Pode’ Update!
After I reached out, Sunflower Star Laboratory in Moss Landing (CA) agreed to host and promote my gargantuan starfish soft sculptures in their research lab!
Lab director Vince Christian with star pillow (in front of one of the most glorious beds of nasturtiums I have ever seen).
What is the Sunflower Star Lab?
To quote directly from their website:
“Sunflower Star Laboratory is a Monterey-based
non-profit committed to researching and developing reliable and scalable aquaculture methods for sunflower star (Pycnopodia helianthoides) conservation and reintroduction.”
This is no easy task, but it is crucial. Sunstars are massive, slow growing organisms with specialized diets- mainly consisting of sea urchins. And urchins love to eat kelp.
Since the 2013 decline of predatory Sunstars almost all of California’s kelp forests have become urchin barrens. An “Urchin barren” is bad as it sounds. The underwater version of deforestation; a diverse ecosystem uprooted and repopulated with an endless carpet of little spiky, purple, inedible menaces.
The OG gold pode at a promotional event for the lab.
In an effort to reverse the damage, Sunflower Star Lab created a five phase plan to breed pycnopodias and release them into the wild. They are literally spawning little baby starfishes in tanks at their workplace.
The photos they sent remind me of Juneau’s Auke Bay Laboratories where my aunt Chris spent part of her career as a salmon researcher. I remember visiting years ago, looking at the CRISPR gene editor and thinking about how scientists are capable of achieving unimaginable feats. However, like artists, scientists can only take one tiny step at a time- creatively adjusting according to what they learn.
Soft Podes in the "Algae room"
This long work process requires funding and volunteers. And that is where your purchase of a starfriend will make a difference.
I pledge to donate 10% of every sale I make from a pode to the Sunflower Star Laboratory!
I think this is one of the most aesthetically unique projects I have ever done. The podes are satisfying to touch; Everyone that holds one cannot help but bounce it around. The stars are made from hand dyed merino wool yarn and stuffed with kapok- a hypoallergenic natural fiber. Since they are not fragile they can be draped over a couch and they conform to spaces like real starfish do.
But the coolest part is that their sale will go towards repopulating the ocean with glorious Pycnopodias! Starfish may not be the archetypal predator, but that does not make them any less of a vital keystone species off our West coast.
Visit Sunflower Star Laboratory’s website here for more information and epic wildlife photography (they also have Instagram @sunflowerstarlab):
View my soft sculpture project:
Thank you for reading!