project in full view of the public- sort of as a performing arts piece. They generously provided me a workspace in the main visitor's center and later I moved to the Discovery pyramid as an attraction (not like that) to accompany the Nickelodeon Ninja Turtle exhibit.
I took on this project when I started my second year of medical school, which I would not recommend to other full time students. Most of the painting got done in the late night hours after studying in the library or on weekends- so it's taken me months to finish. But throughout the process I had the full support of Clay Cups, TIRN, and Moody Gardens supporting me through it. I am incredible thankful for their flexibility and help with completing this project. I feel like a "professional" artist now, but I've still got a lot more to learn.
Thanks to everyone who came to visit me as I worked on this project. I really appreciate you all taking your time to provide constructive criticism. I may have included cute little tributes to those that did, hidden on the piece. ;)
I'll post pics and videos to chronicle this project. Please note that these are all unedited :) and could probs use some editing, honestly. I hope you like it!
Week 1: Unloading and Setting Up
 |  |  |
|---|---|---|
 |  |  |
Week 2: Beginning to Paint
 |  |  |
|---|---|---|
 |  |  |
 |
Week 3: Moody Gardens Pyramid Attractions and beginning the underneath of the turtle
Month 3: Moved to Discovery Pyramid, Working on the underneath of the Turtle
Month 4: Base of the Turtle
Month 5: Hidden "Pearls"
This section highlights the little personal touches that I've added to the turtle to make it my own. There is symbolism throughout the piece in different art forms. I've "hidden" poems, tributes, commemorations to mark the people who are important to me in one way or another. Please see each individual section.
I've omitted most names for the sake of privacy; those who have given consent have their names listed.
Poems
This section highlights my poetry. I have included three poems that the octopus holds in it's tentacles. The poems are sealed in little glass vials, just like "messages in a bottle." The first poem is from my past, the second poem is about my present, and the last poems is about my wishes for the future.
Click on the image for a description.
I wrote this poem in 2002, when living in Massachusetts. It is the first poem that I every wrote- one that my parents have framed at home. :)
I've glued each poem into the vial so that the title and date of each poem is always visible.
This poem is sealed in a small vial.
Each vial is sealed with industrial-strength glue and then wrapped in the octopus's tentacle so it can never be opened. The poem is about my wishes for the future and the person I wish to become. The best version of myself.
The "Present" poem is sealed in the largest vial to symbolize focusing on living in the moment.
This poem is about my very first nightshift in the Emergency Department as a medical student.The poem documents the patients that I saw that night with my attending. Each patient is personified by an element of the ocean. It was night I will never forget and cemented my decision to become an EM doc.
Tributes
This section highlights people who have been significant in my life: family, my friends for life, roomies, Michelle, my college friends, my med school friends, and my mentors. For some reason I always end up in friend groups of seven, (which is also my lucky number) so I've included symbols of seven in many places on the turtle. People are signified with a painted letter of their name on a tiny fish on the base of the turtle. The fish are white and the letters are painted on with a glow-in-the-dark paint. This way the letters do not distract from the piece and the tribute is subtle and discrete. Think of it as a secret hidden deep in the ocean, illuminated by the light of an angler fish.
If you're on the turtle, come for a visit at night
and bring a flashlight to charge the paint to see your letter. <3
Click on the image for a description.
