SOCIALsculpture — how to see Houston

"If you want to make small changes, change how you do things;

if you want to make big changes, change how you see things."

— In Dirt to Soil, Gabe Brown

How do we restore an ecological balance in Houston? We see Houston in the global ecosystem, see our relationship with wildlife and sea life of the western hemisphere.

Houston

See — Houston can balance humanity and urban wildlife.

Site-Specific installation: Symbiosis is a micro-ecosystem in an important ecological space.

Houston is 600 square miles of mostly privately owned land inhabited by 2.3 million organisms, on the Gulf Coast of South-Eastern North America. Its rainwater runoff feeds the ocean and impacts reefs one hundred miles into the seas. Chemicals from Houston are reported killing reefs 100 miles into the Gulf.

Drain

See — The pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides used to keep Houston’s commercial, residential city and county landscapes manicured are leached by rainwaters that drain into the Gulf of Mexico from our streets.

The plants in Symbiosis do not need chemical inputs to thrive. They have evolved to withstand droughts floods and freezing temperatures.

Located near the lower apex of the triangular-shaped North American continent Houston’s land and water provide nesting, hydration, and nutrition for animals that utilize this critical migratory pathway that funnels migratory life between the northern and southern continents of the western hemisphere. More than one in four birds in the U.S. and Canada has disappeared within my lifetime. Birds play crucial roles in maintaining an ecological balance on the coastal prairie, from eating mosquitos to providing food for scavengers and decomposers.

One In Four Birds In the US Has disappeared In My Lifetime.

See — that birds play crucial roles in maintaining an ecological balance on the coastal prairie, from eating mosquitos to providing food for scavengers and decomposers.

Symbiosis is building living soil that supports bugs, beetles and insects that birds need to feed their young.

A male American Robin sits on the fence at Lawndale at the light of day June 18th, 2021 with Gulf fritillary larvae in his mouth. Until Symbiosis was installed birds flew over Lawndale. The garden was sterile of what modern civilization calls landscape pests/what birds feed their young. The sculpture garden did not offer food or habitat for birds.

Larvae of Gulf Frittilary butterfly – Detail of Symbiosis

See — An important nutrient necessary for birds young to thrive.

With native plants in our urban gardens and commercial outdoor spaces, chemical inputs are not necessary. Chemical-free yards will help bring back the 1107 species once common in the Coastal Prairie.

Houston, the site, has experienced extreme flooding and weather conditions. We are located where once was the Coastal Prairie ecosystem that sequestered Carbon like an upside-down rainforest and absorbed water like a sponge. Of that original landscape, only 1% still exists. And yet, we can see an opportunity to capitalize on Houston’s reputation as the city of energy and cultural diversity. We can mitigate global warming and extreme weather conditions by changing how we see our role in a balanced ecosystem.

Lawndale Symbiosis

Lawndale’s sculpture garden is a micro-ecosystem within an important macro-ecosystem that casts a wide net.

Symbionts

The Passiflora incarnata provides nectar for pollinators. Native bees are the original regenerative farmers, they take nectar and regenerate the flower pollinating the Passiflora incarnata.

This is one species of the 4,000 bees native to the US. (Please note this is not a honey bee. Honey bees are not native to the US. They are part of the industrial farming ecological problem.)

I see an opportunity to create the visual for environmental change. I see hope.

“Look closely at nature and you will understand everything better” - Albert Einstein

Look closely at your micro-ecosystem.

To sustain is not enough. Our civilization has depleted the Earth's soil. It is not enough to sustain a depleted planet; we must all do our part and regenerate soil health to sustain life. Regenerating the Earth’s soil is an ongoing DIY project.

ART CAN ONLY ACTIVATE CHANGE WITH YOUR ADDED PERFORMANCE

—If you care about the environment, help get the conversation going and restore an ecological balance in Houston. Post one image of Houston native plants and or wildlife on Instagram  #lawndalesymbiosis and tag two friends.

In addition, forward this to two friends. 

Ask two friends to do the same, and ask them to ask two more friends, building a pyramid of activism.

For an enhanced experience viewing Houston’s wildlife and landscape I recommend the citizen science apps

“iNaturalist” and “Seek”.

#LawndaleSymbiosis

Symbiosis — DIY (the images for this post are under construction, stay tuned)

Symbiosis — DIY Steps

Change can happen at lightning speed when innovation is coupled with imitation. Here are the steps I took feel free to imitate them.

I became familiar with the six principles of Holistic Regenerative agriculture through the Savory Institute, Roam Ranch and was recently featured in the film Kiss the Ground. I wanted to make a difference and regenerate depleted land, too. However, a bison ranch is not in my future. It occurred to me that changing how we landscape Houston could make an ecological impact. Lawndale Art Center offered me the opportunity to install an environmental sculpture in the garden. They had just re-landscaped the sculpture garden with a traditional garden, so I did not expect them to accept my proposal. However, Lawndale is committed to artists that explore aesthetic, critical and social issues of our times. Symbiosis is a catalyst to invite the public to change Houstons’s environmental impact. Applying these principles to Houston’s greater urban landscape will significantly impact climate and extreme weather conditions. Houstonians—or anyone—can do this. Climate change is a DIY project.

Below I describe these principles as I applied them to Symbiosis.

See how others across the world have used the same principles I used below.

6 PRINCIPLES of HOLISTIC REGENERATIVE AGRICULTURE AND SYMBIOSIS

Installing this site-specific installation, I incorporated the same principles used to regenerate depleted soils worldwide.   

Holistic management — BALANCE —Symbiotic

I keep in mind that the garden is a microsystem that must contribute to and function in the greater ecosystem of the western hemisphere’s continents and waters. In Symbiosis, I balance the needs of the; art institution, urban wildlife, donors, exhibiting artists, the surrounding community, and volunteers.

Holistic management — balancing the needs to run the art center, the neighboring community and urban wildlife/landscape.

Integrating livestock to build soil microbes — GroundWORK

 Living soil does not come from synthetic inputs. Instead, it comes from decaying matter that completes the circle of life. Mimicking this process in an urban environment is a crucial step. Without it, there is no life. In the natural world, grazing livestock such as bison, cows, sheep, goats, or chickens provides the decaying matter through their waste, stomping it in the ground and eating and damaging vegetation.

In Symbiosis, I mimic this process by installing a native leaf compost with animal waste components. It is full of beneficial microbes, free of dangerous synthetic chemicals, toxic dyes, and sewage. The heat from composting kills the pathogens. It is safe for children and pets. Because this step is critical, I turned it into a community performance art event. — GroundWORK

Intergrading animal — GroundWORK

Native moldy leaf compost was installed during the GroundWORK event on behalf of RoXoR gin a sponsor of Lawndale’s spring 2021 fundraiser event.

 Eliminating tillage  — CarbonSINK

 While we work to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, it is more critical to sink the Carbon in the atmosphere back into the soil. Carbon is stabile in the roots and microorganisms of plants in the ground. When soil is disturbed, Carbon is exposed to oxygen and transformed into carbon dioxide, which warms the planet. Conversely, organisms can establish communities that feed off the soil's organic matter when the earth is undisturbed. As soil organic matter improves, so does the soil’s internal structure.

A healthy soil biome is vital for suppressing plant diseases and cycling nutrients among plants, eliminating the need for synthetic inputs whose production increases our carbon footprint.

 In Symbiosis, I am building a CarbonSINK by not turning the soil over before planting, keeping the soil structure intact as much as possible, and implementing “Chop and Drop” composting when plants go dormant.  Symbiosis builds soil biology and increases soil structure, increasing the soil's ability to absorb Carbon and water, reducing runoff, soil erosion, flooding, and preventing pollution from entering nearby bayous. 

Eliminating tillage — CarbonSINK

After a freeze in 2022, the red salvia above ground suffered. I carefully chopped all the dead materials and dropped them in the garden. I always leave the roots in the ground and 6” - 10” of stems for solitary native bees to nest in.

Maximizing crop/plant biodiversity, — ReCover

 We do not know what we have lost until we recover it.

With this thought, I researched native plants and what roles they have played in the Houston area ecosystem. Identified in the Coastal Prairie are more than 1,000 plus plant species. I have not relied on hybrids/variants of species or plants considered beneficial. Instead, I selected 36 species known as indigenous to the area. Native plants have supported over 4,000 native bees, 1,107 bird species, 750 species of butterflies, 200 skippers, and 11,000 months, and 4,000 wasps.

Symbiosis is to recover and support as many of these species as possible for all four seasons. In addition to supporting wildlife, I sought out plants that helped control ground erosion and water absorption.  — Plant it and they will come—

Maximizing Biodiversity — ReCover

Hyla cinerea , there are five true tree frogs in Texas. They climb grass and require a permanent water feature, a trough pond will do. I first saw tree frogs in the garden in September 2021 on a bushy Bluestem. I have since seen them on the Mealy blue sage. I have never seen a 2.5” tree frog in Houston before. I hope we can recover a few for every yard.

Plant material selections:  Salvia Lyrata, Calyptocarpus vialis, Phyla nodiflora, Bouteloua gracilis, Carex peredentata, Tradescantia occidentalis, Calyophus brerland, Oenothera speciosa, Rudbeckia hirta, Ratibida columnifera, Monarda citriodora, Echinacea purpurea, Schizachyrium scoparium, Salvia coccinea, Gaillardia pulchella, Symphyotrichum patens, Salvia, Farinacea, Chasmanthium lati, Silphium gracile, Verbena xutha, Salvia azurea, Eryngium yuccifolium, Solidago sempervirens, Capsicum annuum, Callicarpa  Americana, Symphoricarpos orbiculatus.

Grasses:  Andropogon gerardii Vitman, Schizachyrium scoparium, Chasmanthium latifolium, Carex texensis

VINES: Lonicera sempervirens L, Gelsemium sempervirens, Wisteria frutescens, begonia capreolata, Passiflora incarnata

Keeping the soil covered — Skin =  CarbonSINK + GroundWATER  =  GlobalCOOLING

—Skin, Like human skin the palnet’s skin provides many services necessary for good health.

The Earth’s skin is green. “The Earth is a living organism, composed of millions of species and billions of organisms—bacteria, algae, microscopic insects, earthworms, beetles, ants, mites, fungi and more—representing the greatest concentration of biomass anywhere on the planet. Microbes, which make up only one-half of one percent of the total soil mass, are the yeasts, algae, protozoa, bacteria, nematodes, and fungi that process organic matter into rich, dark, stable humus in the soil."  There are more soil microorganisms in a teaspoon of healthy soil than there are people on the Earth! The living organisms in the soil receive their food and shelter from plants' biological processes and physical structure.

In Symbiosis protecting the surface of the work with green skin is an easy decision for me. The quality of the skin is intimately tied to cooling the planet through Carbon and groundwater.

Keeping the soil covered — Skin

 —CarbonSINK

I installed the plant material in a manner that mimics how seeds drift in the wind and are carried by animals in their coats or deposited in their waste — resulting in multilayered vertical, horizontal, and diagonal jigsaw puzzles of leaf shapes. These shapes have evolved over thousands of years, woven together to maximize every ray of sunlight. The living material will grow into a three-dimensional solar panel from 6" to  6' tall, sequestering Carbon out of the air and storing it in the living soil. I did not leave the ground bare around each species as is popular in traditional urban landscapes.

CarbonSINK — utilizing a variety of plant shapes to maximize carbon capture.

— GroundWater

Living organisms need oxygen. When rain hits the unprotected ground, the micro spaces that allow air to penetrate the soil collapse and the living organisms die from lack of oxygen. I selected thirty-six species of plants to include various leaf sizes and shapes, stem heights, bloom sizes, and surface textures. As the plants mature, they become a multitiered water slide of twists and turns, slowing rainwater, trickling it to the ground. This allows the Earth to respond like a sponge soaking up the precipitation and channeling it through the root systems and air pockets as freshwater to the aquifer for future generations. Slowing rainwater can mitigate flooding that has become the norm in Houston. 

— GlobalCOOLING: Soil soaked in water like a sponge and covered in plants that move, as a gentle breeze blows off the Gulf of Mexico, conditions and cools the air and the earth as it is warmed by the sun. In contrast moving cool rainwater across hot surfaces such as turf grass, artificial turf or concrete landscape, warms the water, picks up chemicals and dumps the urban solar-heated water full of toxic chemicals into the ocean. 

GroundWater and GlobalCOOLING — multiple layers of plants slow rainwater, giving the ground time to soak it up, purify and store it in the aquifer.

Maintaining living roots year-round — FoodWEB — GlobalCOOLING

Living roots in the soil are vital for feeding the bacteria and fungi that provide food for the creatures further up the chain. Living roots keep mycorrhizal fungi alive and healthy. These symbionts are vital for nourishing plants and provide convenient fertilizer and water. Maintaining living roots in the ground feeds organisms, providing year-round carbonSINK and GlobalCOOLING.

Endangered knowledge: the Soul of Humus.

SMH fall of 2020 was canceled due to Covid 19 last July of 2020. I put a halt on welding my piece and focused on planning “Symbiosis.” “Symbiosis” is installed the Big Show is opened which provided a tremendous amount of traffic. I will still check on it every day, but I will spend most of my day building my piece for SMH 2021. Today I started where I left off. Below are images from last year's work and blog posts.

When I stopped in 2020 I had the hooves on steel plate bases and new where I wanted them to bare the weight.

Today I cut the rebar to form the lover part of the legs and grinded the tips. Tomorrow I weld.

Some of my notes from measuring Epics Bob the bison January of 2020.

My bison will be in motion not standing still.

The skull and upper jaw.

And lower jaw

4 pieces of rebar cut for each leg will provide the structure of the lower legs.

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

Root to Water- when science backs your art -Art that looks at science with a critical eye.

"It is clear that the past offers a vast repertoire of cultural knowledge that we cannot ignore," highlights Professor Boivin.

It is a different way to think of things; however they are on the right root. I have a feeling there will be more areas Root to Water intersects science.

ROOT TO WATER

12” X 18” X 12”

found objects: rusted steel irrigation wheel, root

photo by Nash Bake

Spontaneity and art - a good thing, we will see

I started my day at 6:30 am, pasting images of work into a word document for a curator/art consultant. A necessary task that I was thrilled to do- however, mind-numbing, to say the least. By 12:30 crossed eyed I took the dogs on a walk. When I came across this. My mind numbing was instantly healed with inspirational thoughts.

Seven immaculately bundled trimmings from a neighbors Crape, Myrtle. Crape murdered or not I- the trees were in the backyard, could not see them.

My trimmings from a site-specific installation @Lawndale Center for the Arts. Symbiosis

The image above is from last week at Lawndale (a post in am tardy with) My trimmings are wild and unruly. I am using them on social media to make a point - to change how we landscape- to landscape with habitat for wildlife in mind.

My neighbor's bundles of limbs are in sharp contrast to mine. They are an example of how controlling urban green spaces have become, the tidiness that is expected In our yards.

I am so tempted——— Such a great opportunity to turn these found object organic materials, perfectly assembled tied up with yellow cords into gorilla art. The colors will look amazing at Lawndale. It is not part of my work on Symbiosis to install anything I want. 🤔 The entire dog walk I was haunted by the bundles and their yellow cords. I am not comfortable installing gorilla art but I am excited with the idea and I know Lawndale won’t have me arrested like other institutions might if I randomly installed objects in their sculpture garden, right?

I have always challenged myself to take on the art that scares me the most- to embrace the butterflies as my son tells me. You don’t know until you try. - jump

I went to the door, I was hoping no one was home, Abby was a new neighbor and I introduced myself. - she moved in during Covid. We had a nice chat and she welcomed me to take her piles.

It took two trips

😁 when I bring new materials to Lawndale, I like to photograph them on this turquoise wall- documenting my materials. And I have to say! I love the colors - the Textures.

I declare this installation number 1. Untitled.

This technically is not Lawndale property, the wall is theirs, but the lot is unfortunately not owned by the institution. The lot is vacant. I get all the bundles out so I can pick up load number 2.

Installation number 2

Installation number 3

The yellow ties make my heart sing, that rich brown against the turquoise, and the golden grass softening the base, I am in heaven. I see ballerinas chins up, lined up to take their bows center stage. I had one left.

A painter from last week left their yellow roller- waste not want not. The clippings Are rich on the violet too.

Sometimes I feel guilty that I love my work so much.

Lawndale Art Center - symbiosis

"It's not about glorifying the past, or vilifying progress," emphasizes Professor Boivin. "Instead, it's about bringing together the best of the past, present and future to steer a responsible and constructive course for humanity."

In a nutshell, this is what I hope to achieve with my site-specific piece, Symbiosis.

I am rethinking the uses of yard clippings.

Lawndale - Symbiosis - extractive

In Symbiosis I am stretching my practice and creating a living piece of site-specific art activism that will reimagine a 53.5’ X 48’ traditional urban landscape/sculpture garden and answer the question: how do we holistically restore an ecological balance in Houston? Symbiosis is a collaboration with Lawndale Art Center’s community, neighbors, urban wildlife, and the coastal prairies carbon cycle.

The west border of the garden has five 1 1/2 year old Crepe Myrtle’s a tree famous for murder. The murder refers to badly pruning the tree- down to the knuckles. I was not having these Crape Myrtle’s murdered. Today I used a extractive method of sculpting and clipped- nipped - and cut the existing branches. I shaped the branches/armature of the two end trees.

A sculpture garden has the four seasons of the year and a sculpture garden has the additional change of exhibitions. The pedestals from the last exhibit were still in the garden. 🤔perfect way to highlight the beauty in the wild- the imperfect- the not immaculate urban landscape.

FYI- crepe Myrtle’s are not native however they are a cherished gift to the Art Center. As an optimistic art activist I look at the project holistically to include the desires of the Art Centers board.

When I work in wire, or steele if I cut too much I can always weld it back it add more wire they are forgiving materials. When I clip a branch it is gone- no second chance. .

#artactivism #cindeeklementart #symbiosis #lawndaleartcenter #nativeplants #coastalprairie #sculpture

Create Myrtle cuttings wildly place on a pedestal.

North West Crepe Myrtle after pruning.

Cuttings from two Crepe Myrtle's and the olive trees from a few weeks ago.

South end Crepe Myrtle

The Gift of Crepe Myrtles part 1 — Ready-Mades, Assemblage

Found object — Lagerstromia indica

Size varies 70"– 93" X 49' X 4'

Two of the five Crepe Myrtles on the northwest corner, before I started sculpting Symbiosis, — summer of 2020.

The first thing I did was release the stakes supporting the trees. Just like humans trees become strong from movement, thickening their trunks and stimulating root growth.

The Crepe Myrtles were generously donated to the garden before I started sculpting Symbiosis. Donations are the lifeblood of Lawndale — it is crucial I not clip off that support. Planted in a row on the Travis street side, the treasured trees are the west border of the space next to the fence; they are a significant element of the work, objets trouvés, ready-mades. They anchor, frame and end the assemblage. They are stage left from the parking lot. Many of their characteristics will change every year; they are moving targets, living found objects. I will use them to create the above-ground kinetic components of the sculpture.

detail of the found objects

They are stage left from the parking lot. summer of 2020

There is a symmetry in Symbiosis that balances the needs of the Lawndale Art Center's artists, exhibitions, neighbors, urban wildlife, and the soundscape of urban sculpture gardens. As I prune the Crepe Myrtles, I have to weigh the impact of these elements with every extraction; most features are not physically part of the garden but are part of the whole. Like all sculptures, they have components you can't see; the armature supports everything and the welds that give strength.

The Crepe Myrtles are planted in a row on Travis Street, at the far west end of the garden.

This work requires considerable online research and quiet observations: listening, seeing, and questioning; I continue to learn and observe what wildlife these Lawndale treasures will benefit, symbiotically balancing the needs of the living organism in the heart of the arts district on the Coastal Prairie. What would the arts be without the influence of the natural world?

I took this image through the Crepe Myrtles at the Fall 2020 opening. There was plenty of room for social distancing. It was the first COVID event for Lawndale and for me.

Crepe Myrtles, part 2 — The pruning and trimming is actually the creation of a living sculpture and what that effects are.

Lagerstromia indica —The ways of sculpting symbiotic relationships.

In January of 2021, I shaped the Crepe Myrtles. The living organisms impacted by this creative work are an assemblage of considerations. In holistically sculpting a regenerative site-specific sculpture of living organisms, I have to balance the hierarchy of the living creatures; with every cut, I ask how it will impact the whole?

Golden-eye Lichens - Teloschistes chrysophthalmus- Native to the United Kingdom these lichens survive in harsh environments where algae cannot normally survive. Lichens enable algae to live all over the world. They also provide a means to convert carbon dioxide in the atmosphere into oxygen. I found two small patches on one of the Lawndale Crepe Myrtle’s. I took this before the Texas freeze. It survived but is now struggling. Lichens only grow on Crepe Myrtle’s that are struggling, but they do not harm the Crepe Myrtle’s. I am hunting for more information about the relationship between the lichens and the Crepe Myrtle’s.

Cutting-clipping-chopping, I work to balance and enhance four features; make them aesthetically attractive, shape the Crepe Myrtle branches to benefit the birds, the neighboring community,  pollinators and other metropolitan creatures underserved an unknown. I researched how landscapers recommend you prune Crepe Myrtles. I did not want to Crepe Murder them.

Extraction

LOCAL CRIME SCENES

EVIDENCE OF THE COPYCAT MURDERS PLAGUING HOUSTON’S WILDLIFE HABITATS.

I also questioned past practices developed without considering the impact on nature. Landscapers recommend cutting away all horizontal branches for human visual pleasure. That gave me pause—without any horizontal elements, how do birds and squirrels support their nests? I started looking around at birds' nests, something I do all of the time anyway. I observe birds building their nest in protected areas of trees where many cross branches stabilize their nests and protect from wind, sun, and predators.

BIRDS NESTS, PROTECTED FROM WIND, AND SUN BY A WEB OF TREE BRANCHES, AND

HIGH IN THE TREES, SAFE FROM PREDATORS ATTACKING FROM ABOVE.

BIRDS NESTS, PROTECTED FROM WIND, AND SUN BY A WEB OF TREE BRANCHES, AND

HIGH IN THE TREES, SAFE FROM PREDATORS ATTACKING FROM ABOVE.

Left- high in the neighboring Crepe Myrtle is a nest.. RIGHT- A close-up showing how much protection the web of limbs provides for the nest.

If I were only shaping the trees for the birds, I would not cut a twig. For the neighbors walking on the sidewalk, I used the sculpting method of extraction to remove all branches poking out of the fence under 6 feet.

A Neighbor walking along Travis Street. In the future, the white Crepe Myrtles will canopy the sidewalk and provide a shaded path.

On the fence's museum side, I pruned the trees high off the ground as the flowering natives we plant beneath them will need lots of sunshine to support various pollinators. I managed to create a few nooks and Ys where limbs came together. Next year, the trees should be tall enough to provide lots of safe branches for birds to perch on that will stretch high over the sidewalk and shade the neighbors.

I picture a row of clouds spun like cotton candy out of white Crepe Myrtles blooms arching over the fence protecting those strolling from their townhouses to the museums, hiding powerlines from view. — time will twll.

The trees limbs are the armature for several components of the assemblage.

Subterraneous Secrets - how plant roots communicate with microorganisms

“Roots are essential for reaching water and nutrients, for anchorage to the ground, but also for interacting and communicating with microorganisms in the soil. A long root enables the plant to reach deeper, more humid layers of soil, for example during drought. A shallower root with many root hairs is good for phosphate uptake, as phosphate is mostly found in the upper soil layers.”-

Lawndale symbiosis - milkweed and monarchs

I have read that a few migratory monarchs spend the winter in the Houston area and join a small resident population of monarchs. I have also read that it is essential to choose native milkweed as opposed to tropical. Tropical milkweed—doesn’t die back in the winter as native milkweed does. When a place to lay their eggs year-round is available, many monarchs don’t bother making the trip to Mexico.. I saw this caterpillar on my morning walk. It was seriously munching on the milkweed. Milkweed is the only plant that provides the nourishment that will transform the caterpillar into a monarch butterfly. It is important to plant only none-hybrid native milkweed. Texas milkweed will be included in my 2021 Lawndale Art Center Sculpture garden piece Symbiosis. In Symbiosis, I am stretching my practice and creating a living piece of site-specific art activism that will reimagine a 53.5’ X 48’ traditional urban landscape/sculpture garden and answer the question: how do we holistically restore an ecological balance in Houston? Symbols is a collaboration with Lawndale Art Center’s community, neighbors, urban wildlife, and the coastal prairies' carbon cycle. For more details see this link.

#carboncycle #cindeeklementart #texasart #houstonart #contemporaryart #modernart #caterpillar #monarch #milkweed #nativeplants #migration #energy #movement

#lawndaleartcenter #symbiosis #artactivism

The day after the caterpillar sighting.

The beauty of a leaf runs deep.

How beautiful droplets of dew or rainwater puddle on the waxy leaf surfaces? They provide the watering holes for nature’s tiniest creatures.🐞🐛🕸️🦎🐌🐸🐜🦋🐝

What do you see when you see a leaf? ☘️🌿🌱🍀

I see a unique natural system. Leaves multi-functioning as micro reservoirs, coats of armor protecting the soil, and micro floodgates slowing rainwater. 💦🌊💧

On the Coastal prairie, leaves function to protect the soil from being compacted by the pelting raindrops. If the heavy raindrops fall is not broken by layers of leaves and organic matter, the tiny cavities in living soil collapse, and rainwater moves horizontally across our landscape instead of into the tiny reservoirs in the soil. We need these small cavities to allow water to penetrate deep into the soil. Leaves also slow rain droplets giving the soil time to transport the rain to its deepest roots. Once the rain is in the ground cooling our planet leaves protect the soil from the heat of the day. This multilayered ground cover gives rain more time to trickle into the aquifer. Purifying our water and cooling our planet. How amazing are leaves? As an artist my how we see urban landscapes

My work records endangered knowledge to the collective memory and reimagines urban landscapes to holistically balance the needs of humanity and wildlife.

In Symbiosis I am stretching my practice and creating a living piece of site-specific art activism that will reimagine a 53.5’ X 48’ traditional urban landscape/sculpture garden and answer the question: how do we holistically restore an ecological balance in Houston? Symbiosis is a collaboration with Lawndale Art Center’s community, neighbors, urban wildlife, and the coastal prairies carbon cycle. #symbiosis #lawndaleartcenter #urbanlandscapes #artadia #coastalprairie #water #leaves #conservation art #bioart #nature #contemporaryart #modernart #artactivism #cindeeklementart #texasart #houstonart

Grasslands vs. trees

When it comes to the environment in the 21st century grasslands beat trees when it comes to carbon sequestration. Our planet is a living breathing organism, impacted by our actions, always changing. I believe It is important that we constantly observe and evaluate how it changes as humans developed and expand across it.

Trees are a thing of beauty but they store carbon above ground in their trunks and limbs.when they catch on fire the trunks and limbs release their carbon into the atmosphere. Grasslands storing carbon underground release little carbon when they catch on fire. In addition the grasslands are a giant sponge soaking up water that prevents dryness and fires.

With the forest fires we have suffered world wide it is time to plant more grasslands and turn these areas suffer ending from droughts into giant sponges for soaking up water and carbon. When the ground is moist then we can can start adding back trees.

Drying coastal prairie native grass in my studio.

I felt like Sally Fields

I feel like Sally Fields at the end of her A Awards acceptance speech- anyone my ages remembers how funny that was. I always think of Sall F. When I think of being grateful when I get any positive feed back for my art.

This has to be my most liked Instagram post. That should tell me something. I guess I will be officially finding a way to combine Rumblings and the World of Hum. 🤔🤠🐝

Why Houston is in the perfect position to save the bee

Rural areas are highly impacted by the unanticipated consequences of our industrial agriculture’s dependence on chemicals that weaken bee’s immune systems. Urban bee populations can be more diverse than in rural areas. Researchers are finding in cities such as Chicago, Berlin, Berkley, and Melbourne that have reimagined their parks, neighborhoods, city centers, vacant lots, street medians, and rooftops planted with native flowers, grasses, and fruit, and vegetables support healthy, vibrant wild native bee populations.

In the US, there are four thousand native bee species. They pollinate over three hundred times more effectively than honey bees. For example, A single female Leafcutter Bee visits 100,000 plus blossoms per day whereas a honey bee visits 50-1000.

Unlike the honey bee, Native bees do not swarm, are not aggressive. Native bees are perfect for urban population centers.

Houston covers 600 square miles of land and has one of the longest growing seasons in the U.S. As it continues to sprawl across Texas, its gardens must increasingly become a refuge for native plants and animals. With 2.3 million people living in the most vital economic, cultural center of the south, we can become the most critical urban native bee habitat in the United States.

I have spent the last year and a half studying the bee situation as it pertains to my art and my interest in regenerative agriculture. I am determined to take this knowledge and save the bee in urban settings.

With Houston's land size, population, and location in the Sunbelt like it or not-we are impacting the bee population.

ADDITIONAL LINKS

If Cuba can create urban gardens to feed its poor can you imagine what we can do

Minnesota Will Pay Homeowners to Replace Lawns with Bee-Friendly Wildflowers, Clover and Native Grasses.

Prairies absorbing water

The loss of biodiversity reduces the capacity of ecosystems to provide the multiple services on which humans depend.

Why flowering meadows are better than lawns

Urban soil health: A city-wide survey of chemical and biological properties of urban agriculture soils

Symbiosis building soil life.

How do you build soil health without having the luxury of animal impact. It is one thing to build soil health on a bison farm. The microbes in the the the bison, turkey, pig and chicken dung builds the life in the soil. In the sculpture garden at Lawndale I am going to use LEAF MOLD COMPOST. This product is produced primarily from recycled leaves, with a little grass and horse manure mixed in, a touch of fruits and vegetables. After a long slow compost it will be rich in beneficial microbes. It will help save water and promote healthy soil. I was going to wait until early spring before we replanted the garden. However, Sunday Lawndale is having it's Sunday brunch fund raiser. And this is in the day if Covid 19 so the event is outside. I noticed that the heavy rains of late have compacted several areas in the beds and washed away some soil. It will be an opportunity to to talk about living soil,

I spent time researching different types of compost and mulch. Natures Way Resources compost native plants, is locally owned and located in the Houston area. The owner is a soil scientist. I had a long conversation with him today and he really knows living soil. I can't wait to see life return to the garden.

Here you can see how the soil is wearing away without having plants/roots hold it down. You can also see how the rain hitting it had compacted the ground. When the soil becomes compacted it stops absorbing water. .

The goods

The tools

Shoutout HTX

Anytime an organization or individual takes notice of my work it is a gift. Thank you Shoutout HTX for supporting me and other local artists.

Army Corps of Engineers study

The Army Corps of Engineers study to reduce flooding risk does not consider utilizing any nature-based solutions. Here is a fascinating discussion of nature-based solutions that will not cost $1 -$12 billion.

“How fleeting are the wishes and efforts of man! How short his time! and consequently how poor will his products be, compared with those accumulated by Nature during whole geological periods.” 

                                                      —Charles Darwin, Origin of the Species

I was already working on this piece and the artist/activist/conservationist statement that it visually supports. I am excited to get it photographed and out to the public. There is no question that Charles Darwin had it right. Before we spend $12 billion and wreck the Katy Prairie and Buffalo Bayou let’s review a study by bioengineeers.