Art

PechaKucha with Batman

PechaKucha [ or ペチャクチャ translated as “chit-chat”] is a series of 6-minute talks from presenters in the creative industry including artists, musicians, architects, filmmakers, writers, entrepreneurs, and local personalities. Each presenter showed 20 images, each lasting for just 20 seconds. PechaKucha events foster the art of concise presentations.  This year’s PechaKucha Night Austin #32 was held in Austin on October 11, 2018. Merlin was honored to be invited by Austinites DJ Stout and Lana McGilvray, the hosts of PK ATX.
The following ten speakers each had 6 minutes to promote a subject in their area of expertise. Merlin, of course, promoted bats with emphasis on those in Austin and had an outstanding response. Watch his presentation!
  1. Herman Dyal – Graphic Designer/Architect
  2. Gretchen Harries Graham – Educator
  3. Dave McClinton – Graphic Designer/Artist
  4. Refugee Is Not My Name (Aaron Weiss, Jess Archer and Ashley St. Clair) – Art Collaborators
  5. Brian Beattie – Musician/Producer
  6. Dale Whistler – Artist/Sculptor
  7. Sarah N. Evans – Activist
  8. Randal Ford – Photographer
  9. Merlin Tuttle – Batman
  10. Mélat Kassa – Musician
Check out those bats! Beautiful poster made by Pentagram design firm.

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Bats in Taiwanese art

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Bat art hangs in the corners outside the temple in Beigang.

Bats are found in abundance in Chinese and Taiwanese art. Around the corner from our hotel in Beigang, we visited a 400-year-old Temple dedicated to Matsu, the goddess of the sea. Matsu’s birthday is the 23rd day of the third lunar month and coincides with the return of the golden bats from their winter hibernation sites in the mountains. The town of Beigang celebrates both with a festival.

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Bats adorn the top of the tin box.

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Art for Bats

We’re delighted to present this beautiful work by Ina Helmers of Art for Bats!

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Percival’s Trident bat (Cloeotis percivali)

Ina creates digital paintings of bats depicted from Merlin’s photographs and sells them for donations to Merlin Tuttle’s Bat Conservation. She does the same for several other bat conservation entities as well.

We invite you to follow Art for Bats on Facebook.

If you’d like to have one of these lovely paintings simply donate 50 US $ here https://merlintuttlesbatconservation.kindful.com/ and send the receipt to mail@ianina.de and Ina will send you the large file by return (45 x 30 cm, 300 dpi resolution.).

Many thanks to Ina for sharing and using her talents for bat conservation. Enjoy!

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“Bats in the Slats” by Thomas R. Ryan

photo (1)92-year-old Tom Ryan is our latest Bat Fan! He’s also the author of a new children’s book titled Bats in the Slats.

Written like a Dr. Seuss poem, Grampa Buzz teams up with a family of bats under his deck to get rid of the rats that are raiding his garden and making a mess.

Tom, the cool grampa that he is, wrote this bedtime story for his grandchildren’s amusement. He hopes through books like this, kids will see bats as heroes rather than villains. Now where have I heard that theme before?

Order a copy of Bats in the Slats for the holidays! Thank you, Tom!

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“The Pollinator” by Artist Rhea Groepper Pettit

"The Pollinator" by Rhea Groepper Pettit
Painting by Rhea Groepper Pettit

Rhea Groepper Pettit is an artist with “a passion for earth’s residents: people and other species.” She loves bats and has used some of Merlin’s photographs as a reference such as the yellow-winged bat titled “Dr. Tuttle’s Bat” that graces the cover of his new book, a mother bat with her pup titled  “We Are the Night”, a “Flying Bat”, and her latest, a Marianus flying fox feeding on the pollen of a flower titled “The Pollinator”. It’s part of her Endangered Species series of paintings.

A Marianus flying fox (Pteropus mariannus) pollinating a Frycinetia liana on the Island of Guam. This plant was traditionally used by Pacific Islanders to make fish traps.
Photo by Merlin Tuttle

Rhea says, “The purpose of my endangered species series is to shine a light on the reality that so many well known (common) species are in danger, and populations have been dwindling at an alarming rate. The problem is largely man-made; it is our responsibility to save them. When we lose a species, others suffer and imbalance ensues. By restoring nature’s balance, we will save animals, ourselves and our planet. Bittersweet to paint my favorite animals; I love studying their images while painting them, yet the reason they are part of this series is incredibly sad and frustrating.”

We love Rhea’s paintings and are thrilled to share them with you. “The Pollinator” prints are for sale, along with many others. Rhea generously donates 50% of the sales of her bat paintings and bat prints (where stated) to Merlin Tuttle’s Bat Conservation.

Also find Rhea’s work at dailypaintworks.com/artists/rhea-groepper-5855/artwork

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