[Coral-List] Coral: Symbol, Substance, and Significance / A conference in NYC / October 29 – 31, 2009

[Lisa Koenigsberg]

Initiatives in Art and Culture
Coral: Symbol, Substance, and Significance - A Conference in New York City
October 29 – October 31, 2009
Early registration discount through October 11, 2009
Student discount available

Coral is a comprehensive examination of this 
astonishing organism, exploring its place in both 
in the natural world and in the realm of culture, 
and considering what is being done to protect and preserve it.

Beginning with the role of coral within the reef 
and the criticality of coral reefs to ocean 
ecology – and thus to human existence – we turn 
to forces threatening reef survival, and to 
efforts of scientists, governments, and 
nongovernmental organizations to protect and 
restore them. We address laws and treaties 
formulated to govern trade in coral, a substance 
that has been termed "too precious to wear." We 
examine coral in history, both its evolving 
associations over time and its traditional place 
in the wunderkammer, and explore its changing 
role and use in jewelry, art, and fashion, with 
specific discussion of the mimetic use of coral 
alternatives and the symbolic use of the coral 
motif as an inspiration. Initiatives in Art and 
Culture has a long-standing commitment to 
explorations of cultural patrimony and of art and 
ornament. In Coral, we again celebrate the object 
by placing it in the broadest possible context.

Among those who have agreed to speak are: Michael 
Kowalski, Chairman and CEO of Tiffany & Co.; 
Richard E. Dodge, professor and dean, Nova 
Southeastern University (NSU) Oceanographic 
Institute and Executive Director of the Centers 
Coral Reef Institute (NCRI); Kacky Andrews, 
Director, Coral Reef Conservation Program, 
National Ocean Service, National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration Committee (NOAA); Dawn 
Martin, president of SeaWeb; Christine Dawson, 
Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental 
and Scientific Affairs, U.S. Department of State; 
Michele Oka Doner, artist whose breadth of 
artistic production encompasses public art, 
sculpture, furniture, jewelry, and functional 
objects, a significant number of which draw 
inspiration from coral and the sea; Marilyn F. 
Cooperman, jeweler whose work often employs 
aquatic motifs; Amedeo Scognamiglio, jeweler, 
whose family has been based in Torre del Greco, a 
center of the creation of jewelry from seashells, 
corals and semiprecious stones; Barbara Best, 
Coastal Resources and Policy Advisor, Office of 
Natural Resources Management, Bureau for Economic 
Growth, Agriculture and Trade, U.S Agency for 
International Development; Ilze K. Berzins, 
Executive Vice President, Animal Health, 
Conservation and Research, John G. Shedd 
Aquarium; Ken Nedimyer, Founder and President, 
Coral Restoration Foundation; Steve D'Esposito, 
president RESOLVE and formerly president, 
Earthworks Action; Billy Causey, Regional 
Director, Florida Keys National Sanctuary; Caleb 
McClennen, Director, Marine Conservation, 
Wildlife Conservation Society; Crawford Allan, 
Regional Director, TRAFFIC North America, World 
Wildlife Fund; and Mercer R. Brugler, 
Environmental and Evolutionary Biology Program, 
University of Louisiana at Lafayette; Godfrey 
Reggio, producer and director, who is prominent 
in the film world for his Qatsi trilogy 
(Koyaanisqatsi, Powaqqatsi, and Naqqyqatsi) and 
for Anima Mundi, (music for all by Philip Glass) 
which convey a humanist philosophy about the 
earth; Stephen Dweck, jeweler whose work is 
inspired by minerals and a love for the natural 
world; Janie Schoenborn, design director, Lilly 
Pulitzer; David Wolfe, creative director and 
chief forecaster of Doneger and Co.; Sarah 
Graham, jeweler whose point of departure for her 
coral inspired work are plates in Ernst Haeckel’s 
Art Forms in Nature; and Géza von Habsburg, an 
art historian who has served as chairman of two 
auction houses and whose numerous publications 
include Princely Treasures (1997) and several definitive volumes on Fabergé;
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To register on-line: go to: www.acteva.com/go/coral
Fee: The conference fee is $250; an early 
registration discount of $195 is available until 
October 11, 2009.  A discounted rate of $100 is 
available for full-time students with ID.
For more information: info at artinitiatives.com or 
call: 646-485-1952 or visit www.artinitiatives.com
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We are grateful for generous support received 
from Tiffany & Co., NOAA Coral Conservation Reef 
Program, SeaWeb, The Henry Foundation, The John 
G. Shedd Aquarium, The Louis and Lena Minkoff 
Foundation, The Magazine ANTIQUES, and The Exeter Group (as of 10/5/09).