BP oil spill artist, 11, hosts fundraiser in Islip

Since April, Olivia Bouler has worked to save the birds of the Gulf Coast.

Now she's turning her attention toward home.

The 11-year-old artist, who has raised some $175,000 for birds affected by the BP oil spill, will host a fundraising event Saturday in Islip for the Seatuck Environmental Association. The event will feature three of Olivia's favorite things: birds, art and jazz.

A short bike ride from Olivia's Islip home, Seatuck runs an education center and a 70-acre wildlife sanctuary that protects fragile salt marsh habitat.

The center, owned by Suffolk County and operated by Seatuck, opened in April. "They have great nature walks," said the Islip Middle School sixth grader. "There was this cool bird we saw there; I think it was a scarlet tanager."

Last spring, Olivia launched a national campaign by offering hand-painted watercolors and prints of her work to people who donated to the National Audubon Society and other wildlife organizations responding to the oil spill.

She and the Jonas Brothers will film a public service announcement next week in Florida, sponsored by Disney. And she's working on a bird field guide for kids, with her own illustrations.

For the Seatuck fundraiser - slated to run from 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. at the Suffolk County Environmental Center on South Bay Avenue in Islip - Olivia and her mother, Nadine, asked artists around the country to send drawings to them. Olivia put out the call out to her 28,000 Facebook fans, asking for postcard-sized pieces.

So far, 150 pieces, mostly by children, have been donated, said Enrico Nardone, Seatuck's executive director. They include watercolors, collages and photographs.

"There's even something from Spain," Olivia said Thursday. "It's really fantastic. I love the ones that are submitted by young people. They're so adorable." The pieces will be sold for $5 each, except for the best eight or 10 pieces, which will be in a silent auction. Olivia, her brother Jackson, 7, and her parents submitted pieces.

The Boulers also have assembled a jazz band. Called The Sea Tuckers and led by two of their music teachers, it features Olivia on saxophone and Jackson on piano and electric guitar. Admission is $5.