Artists Rally Under ‘Big Green’ Banner

Actors, politicians, chefs, musicians, athletes--all have taken their turn at supporting the environment.

Local artists got a chance to do the same Saturday when Artists Unite for Big Green took over Santa Monica’s DC3 restaurant for a casual afternoon party and artworks sale to support the California Environmental Protection Act of 1990, an initiative known as “Big Green” that will be on the ballot this November.

Several hundred ecology-minded guests paid a minimum of $75 each (a cheap ticket on the social circuit these days) to mingle through the airy bar and restaurant, watch planes take off at Santa Monica Airport, hear Stephen Bishop sing, and rub shoulders with such luminaries as Jane Fonda, Martin Short, Assemblyman Tom Hayden (D-West Los Angeles), Robert Downey Jr. and Sarah Jessica Parker, Sydney and Claire Pollack, Tim Matheson and artists Charles Arnoldi, Peter Alexander and Woods Davy.

Scant food was available from DC3, Citrus, West Beach Cafe, Rebecca’s and the new foodie haven, the Broadway Deli.

“I’ve been confined to bed for 12 weeks so I’m especially happy to be here,” said a jubilant and very pregnant Katie Arnoldi, co-chair of the event along with restaurateur Rebecca Marder.

“I wanted to do something to help the initiative, and really it was very easy getting the artists to contribute, “ said Arnoldi, who is married to artist Charles Arnoldi. “It was just a matter of telling them what the initiative was all about. Everybody made it very easy for me. They all said, ‘What can I do to help?’ We hope to raise about $200,000 from this. I’m just stoked!”

Thirty-three local artists, including Lita Albuquerque, Peter Alexander, Laddie John Dill, David Hockney, Ed Ruscha, Alexis Smith, Sam Francis and John Baldessari, contributed works to the six-prize $100-per-ticket raffle in which winners received one to 16 works of art.

Those with money to burn could also pick up a poster of an Ruscha painting titled, “The Amazing Earth So It Is” for $50, plus various T-shirts for about $15 (including the popular “RECYCLE OR DIE” logo).

And just in case anyone missed the point of what was going on, the restaurant’s tables were decorated with little pine saplings wrapped in burlap.

Ed Begley Jr., a recycler and environmentalist before it became trendy (he rode his bicycle to the party), told the crowd of some positive changes that have occurred in the environment in recent years: Lead levels in blood, generally, have decreased since lead levels in gasoline have gone down; several species of birds have returned nationwide since DDT has been banned; and the mercury levels in the Great Lakes have dropped.

“I can promise you that there will be a very intense and heated debate across California for this initiative,” said Hayden, co-sponsor (with Atty. Gen. John Van de Kamp) of the initiative.

He outlined the initiative’s extensive goals, which include phasing out pesticides, reducing carbon dioxide emissions, developing an oil spill prevention plan and monitoring water quality along the California coast.

“And if it passes, it will usher in a whole new decade of environmental action,” Hayden added. “What happens here matters.”