0710: Coral Then and Now

Whenever I hear or see the word “coral” I stop to take notice. Here in this small area of the Hudson Valley I find various types of fossil coral – all from the Devonian Period, roughly 385 million years ago. In fact, one of my finds, a rather large piece of honeycomb coral, now resides in the collection of the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History. So I am always on the alert for anything coral.

Yesterday I ran across an article online that led to a wonderful break in the day’s routine (one that I highly recommend). The article told of Google Street taking viewers underwater to visit existing coral reefs (see article here). The article is loaded with great links, including Oceans, where the coral images reside.

These are compelling, 360 degree views, technically brilliant and breathtaking in their scope and diversity. They are the product of the Catlin Seaview Survey, a group dedicated to recording and preserving the world’s coral reefs. While I dig up remnants of deep time coral I can only imagine the world in which they lived. These Survey images seem to confirm the amazing diversity that probably existed as much then as it does now.

So today I’ve decided to resurrect some of my Devonian coral images and intersperse them with screen grabs I took from the Oceans site. More Catlin images and videos can be found here.

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I’ll finish today with a piece from my upcoming show at the Beacon Artist Union, set to open on August 9. More on that over the next few weeks as I continue printing.

 As always, thanks for the visit.