An Ambitious Project

From across the country and as far afield as Great Britain and Europe people cheered Olivia's enterprise as it took flight. With the backing of her mother Nadine, an artist and high school teacher, and father James, an architect, she accepted a flurry of TV talk show, newspaper and magazine invitations for interviews as the media scurried to publicize her ambitious project. The usual 15 minutes of fame didn’t apply to Olivia. She was featured on CNN, BBC radio, The Guardian (UK), The Mobile Press Register, The Today Show, CBS, People Magazine and in Newsday.  As a special guest on Larry King Live she painted a bird portrait on camera for a fundraising auction. She even rang the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange and most recently visited the Capitol Hill to lobby for an end to oil dependence.

AOL took notice of Olivia, not only by kicking in a $25,000 donation, but by relieving the Bouler family of the burden of mailing Olivia's bird paintings to donors. Her work is also featured on an AOL artist's page.  Hefty donations continued to pour in, every penny, says an AOL spokesman, funneled into the wildlife recovery efforts of The National Audubon Society, Sierra Club, National Wildlife Society and The Nature Conservancy.

Escalated Donations

As we go to press Olivia's original watercolors and prints have been sent to 3,500 donors and receipts have escalated to $175,000 and counting. To generate additional donations the Bouler family set up an online store: www.Cafe-press.com. Olivia's avian renderings now grace T-shirts, water bottles, tote bags and bumper stickers with all profits passed along to organizations working on the wildlife recovery process.

One of the highlights of the publicity frenzy was a CBS-sponsored flying visit to the Gulf Coast for the entire family including Olivia's little brother, Jackson, 6, who says, "I wish the oil spill never happened; it makes me very sad."  A video record of the trip was shown on The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric. In one unrehearsed scene Olivia walks along the tar-cluttered beach, clinging to her mother and sobs as they pass dead and dying birds.

The phenomenon of Olivia's Birds started a few days after her grandfather, James Bouler, Sr., phoned from his shorefront summer home in Orange Beach, on Alabama's Gulf Coast to share his concern about the disastrous BP Deepwater Horizon oil-drilling-rig explosion on April 20. Olivia and the Bouler family had often vacationed in her grandparent's home where her father had spent many childhood summers.

Willing to Help

 "Olivia was so upset she didn't eat dinner that night," says Nadine. "She was wailing, 'It's nesting season, all the birds are going to die.' She went to her room and wrote a letter to the National Audubon Society offering to paint original bird portraits for people who donated to the Society's cleanup effort. She signed it, 'Eleven years old and willing to help.' When James read the letter he said, 'Shouldn't we all be willing to help?’”

The Society advised Olivia to create "Save the Gulf: Olivia's Bird Illustrations," on a Facebook page with her offer.  "The response has been incredible," says Nadine. Aside from the donors who accepted the offer many more thousands were made aware of Olivia's Birds as a symbol of the tragedy of irresponsibility.

“I started drawing first thing in the morning," says Olivia, "which was easy for me because I get up early anyway." The first 500 paintings were hand-painted watercolor originals; after that limited edition numbered prints were created. "I really thought that 500 was more than I could expect to sell," Olivia says, "but I was wrong."

For the Birds

And how did her parents react to their sudden involvement in their daughter’s cause?

 "As parents we were torn between being supportive and protective," says Nadine. "We were concerned about how all the attention was affecting our daughter. But she remained unruffled. She says, 'It's kind of weird that people know who I am now but I didn't do it for that, I did it for the birds.’”

And in some respects they’re not surprised by their daughter’s interest because Nadine and James foster an atmosphere at home where their children’s ideas are valued.  "Brainstorming at the dinner table,'' a child-rearing tradition in the Bouler family, is at the core of the couple's success in developing a streak of creativity and independence in their offspring. 

''It's a perfect place to focus on Olivia and Jackson's day-to-day problems or achievements at school or with friends,'' says James. ''We talk freely about everything and anything and we all put in our opinions and suggestions.  But the children are expected to make their own decisions.'' 

Family Action

Olivia's sudden celebrity has touched a nerve in the Bouler family, galvanizing into action their long-time belief in renewable energy. With an eye towards riding the momentum generated by Olivia's success they decided on a family trip to Washington, D.C., in mid July.  During their three-day visit they were warmly welcomed on Capitol Hill by a string of high-ranking officials including Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-California), Rep. Steve Israel (D-Huntington) and Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY)   who listened to the young activist's  plea for an end to dependency on oil and assured her and her parents  that, "we're working on it right now."  As a highlight of their meeting, Israel escorted Olivia and Jackson to the House floor where Olivia was allowed to push the voting button in Israel's name for a vote  in progress. 

It's clear that Olivia Bouler is carving out a new niche for high achievers.