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Species: Homo conscious Websites: cyberstarlet.com myspace.com/ireneschleining myspace.com/cyberstarlet youtube.com/cyberstarlet
In May 2007 a dream came true as I was diving into the ultramarine crystal-clear water of the oceans. That’s where the story of Whale of a Time began. I was looking for answers on my journey through life… and I found it in nature. During the Vote of the International Whaling Commission I had come across a video on YouTube about the slaughter of dolphins and whales by the Japanese, and I felt a deep sense of connection with these animals. To improve the way I felt about the world, I needed to do something about this issue, which I felt so strongly about. In order to be able to respect others, you have to respect your own feelings first and do something about what you feel strongly about. My solution was to find a way of doing something positive about the issue and at the same time to help people to connect with other people who are sharing these views. I started by making a presence for animals on MySpace by registering 100 animal species at www.myspace.com/voiceofthewhale I often ask myself why am I here. I’m proud of being the result of millions of years of evolution and coexistence. I know that I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for everything else around me. It’s really important for me to feel free, harmonious and peaceful. There are too many excuses in this world that we can make for all the destruction that we see around us. I’d like to inspire every person in this world to harness their creativity to do something about this. Humans are creative beings, and we need to tap into our creative energies. Whales and dolphins are perfect creatures and show great compassion for each other as well as their environment. They are having a whale of a time! Scientifically we don't know a great deal about these creatures. We only found out in 2007 that whales can reach high age up to 140 years and from Inuit's knowledge we know that whales live twice a human lifetime. These are scientific facts that were difficult to prove. The whale killed in 2007 had a harpoon from the 18th century inside his body. Are we right to kill creatures that outlive us humans by double the lifetime? Are we right to kill creatures that weigh 2,500 times more than we do? Are we right to kill creatures that sing the most beautiful songs of the sea? Are we right to kill beings that have a lower birth rate than we humans have? Is this sustainable? If we're going against nature we are going against our own nature. Japanese whale hunters slaughter our friends of the oceans for the so-called "scientific" research, but to really understand a subject fully one has to understand its feelings and purpose in life. It hit me when I found out that the Japanese, Norwegian and Icelandic governments are pushing through to lift the ban on international whaling which has been in place since 1946 when an estimated 10% of most whale populations was all that remained after 200 years of slaughter which was threatening the very future existence of these giant mammals. It is frightening to imagine that the whales could disappear from our planet after having evolved over 18 million years, which is 13 millions of years longer than the human race has been around. What is our human intelligence for if not to put a stop to this and other inhumanities? Will we go down in history as the species that managed to drive most other species to extinction and the planet to destruction? Or can we start reorganising ourselves to change our journey to a more positive and harmonious future? During the summer of 2007 I realised that I could use my skills as an artist to run clay modelling workshops to raise awareness of endangered species. Clay is natural as it comes from the earth itself and is a good material to convey a message to connect with nature. I tried out the idea during festivals including Sunrise, Glade, Big Green Gathering and Waveform Festival in the summer of 2007 and found that it was a great success with children and adults. The Whale of a Time Workshop is designed to educate creatively by engaging people with environmental issues and in particular with endangered species. Whale of a Time provides an opportunity for children and adults to make their individual models of their favourite animal species. The workshop aims to create an environmentally conscious community while connecting people of all age groups with nature and helping to raise awareness to protect our environment and our planet while expressing yourself and getting creative and having a whale of a time! So I then designed a website that would allow artists to express themselves by creating artwork that said something positive about nature and the environment which can be found at www.whaleofatime.org and the project started to expand and develop into a community of environmental artists. View photos of artists in action and their masterpieces at in the Whale of a Time Gallery at Whale of a Time Gallery Grown out of the multicultural capital city in London is Whale of a Time that sprouts environmental thoughts into the atmosphere and creatively paints nature into our culture with the aim of growing back to our roots to a harmonious being with nature and the living organism - our blue planet Earth. Whale of a Time is sawing seeds running events and creative workshops on environmental issues in order to create an environmentally-conscious community. Anyone can become a Whale of a Time Artist. And when they do, they join the Whale of a Time community. You can find the artists profiles at Whale of a Time Artists. We have artists from many backgrounds including painting, sculpture, music, film, photography, writing and poetry. When you decide to become a Whale of a Time Artist, all you need to do is create your own personal profile and upload your biography and your artworks. You then share your inspirations with the world by leaving comments in the forum and by posting and reading news on our blog. The fundamental idea of Whale of a Time is to enrich our global culture with the spirit of nature, to achieve cultural change and build on a beautiful relationship with our environment. Artists in prehistoric times drew their inspiration from nature and wildlife. The earliest known European cave paintings date from 32,000 years ago in Chauvet in southern France. These paintings tell us about animal species, hunting and predatory animals, human rituals and their perception of the world. Culture reflects the human condition and it is the platform of inspiration and creative development. In autumn 2007 the Whale of a Time Species Modelling Workshop was booked at the Earl’s Court Boat Show and was a huge success. Over 500 people used their artistic skills to sculpt dolphins, starfish, whales, octopi, basking sharks, great white sharks, a frog and even a penguin with a snorkel. Celebrity attendees included Hollywood actress Elle Macpherson and famous rower Dom Mee who crossed the Atlantic. It was then when I realised that running the workshops could have a huge impact not just during festivals but also in the city where the connection to nature is needed the most. This is when I started working on getting the workshop into youth and community centres across London. We have some workshop bookings in Lambeth at youth centres and we encourage any youth and community centres in the area to help and promote environmental issues with Whale of a Time. We were present at the Streatham Festival 08, which is a family event and the perfect place to chill out and get creative while connecting with nature at Streatham Common. Claire Horan, Streatham Festival Manager said, “Thanks so much for Saturday. You worked so hard and had a constant flow of kids and parents. There was such a wonderful energy in your space and I hope you had a good day.” Since the Whale of a Time Community is growing every day I had the idea of creating Whale of a Time Events where we showcase Whale of a Time Artists. We organise events for all age groups. A typical night promotes various artists including musicians, filmmakers, producers and directors, environmentalists, authors and books as well as music and art workshops to get involved and engaged actively. We're forming activist groups and are looking for people to join and do one thing a month about the environment which will be presented on our website. See Whale of a Time Events Schedule at Whale of a Time Events Schedule
Come and have a whale of a time at our next event on 27th July at Inspiral Lounge in Camden Town in North London. An exhilarating afternoon of creative fun, alternative music, film and art, aimed at raising awareness of environmental issues, fundraising
for the Whale of a Time projects and promoting eco-artists, featuring the man who communicates with the mysterious language of the whales using his clarinet, David
Rothenberg from New York. Emily Burridge, UK based cellist inspired by Brazilian native
people, their culture and their environment, Easy UK Music,
creating ambient uplifting chill-out atmospheric music, Michael
Norton, the author of "365 Ways to Change the World", the Whale of a Time Species Modelling Workshop raising awareness of endangered species and exclusive viewing of "Whaledreamers" - a film directed by Julian Lennon and Kim Kindersley, Co-Produced by David Blake.
 Artist & Founder Whale of a Time
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I’m an artist originally from Austria currently living in the UK. I call myself a citizen of the world as I feel my home is planet Earth.
