{"id":1571,"date":"2014-05-14T19:16:44","date_gmt":"2014-05-14T23:16:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gwapa.org\/wordpress\/?p=1571"},"modified":"2014-05-15T19:21:22","modified_gmt":"2014-05-15T23:21:22","slug":"may-meeting-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gwapa.org\/wordpress\/2014\/05\/may-meeting-5\/","title":{"rendered":"May Meeting"},"content":{"rendered":"

On May 24th, renowned aquarist, plant explorer, and aquascaping judge, Karen Randall, will talk about Biotopes of the World<\/em>. This presentation looks at biotopes of several continents, including the fish and plants found in them. The meeting is in Bowie, MD at 1:00pm. <\/p>\n

\"Karen<\/a>Karen Randall grew up with aquariums as a child.\u00a0 While experienced in many facets of the aquarium hobby, as an adult her focus turned to a concentration in planted display aquariums and the study and propagation of aquatic plants.\u00a0 Her articles and photography have been published in six languages in 9 countries.\u00a0 For many years she authored the monthly column, \u201cSunken Gardens\u201d in Aquarium Fish Magazine. She is an international speaker on aquarium subjects.<\/p>\n

Karen is past president of the Boston Aquarium Society, and serves on the board of the Aquatic Gardeners Association.\u00a0 She was editor of the AGA magazine, The Aquatic Gardener<\/span> for 5 years and is now technical editor of the magazine.\u00a0 She has served as a judge for both the AGA Aquascaping Contest and the Aqua Design Amano International Aquatic Plants Layout Contest since their inception.\u00a0\u00a0 In 2010 she had the pleasure to serve as a speaker and jury member for the prestigious live international contest, \u201cThe Art of the Planted Aquarium\u201d held in Hannover, Germany.\u00a0 She has also served as a consultant on several major projects at public aquaria.<\/p>\n

Karen travels frequently to study aquatic plants in the wild.\u00a0 She has traveled extensively in South and Central America and South East Asia as well as the southern parts of the U.S.\u00a0 In Brazil she has assisted with Project Piaba, a conservation program in the Amazon centered on the aquarium fish trade.\u00a0 She regularly does programs on these topics as well as aquatic gardening for groups ranging from aquarium clubs, school children, garden clubs and church organizations.<\/p>\n

She is currently working on a book for Timber Press titled, Sunken Gardens, a Guide to the Planted Aquarium<\/span> due out in 2015.<\/p>\n

Karen started a program a number of years ago to put aquariums in many classrooms in the local public elementary schools.\u00a0 In 2003 she was awarded the Northeast Council of Aquarium Society\u2019s Betty Mueller Award; a life-time award for her outreach work and other contributions to the aquarium hobby.<\/p>\n

In her spare time, Karen maintains a number of perennial gardens on her small horse farm, and trains and shows both dogs and horses.<\/p>\n

In addition, we will have our regular auction. Members and non-members are welcome.<\/p>\n

May 24th at 1:00pm<\/strong>
\nBack Entrance of Grace Lutheran Church (in their Fellowship Hall)
\n2503 Belair Drive
\nBowie, MD 20715-2699<\/p>\n

Directions:<\/strong><\/p>\n

From I-495<\/strong><\/p>\n