Our past actions formed the precarious state of our environment. What we do today shapes our future. This piece suggests a caring and protective relationship between natural systems and urban development has extraordinary potential. I believe the human species has the creative capability to make our cities lush and diverse carbon sinks. My work investigates these possibilities.
Endangered knowledge:The Soul of Humus
I dried some cosmos leaves to us as the coat of a sculpture that is in the works - Endangered knowledge: the Soul of Humus. The piece will be in the #sculpturemonthhouston 2021 exhibit. I started the armature during COVID for the SMH 2020 exhibit, which was postponed. The sculpture looks at the ecological history of the coastal prairie. This texture is perfect #cindeeklementart #endangeredknowledge #coastalprairie #tezasart #houstonart #bioart #environmentalart #cosmos #art #sculpture #bison
Talking roots.
How roots talk to each other. My focus is coastal prairie roots, but I expect roots of grass communicate as tree roots communicate. We gave only begun to learn from roots.
SUBTERRANEOUS SECRETS IV
36” X 8” X 8”
bronze
photo by @nashb Baker
Since the beginning of time, the human spirits' imaginations have been magnetically allured beyond the earth's geomagnetic field, inventing robots, orbiters, landers, and rovers to explore outer space, searching for celestial organisms — fruitlessly.
Secretly between 100 million and 500 billion microbes per teaspoon are living a subterranean life underneath our feet. Living soil is the root of our existence; it is essential to life on Earth. For several years, I have researched grass-fed food production, attended soil conferences, and visited regenerative ranches. (my favorite is @roamranch) Research in these fields reveal how to fight desertification and reverse climate change through regenerative agriculture practices. Interestingly, this natural history of living soil, how it evolved with roots, fungus, plants, food, and animals, carbon and their essential roles within microbial communities in human health, is not common knowledge. Subterraneous Secrets excavates this crucial tool in storing carbon. My work finds new ways to reimagine urban landscapes and records natural history to the collective memory so that it will no longer be endangered knowledge #roamranch #cindeeklementart #bioart #conservationart #environmentalart #root #bronze #bronzesculpture #pesticidefree #texasart #texasartist #houstonart #houstonartist #houstonsculpture #nature #naturalsystems
Same Time Next Year
The sidewalks in my neighborhood are my nature trail. I walk with my eyes on the prowl for intriguing insects, exoskeletons, insect wings, feathers, dried flowers, twigs, leaves, seeds, and pods — things my children’s eyes taught me to find during our walks together over the years. Since 2013, these biological mementos have found their way into my bronze work in the molds of nests. Each piece is a reflection of that year’s ecology and records the time and movement of environmental restoration. Initially, I was unaware of the landscape around me, but as my art dove deeper into environmental restoration and Hurricane Harvey changed our city, I realized that my days are, in fact, full of sterile surfaces. With COVID-19 quarantine, children in my neighborhood started venturing outside and looking for things to capture their curiosity. Delighted with their new interest, I realized that the green spaces and puddles children explore now are no longer filled with a diversity of life; the box turtles, bullfrogs, tadpoles, bumblebees, and assortments of flitting insects have evaporated with the spray of insecticides and herbicides in our neighborhoods. The selection is reduced to cicadas, the common beetle, honeybees, a rare native bee, and an abundance of Cuban lizards that dwell in turf grasses, boxwoods, crepe myrtles and oaks. I have awakened to cultural landscape uniformity. COVID has changed how I see the need for perfect lawns; the dirty truth is mosquito home-misting machines, obsessive weed control, artificial turf and a lack of plant diversity have turned urban neighborhoods into manicured monocultures for humans exploring video games. These habitat changes in massive population centers are fast-forwarding evolution: loss of wildlife habitat is one of the biggest threats facing many animal species. This does not have to be—it is a societal choice, the ability to speed up evolution can go both ways. Through my works – Lawndale’s Symbiosis, Endangered Knowledge: The Soul of Humus, Gust, World of Hum, Rumblings and Root to Water—I am committed to creating work that educates and helps communities change how we landscape our cities to include valuing the natural world and turning back the evolution. In Dirt to Soil, Gabe Brown quotes Don Campbell, “If you want to make small changes, change how you do things, if you want to make big changes change how you see.” When I come across intriguing flora or fauna on my urban trail, albeit few and far between, I see them as evidence that can inspire a revolution in the landscape. If they are expired and will not decompose, I collect them. I see these bronze cast nests as urban wildlife fossils—biographies, every year a chapter recording Houston's environmental awakening. As an optimist—environmental—art—activist my work focuses on revealing endangered knowledge to change how we see urban landscapes and activate cooling the planet through our cityscapes. As migratory birds return year after year to build nests and raise their young, I return with optimism in my step. I envision witnessing the return of four hundred plus butterfly species and eight hundred bee species native to Texas. I can see this returned wildlife capturing my future grandkids' imaginations. I will tell them the story of how insects almost disappeared and how every yard is a micro-ecosystem and matters. I imagine their hands building nests with a diversity that I cannot imagine. I hear their voices telling me in one breath about the fuzziest-biggest bee they ever saw, covered in golden dust nesting in a patch of ground beneath the sunflowers not far from the silverleaf nightshade. I see them bringing me a tail-feather from a Red Shoulder Hawk and asking, "what does it hunt" and is it the bird that sounds like the squirrel's screech. After a rain, I see them finding two bullfrogs attached and their tiny ribbons of floating eggs in a pond. I hear them tell me not to touch the caterpillar of the southern flannel moth, and asking me, “how does it sting?”. At the low of evening when dragonflies hover; I will watch as they study the night heron’s quiet solitary stance as it stalks small citizens of the grass, I will smile as they question the raucous warnings of ravens and the scoldings of nut collecting squirrels. I will feel their excitement when neighborhood raccoons appear from storm sewers and scavenge treats from dog bowls and opossums waddle fence lines, searching out grubs and open garage doors. I will follow their eyes when the silent patrol of the lone coyote visits the shadows of our boulevards from their bayou bound dens. I let them sleep outside and hear their heavy eye lids ask, why do the owls ask who? I listen as they wake up to a concert of white-winged doves. I will feel peace when they are wise to nature.
Subterranous secrets
Once I started researching roots, I was in love. They have many cool features as a group and individually. I have three bronze roots completed and a few more in the works. Many scientific labs study root characteristics for their role in food production. I am interested in these conversations and those that discuss the roots architecture. Under recognized for their amazing features roots bring many values to the table. They are a tool that sequesters carbon, transports water deep into the soil and pumps it up Into the plant. They inhibit erosion and are the heart and vascular system of the planet. And that is just a start.
Endangered knowledge: The Soul of Humus #17 Cowbirds
I just read an intesting article; how Cowbirds are hedging their bets when choosing surrogate birds to hatch and raise their young. Another instance that supports the theory that diversity is the ticket when it comes to the survival of a species.
Coincidently I picked up the bronze Cowbirds yesterday. They are ready for me to recreate the texture where they were damaged during the spruing process. Once that is complete I will deal with their patina. I should wait and decide on their finish once the abstract bison is further developed. That said I am excited to see how the materials will look in a polished finish. Below are closeups of each bird - just for the record.
The finishes are very powdery looking and flat because they were just sandblasted. When I decide on the patiba the textures will really show up.
I took a risk when I decided on the manner in which I would create the birds. The Cowbirds are constructed in a primitive manner. And they look extra primitive laying on the faux bois chair. Context impacts the way we see. I feel hopeful the organic and rough construction will work on the abstract beast they will be attached to. Roughly constructed they support the story, polished perfectly detailed birds would not relay their connection to the geography and mammals. I realize I have not taken the safe root and hope I didn’t need to hedge my by as the Cowbirds did theirs.
Subterraneous Secret II
Subterraneous Secret is part of my Endangered Knowledge work. For several years, I have been researching grass-fed food production, attending soil conferences, and visiting regenerative ranches. Research in these fields shows how to fight desertification and reverse climate change through regenerative agriculture practices. Interestingly, this natural history of living soil, how it evolved with roots, fungus, plants, food, and animals, carbon and their essential roles within microbial communities in human health, is not common knowledge.
Recording natural history - ”Mute Testimony”
A fossil is our planet’s recorded history, the memoir of a life in a place, time, ecology, and evidence of global warming. It is Endangered Knowledge.
Many processes in art and the natural world lead to fossilization, including casting or mold making. I crafted a mold of a fossil that one of my children found at my son Griffin’s 8th birthday party in El Paso, Texas. It was a fossil hunting party at Cerro de Cristo Rey. (The intersection of two countries and three states, a special place.) A prehistoric relic, now a family treasure, I thought it would be meaningful to make a mold and cast it in bronze for each of my two children, a reminder of their childhood. A mold-of-a-mold a fossil-of-a-fossil. I found the redundancy poetic.
My son is now 31 years old. I have probably walked by the fossil once a day since Griffin was eight years old and did not think twice about it. Casting, it has forced me to think about the form and its value as an object of art. Evidence of aquatic life resurrected from the middle of the Chihuahuan desert— This poetic symbol of desertification will find meaningful ways to wander across disciplines into future environmental works.
Hearing, “this desert was once an ocean.” did not use to phase me. Thinking about the mineral remnant of a sea creature surfacing in one of the driest terrains in the US gives me pause; it makes me consider how we can live our urban lives and preserve natural systems.
I cast three additional fossils to share with others who are interested in natural history; two are finished in a natural patina and one in a contemporary finish — polished stainless steel.
Traces of ancient life tell story of early diversity in marine ecosystems
What We Think, We Become from conception to the completion.
My goal for this piece is to embody joy, celebrate life, be complex yet straightforward, and have moments of imperfection.
I will attach to the wax sculpture red wax channels (sprues) and a brown wax cup.
Below the piece is sprued up and ready to dip.
The dipping process builds layer by layer a ceramic shell around the sculpture and sprues. Once the Shell is built I will burnout the wax leaving a hollow cavity to pour the bronze in.
Dip 1 Slurry only
Final coat 24 hours after drying
Cutting the top of the cup and drilling holes to help the expanding gases escape when the wax is burned out.
The piece is now ready to be fired. The firing will harden the shell and melt out the wax sculpture, leaving the cavity for the bronze to be poured into. The wire sticking out will fall out when the wax is burnt out.
We poured the bronze into the shells last night. Now that the shell is cool it is time to break it off and see how it turned out.
my shoulder has taken all the pounding it can. I will have to get help to finish breaking off the shell.
In the below images all the metal work is done and the piece is ready to patina.
Adding the white marble patina
On the Road to Roam
January 19, 2020
We are on the road to Roam, and I am feeling a little concerned. I believe that we as a society are not connected to the raising/producing, culling, and processing of our food. With this disconnect, what is essential has been lost. This not only impacts our health but also our environment (including the bees) that we are borrowing from future generations. It is easy to be judgmental and to point fingers. If I am going to judge our current food production system, I need to experience the process that I believe is a healthy and responsible alternative. I need to be willing not only to talk the talk but walk the walk. Thursday, Curtis, and worked Roam’s Bison Roundup. We were nicknamed the gatekeepers. One female, after careful and thoughtful analysis, was selected to be culled today. This is not going to be easy, but I will be a better human from the experience......... on the road to Roam.
Opening the car door the last thing I hear on the radio is, ”everything is dust in the wind, ” for one second I find comfort in these words.
That explained it is a heavy feeling knowing that a life is being sacrificed. Being aware of what is being lost in order to put a high quality protein on the table makes every ounce of meat more valuable. Nothing should be wasted. The experience changes how we value animal protein.
I participated for two reasons; personal growth through awareness and a deeper knowledge for a body of work whose concept I am working on called Giving the Bird.
Endangered Knowledge: Soul of Humus #17
I started the lower jaw today. I spent the majority of the day researching the structure of the lower jaw and its movement as the bison chew.
Friday, I am committing to writing the Lawndale proposal- rewriting and rewriting and rewriting.
Same Time Next Year 2017, 2018, 2019
Same Time Next Year, is an annual survey of organic found objects preserved in the form of a bird’s nest cast in bronze. I retrieved these objects in a given year. I started making these modern-day fossils in 2013; each piece is a smidgen of a historical record of the natural world found in urban Texas. I include things I pick up gardening, walking my dog, flipping my compost bin, and daily outdoor chores. They are things that find me; I never go out hunting for them however I am always looking. Neighborhoods today are exceptionally manicured to the point of being sterile as opposed to full of life. Mosquito home misting machines and heavy weed control chemical additives keep the insects, birds and available organic matter relatively bland. I am campaigning to change the landscapes of urban settings. One day I hope there will be a greater diversity of found materials.
This year I am playing catch up and created the pieces for years 2017, 2018, 2019, in these pieces, there are bug casings, dried flowers, bug carcasses, twigs, wings, feathers, leaves, seeds a beetle, cicada and a dead bee. In January - March, I coated them in wax, sprued them up, dipped them to make the shell, and did two burnouts at the MFAH Glassell studio school foundry, and then the COVID 19 quarantine kicked in.
The MFAH responsibly closed the school but allowed us to pick up any work. I picked up the shells and took them to Legacy Fine Arts Foundry. They are great people, I have used them on several occasions on projects over the last six years. Their work is phenomenal; they finished burning out the shells and cast them, broke off the shells, cut off the sprues, and sandblasted the nests. I could break off the shells, but I have torn my shoulder twice, breaking off shells. I am so grateful for their help and enjoy working with them. I am excited to have the pieces cast, and I am ready to do the finish work and patina.
Below are the images I took as I worked on the three nests.
Nash Baker is my art photgrapher, Nash lost his photography studio to a fire studio during COVID. I will wait to have these pieces photographed when he is back in operation.
Sapling #9 to kindling - finish details
The finish can make or break a sculpture. I decided to lightly ground down the gritty textured surface on the concrete branches and polished the leaves. The highly detailed branches contrast with the simple almost primitive or crude Leaf-like forms. The leaves are smooth except any fingerprints and marks accidentally made by the process. The roughly made leaves have more energy and life than a realistically detailed leaf.
Sapling #8 to kindling - finishing touches
It needs a light sanding, a patina on the bronze and the concrete.
Sapling #7 - lath, 1st coat and second coat. (Copy)
My daughter special requested this piece. She asked if I could make her a sapling. My response was I could try, but the pencil size steel limits how thin I can make the tree limbs. Long story short, the sapling grew old fast. After the first coat the sapling limbs we're no longer sapling thin.
The abundance of knots is evidence that this tree is the host of many insects and good bacteria. Bees and other insects use trees for nesting and receive antiviral properties from the fungus and bacteria that grow on the tree.
Faux bois Wedding gift ❤️❤️#18
It turns out I did the first finish coat in white concrete. I have decided to put another coat on in the great concrete.
Faux bois Wedding gift ❤️❤️#15.5
I decided I should include a copy of Bob Pa’s obituary. It is one of the most touching obituaries I have ever read. My brothers and sister compile the information and my nephew and amazing writer Barrett Travis who now lives In Milwaukee wove the information into the last story of my dads life.
Obit’
With sadness, the family of Robert Ira Travis announceshis passing on March 24, 2018, at the age of 90. He was born to the late Gene Louise Young and Robert Fleming Travis on December 10, 1927.
Bobby attended Austin high school, graduating in the class of 1946, where he excelled in football, basketball, and track. After high school, he enlisted in the Army and was stationed in the 11th Weather Squadron in the Aleutian Islands, Alaska. He then attended Texas Western, now known as UTEP, where he was a brother in the Phi Tau fraternity.
Starting his family, he managed one of the farms in the lower valley owned by his grandfather, Robert Fleming Travis Senior. From 1951 through 1964 he was one of the pioneering farmers who helped utilize water pumps to establish the large acreage of Dell City for cotton farming, a foundational industry for the small town that continues to this day. He was also a rider on the Dell City Cowboy Polo team, which brought home a world title in the early 1960s. He additionally farmed in Laredo, Texas from 1964 to 1966.
In his early forties, he took over the Valley Feed store on North Loop Drive in El Paso, Texas, which grew during his life time from a small store front and warehouse in an inauspicious strip mall to become the Pet’s Barn chain of pet food and supply stores with 24 locations in El Paso, San Antonio, and Las Cruces.
While he was a great sports fan, especially fond of the patient, strategic pace of a Diablos baseball game (and attending cold beer, Diablo dog, and peanuts), he was a greater fan of people. He liked to drive his pick-up truck from store to store in El Paso, ostensibly to make deliveries, but it was pretty clear his aim was to connect with employees and remind them all to always keep a comb and pocket knife handy. It is quite possible that there is not a road in El Paso he has not driven in search of a good meal and good conversation.
It was his way to connect with others over food, and he was a connoisseur of El Paso cuisine. On his rounds, he scouted the city for locally owned gems to share with those he loved. He was a fine cook as well, especially known for his smoked meats, and knew that care and attention to detail could make any meal, from a 20 hourbrisket to a simple bowl of corn flakes, memorable.
Bobby was a self-starter with an independent streak, and while fortune did not always shine on his ambitions, he possessed the resilience and (he’d insist) plain dumb luck to build a lasting legacy. Not just in the business he helpedstart, but in the wit, wisdom, and love he shared with friends and family.
He is survived by sons Bob Travis (partner Terri Sanderson) and Dean Travis (partner Linda Razloznik) (El Paso); daughters Cindee Klement (husband Curtis) (Houston) and Janet Fortune; and his son-in-law Craig Fortune (El Paso); grandchildren Barrett Travis (partner Amber Giese) (Milwaukee, Wisconsin), Eric Travis (wife Josette) (El Paso), Aaron Travis (San Antonio), Nicole Ramirez (husband Renee) (Columbus, Ohio), Kyle Razloznik, Ryan Razloznik (wife Shellie) (San Antonio), Griffin Klement (wife Alex Groome) (College Station), Sage Klement (Houston), Travis Fortune (El Paso), and Reese Fortune (El Paso); sister Genie Lou Irvin (husband Widgie) (Columbia, Missouri); brother Warren Travis (San Francisco, California); great-grandchildren Abby, Emma and Danica Travis, Adam Hernandez and Julian Perez (El Paso), Collin Travis (Milwaukee, Wisconsin), Aiden and Harper Razloznik (San Antonio), and Evan Ramirez (Columbus, Ohio); and brother- and sister-in-lawsRobert and Mary Earp (El Paso).
A wake will be held in the warehouse of Pet’s Barn at 368 Yarbrough, El Paso, on
Sunday May 6th, 2018 at 2:00 pm, where his family and friends are invited to celebrate his life.
Memorial funds may be donated to the Animal Rescue League of El Paso, 7256 La Junta Dr., Canutillo, Texas79835, www.arlep.org/. 915-877-3785,
His family extends a special heartfelt thanks to Christina Rodriguez, whose care throughout the years made it possible for him to live at home, and to Eileen Carbajal, whose endless personal assistance and friendship throughout the years relieved him of daily worries and helped to maintain the independence he valued so greatly.
“You’ll remember me when the west wind moves
upon the fields of barley. You can tell the sun
in his jealous sky when we walked in fields of gold.”
A few images from the wake held in the feed store warehouse as he requested.
Faux bois Wedding gift ❤️❤️#13
Last Thursday while in Coronavirus 19 quarantine/social distancing I poured a top coat for the upper branches. I actually mixed all the ingredients over a year ago and then got caught up in making the pieces for my Hurricane Harvey Heroes exhibition 51.88” -Art of Resilience. The bucket of dry mix sat by the cement mixer untouched.
The piece will hydrate for 5 days. If it dries too quickly the concrete will crack. I (actually we, Curtis helped me) build a cube out of pvc. I covered it in heavy sheets of plastic that I cut and sewed to fit the cube. I then installed two construction zippers to allow me to get in and check the humidity. I put a humidifier in the cube with the bench, the humidifier keeps the concrete very moist.
Today I started to prepare the dry ingredients so that I can mix the concrete tomorrow morning.
I prepared 30 lbs. of dry ingredients, 10 pounds of fly ash and 20 lbs. of white concrete. And then I panicked - is the piece in white concrete or is it in grey? With the fly ash mixed with the concrete and the piece being wet, I can not determine what color it is. Yikes! this is a problem. I decided to mix a second bucket of dry ingredients. Tomorrow I will be ready for anything.
Family fossil patinas
Roots #5 after the pour- patina
breaking out the handle
adding the moss green patina
I thought I was ready to plan the faux bois handle, but while thinking through the process, it became evident that the root pieces supporting the structure are too small. I am concerned that under the weight of the concrete, they will bend. My solution is to add new pieces that are thicker to spread out the load.
I thought that it would be simple to add the patina to the new support pieces - wrong! It looks like I charred the new pieces. When things go wrong, it can be so frustrating.
Sandblasted and ready for Patina application #2.
A tip from David Delgado at Legacy fine art Foundry - After the birch wood Casey have some ferric ready and add a wash of ferric before the cupric nitrate mixture. This will help keep it green and not cupric blue.
birchwood Casey ✅
cupric nitrate
Just in time for earth day