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Leafcutter (petal cutter) Megachile and the Blanket flower
Watercolor and pastel monotype
30” X 44”
Leafcutter bee flying to its nest just after cutting a petal from the Texas native Gaillardia pulchella aka blanket flowers. They use the petals to protect walls and to seal their nests. In exchange for the petals, the leaf cutter pollinates the blanket flowers bloom. It is one of my favorite relationships in “Symbiosis.”
A two-year-old can be feisty, or would it be more like a rebellious teenager coming into its sexuality?
April of 2021, I started installing the plant material in “Symbiosis.” Seeing, hearing and smelling the transformation has been a gift. This past spring marked the first anniversary. This post celebrates the relationships and natural systems I have documented from the first anniversary through mid-August.
Keep in mind that in the summer of 2020, when I agreed to install a site specific living sculpture, I went every day to observe the space. Sitting and looking — observational research is a big part of my work.
How did it function in the ecosystem? The mowed nonnative zoysia turf grass was neat within its “borders.” The nonnative shrubs and plants were in aligned rows amongst compressed dirt and it was static. As the summer days warmed the bare spaces, the rising heat never created any movement in the garden. It was designed in rows and easy to maintain with gas-powered mowers and edgers. The first soil test revealed that the garden was void of life. The lower food chain of earthworms and grubs was absent. That explained why the birds flew by without landing. There was nothing for them to forage or seek shelter from predators. It did not soak up much water and sequestered little carbon. Lawndale’s Sculpture Garden was a dysfunctional plot of earth. It was green but not part of the coastal prairie ecosystem.
In a sea of Midtown asphalt and groomed properties in April of 2021, I questioned; would any wildlife find the small space? Failure was possible.
Nature was undeniably resilient in year one. Symbiosis was a living sculpture, a functioning part of the coastal prairie and the New World. The installation was not land art; it was a living ecosystem. It regenerated life.
On Mother’s day after the first big rain, the pond was full of white green treefrog eggs. The relationship between amphibians and clean water and important in building the lower food chain and keeping it in balance. for more details see the post Symbiosis — Green Treefrog Eggs.
Cricotopus rests on the Lawndale Art Centers building. This image is symbolic of a nonprofit art institution’s commitment to it's relationship with the natural world. Hopefully it will inspire others.
Large carpenter bee on a trumpet vine bloom.
Mutation of a rudbeckia hirta. A reminder that being different is beautiful.
the chemical free trough pond provides a habitat for toads to mate and leave their eggs. The tadpoles in return eat algae keeping the water clear and mosquito larvae. #social sculpture.
White-striped longtail enjoying a Rudebeckia hirta bloom.
Anole asserts his dominance on the trunk of a dead olive tree.
Ischnura hastata Citrine forktail on a frogfrut leaf.
Blue dock beetle enjoying the nutrition of a volunteer plant.
Spilosoma Virginia on a Rosinweed sunflower leaf.
Cricotopus Non biting midge on Rosinweed leaf.
Hippodamia convergens convergent lady beetle, on a volunteer plant.
unknown - But interesting
Celithemis fasciata and frogfruit.
Native bee _________ and Rosinseed sunflower.
Repipta taurus , Red bull assassin bug and painted blanket leaf.
Dolba hyloeus pawpaw sphinx and fall bedient plant
the perfect match a native carpenter bee’s body has evolved over the ages to fit the Passiflora incarnata perfectly.
Libellulidae- skimmer and docks. I often find skimmers perched on this past dried docks. They have a strong bond.
Mother Mockingbird feeding juvenile a tiny toad.
Juvenile Mockingbird perched on the manmade fence.
great blue skimmer (is a dragonfly) and the spent thimble flower.
2 Leafcutter bees mating.
2 Leafcutter bees mating and a spent painted blanket bloom.
Atalopedes campestris (called sachem in the United States and Canada) is a small grass skipper butterfly and frog fruit.
Another view
Hemiargus_ceraunus and frogdruit.
Umbrella paper wasp and spent sunflower.
Paper wasp and passion flower. PLANTS CALL WASPS TO THE RESCUE WITH AN AROMA THE INSECTS LOVE. This is a special relationship.
More (green eyed) leaf cutter bees mating again on spent painted blanket bloom.
Male Eastern Carpenter bee- check out those big green eyes and fall obedient plant.
Sphex Digger wasp. On passiflora incarnata
Obscure Bird Grasshopper shaded by the leaves of Turks cap.
A pipevine swallowtail or Blue swallowtail laying eggs on a dried leaf of a red salvia. .
Battus philenor, the pipevine swallowtail or blue swallowtail and a morning glory vine.
Gulf fritillery butterfly and a passiflora incarnate
Dolba hyloeus (pawpaw sphinx) is a moth of the family Sphingidae and a fall obedient bloom.
Follow up post coming soon
Female common Whitetail skipper and a dried stem of a Rosin weed sunflower.
Leafcutter native bee and frogfruit.
Spiderweb that and dew . Does the quenching dew lure prey into the spiders web. I see a relationship between the spider and Earth’s closed water system.
Eastern carpenter bee and a rotting tree.
Eastern carpenter bee building a nest in a rotting wood.
Leafcutter bee and blanket flower.
Leafcutter bee with a petal of a blanket flower Gaillardia pulchella. They use the petals to build their nests.
American toad And Earth’s closed water system.
American toad out for a stroll during the rain.
Plushback fly and Salvia azure.
Another species of leadcutter bee cutting a bllanket flowr petal.
Swallowtail butterfly and white veined morning glory.
Swallowtail butterfly depositing an egg on white veined morning glory. Follow up post coming soin.
Jumping spider and fall obedient plant.
Plushback fly and blue salvia
The relationship between rainwater or dew and plants is a crucial part of any ecosystem. In this case the few is is on a stem of crabgrass. If you run your fingers down the stem you will notice the texture that slows water from running off it's surface too fast.
Dew and stems
Carpenter bee and Salvia azure
I have noticed that plant material on the edges of symbiosis stops garbage from blowing from the convenience store. I see this as another way plants are in partnership with our various ocean.
Anole safely camouflaged in the chaotic lines of the vines mixed with a diversity of plant stems.
Juvenile mocking bird on a dead olive tree branch. I saw about six of them hiding in the American beautyberry after the rain. Now that the installation is a year old, it is getting height and layers. This added heights provides the birds with more protection, berries and perches for hunting small prey.
Stink bug on American beauty very.
Carpenter bee getting a back rub wile collecting nectar and pollen on a purple passion flower.
Sphex habenus, Golden-reined Digger Wasp and Rosin weed sunflower.
Sunlight nesting in Rattlesnake master.
?
Subtribe Hesperiina And milkweed.
Subtribe Hesperiina And frogfruit
? Bee on Rattlesnake master
roseate skimmer and fall obedient plant.
Skipper on bloom less salvia stem.
New World Checkered skipper and everybody’s buddy frog fruit.
Sor ies of fly sleeping in butterfly faea Bush.
The Bison in the Texaco Star
The third pasture/exhibition
As in agriculture that rejuvenates the soil, the bison has rotated to its third pasture/exhibition. It began in a historic grain silo/art venue in Sculpture Month Houston's Altamira, which considered modern caveman's materials and message to the future, followed by the Blue Norther exhibit, where the bison addressed extreme weather's connection to soil. Now it brings its message to the Houston Forever exhibition in the former Texaco Building in downtown Houston.
The Star building, former home of Texaco, the company that developed the Spindletop gusher in 1901 and took the US into the oil age, is a key location in the sculpture's rotation. The bison in the Star embodies our civilization's conflict "between" ecology and commerce. Before Spindletop, oil was primarily used for lighting and as a lubricant. With Spindletop's abundance, Texaco began marketing petroleum for mass consumption. What can we learn about natural carbon cycling through the soil from the herd's eating and waste habits — also called consumption and regeneration — contrasted with the development of the energy industry and our society's mass consumption without individual responsibility for regeneration? Comparing and contrasting these two energy sources, both receive energy from the earth: one where each consumer returns carbon to the soil and the other supplying a chain of energy but still trying to figure out how to repay its debt of carbon for future generations. Integrating natural systems of regeneration can steer our innovation and creative minds to a future in which consumption, conservation and regeneration of earth's resources are in balance.
I Leave aphids be. It may look alarming but It is a necessary step in regaining a balance of good bugs and bad in "Symbiosis". I am looking forward to see which beneficial insects show up to help the planet manage the aphids. Aphids feed through a needle-like mouthpart. After they insert their mouthpart into a plant's tissue, they then use it like a straw to suck out plant juices. The do not kill the host plant. Aphids aid benefical bugs they are food for thousands of different species of predatory insects. As protein Aphids help build a broad diversity of beneficial bugs in nature.
After writing this post I came across one of the most interesting insect control articles.
We have so much to unlearn.
Land art or earth art has paved the way for what I hope will become a new art movement.
The Tate defines Land art or earth art as the art made directly in the landscape, sculpting the land itself into earthworks or making structures in the landscape using natural materials such as rocks or twigs. With the Tate's definitions, Symbiosis is land art, a part of the conceptual art movement, and environmental art.
What separates Symbiosis from these traditional classifications of art are the concepts I apply to my creative decision-making process and the materials I use support and regenerate life. It values all living creatures as participants in the creative process.
My process for creating a living sculpture involves holistic decision-making. First, I incorporate a systems thinking approach to create a functional balance between the healthy ecosystem, human economics and societal landscape norms. For example, contemporary landscape designs are structured in monocrop rows or groupings separated with bare earth. To maintain the manicured design, weed-killing chemicals and gas-operated mowers and edgers are the most economical. This lack of plant diversity, geometric-in-shape groomed plantings, and chemical inputs make these landscapes uninhabitable for a diversity of wildlife other than a few lizards. For many valuable insects and microorganisms, the inputs are deadly. These designs do not consider supporting the food chain necessary in a healthy ecosystem. In Symbiosis, I keep the ground covered with a diversity of plantings that drift in and out of each other and with the seasons; this provides camouflage from predators, nesting materials, and a variety of nourishment all year. Weeds fit into this landscape and help build the microorganisms and structure or armature in the soil. This less structured planting design is balanced with a classical symmetrical layout. Symbiosis is designed to build the food chain. The maintenance required is easily accomplished with handheld clippers. The clippings are put back into the garden to decompose by insects and natural systems that build the soil health and retain water and carbon, or into a vase to be enjoyed. Ultimately Lawndale benefits economically through lower maintenance, chemical inputs, and utility costs, while enjoying a toxin-free environment—living sculpture.
I use materials that support plants and wildlife specific to the site's ecological history. I begin with a water source, animal waste and decaying plant materials native to the area. These materials build habitat and nourishment for microorganisms in the soil, in the water feature and up the food chain to sustain each other in extreme Texas weather. When combined with our clay soil they: store carbon, cool and return water to the aquifer, support life beneficial to humans and keep harmful pests at bay. In addition, they assist in cleaning the air, slowing rainwater, and reducing land erosion.
For example, I have created symbiotic relationships between humans, mosquitos, dragonflies, fish, and chemical-free water. In a hot environment, animals need a freshwater source to drink and reproduce. I installed a small pond without a filter or pump. Using plants to filter the water, I utilize the eating and waste habits of the Texas Mosquitofish to control the algae and build the water's biology. Mosquitos and dragonflies are attracted to still water with a balance of healthy bacteria and algae to deposit their larvae. The larvae become protein for the fish. Attracted by the water source, the dragonflies hover above the garden and on dried plant materials hunting mosquitos, supporting human health. Lawndale benefits economically by not utilizing an electric pump, needing a mosquito misting machine or pesticides and enjoys the beauty of the water feature and a kinetic, ephemeral rainbow of dragonflies hovering and darting over the living sculpture.
In Symbiosis, as the lower food chains develop, it begins to regenerate life and recover what is lost. Perpetual, it is art for now and future generations. In a living sculpture, the ways to evaluate it are space, shape, line, color, texture and regeneration.
I submit below images and descriptions of symbiotic relationships, ephemeral parts of the installation from April 2021-April 2022.
Gulf fritillary caterpillar on a consumed passionflower vine Passiflora Incarnata.
Lady bug pupae on a mile a minute vine.
Dung loving birds nest fungus
Gulf Fritillary butterfly on rosin weed sunflower. It roots can extend 16’.
image by Nash Baker courtesy of Lawndale Art Center
Black Swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes) on Monarda citriodora lemon beebalm image by Nash Baker courtesy of Lawndale Art Center.
Gulf fritillary butterfly on Gulf verain Verbena xutha image by Nash Baker courtesy of Lawndale Art Center
Battus philenor a pipevine swallowtail
Gulf fritillary on Rudkeckia hirta
Long-tailed skipper Urbanus proteus on Salvia azure
Junonia coenia the common buckeye butterfly on a blanket flower Gaillardia puchella with dew drops.
Black Swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes) on scarlet sage Salvia coccinea.
Gulf Fritillary butterfly on purple cone flower
Red arrow Rhodothemis lieftincki on dead olive tree limb.
Mosquito control and water source for winged species.
Past bushy blue stem and Seaside Golden rod. I leave them through March so the winds can spread their seeds to other gardens, and to provide shelter for birds, tree frogs, toads, and field mice.
Plathemis Whitetail Skimmer
Mosquito control and water source for winged species.
Past bushy blue stem and Seaside Golden rod. I leave them through March so the winds can spread their seeds to other gardens, and to provide shelter for birds, tree frogs, toads, and field mice.
White skipper and blanket flower
Brown skipper and Rudbeckia hirta
Cindee Travis Klement
Endangered Knowledge: The Soul of Humus
Long Term Proposal - sponsorship and site selection
Sponsorship from the energy industry can mutually benefit from my long-term plan.
How can this work be valuable to the energy industry?
I read in the Houston Chronicle that oil firms wrestle with public image. And, I have read that these same companies are starting to look at agriculture to regenerate the planet and return carbon to our soil for future generations. So, sponsoring my carbons sequestering figurative sculpture can be a tool to build a positive public image, support the environment through educating the public with the natural history it represents, and support the arts and female artists.
What is my long-term vision for the piece?
I believe that we cannot fix our environmental issues if we as a society do not understand how our environment works. Therefore, I made Endangered Knowledge: The Soul of Humus an educational, ecological work for now and for civilizations to come. My vision is to exhibit the work in a high-traffic location on Houston's Buffalo Bayou with the Energy city skyline behind it. The tension of the great bison created out of the indigenous earth and organic material placed against the glass skyline of the energy city will permanently record this endangered knowledge to the citizens and visitors of the coastal prairies collective memory. It will plant the seeds to holistically balance the needs of humanity and wildlife in urban landscapes. I will be a reminder of our collective responsibility of sequestering carbon, soaking up rainwater, and cooling the planet, extending our time on the earth. For the piece to stand the weather, it will be cast in bronze.
How can this sculpture be valuable to the Buffalo Bayou Partnership and the city of Houston?
In the early 2000s, I chaired my daughter's high school environmental social service project. I organized a clean-up on Buffalo bayou for the 16-year-olds. We were pretty new to Houston, and I was curious about Buffalo Bayou's name. After some research, I learned the last bison herd was seen just after the Alamo. A few years later, I discovered the connection between grazing herds, soil health, food production, sequestering carbon, and soaking up rainwater. All these things are crucial to human existence, yet it is unknown by most of the population. Buffalo Bayou is Houston's most significant natural resource, a natural landmark. It is the site my environmental sculpture can have the most important environmental impact. Below is an image of the site I envision for the piece.
What will it cost?
Over the last eight years, I have built a relationship with Legacy Fine Arts Foundry, a minority woman-owned foundry. We have worked out a process to direct cast organic material into bronze. I can show you samples in my studio. The work will not look like a bronze monument it will be a work of art. The process is similar to that of Joe Havel and Linda Ridgeway but adapted to my organic materials. This piece will take the process of direct casting to a whole new level. I project the project will come in between $150,000 - $260,000. That would include a production cost of roughly $100,000., transportation, engineering fees, site preparation, lighting, installation, insurance, artist, consultant fees, etc. Much of the cost is dependent on the site.
The image above is the type of skyline I envision in the background of the proposed installation. The old male bison would be grazing on low-growing native prairie grasses. A few feet behind him, visitors would see cast bronze dung, mushrooms, birds, and dung beetles. The work would not need the granite pedestal as pictured. There are also some suitable sites on Memorial.
As geologists and environmentalists battle, “are we in the Holocene epoch or have we made our mark on Earth and entered a new geological period, the Anthropocene?”, I ponder weeds.
The term weed, in the Holocene, is a plant that sticks out in a monoculture. From a bipedal primate’s perspective, a weed isn’t like all the surrounding plants: we undervalue it—because it “looks” different. From a human who spells her name Cindee with two ee’s, I have to say I am attracted to weeds and not just because of the ees. Since my first installation in Symbiosis, on February 14, 2021, I have thought a lot about the word, verb, and the thing weed, asking myself so many questions and finding answers in this urban garden.
In nature and in Symbiosis, I observe weeds and now see them as Earth’s first responders to large or small ecological disasters. Weeds are seeds, roots, stems, leaves, berries, and blooms—organic matter. Weeds are vegetative volunteers in the ecological services division of Earth; they provide emergency services for its living organisms above and below ground. Hear me out — when the Earth’s green skin is left bare, tilled, stripped, eroded, poisoned, burned, flooded, neglected, or disturbed by natural or human occurrences, Mother Earth cherry-picks from embryos sleeping in the soil her first responders—our weeds-seeds. Like our own“compounded prescriptions,” seeds are biologically programmed for the site’s specific ecological condition—temperature, moisture, and daylight—to grow fast and spread quickly; they are speed healers. As they mature, I see emergency room physicians administering oxygen masks for underground organisms, protective bandages for the Earth’s epidermis, and poison antidotes. Their organic matter lowers the Earth’stemperatures, thereby keeping soil and its living microorganisms alive. And they provide shelter, food, and nectar for the site’s microorganisms, wildlife, and humans. These ecological first responders are full-service providers, slowing rainwater, reducing soil erosion, replenishing the aquifer, cooling the planet, sequestering carbon, and stabilizing it in the ground for those debating geological periods to come.
From a sculptural perspective, if the shape, texture, or color of a volunteer first responder “weed” does not satisfy my artistic vision, I no longer yank it out of the ground in a knee-jerk response. I stop—look—think, why was it sent in? I take a holistic approach. I weigh the service it is providing our above and below ground micro-ecosystem, the armature that supports the life of the sculpture. I then consider what human adjustments I might implement to holistically balance these roles nature’s first responders are providing to achieve my artistic vision, supporting my sculpture. I consider the needs of other species from the bacteria, fungi, nematodes, and insects to the small mammals, birds, and humans whose life work supports my work. I know that the small systems have to be right for the global systems to run smoothly and I see that too much is at risk to resort to pesticides. I create ways that weeds’ delicately shaped blooms can work in my living land art.
From a practical standpoint, weeds are convenient, cost-effective tools in my human-made nature scape, a catalyst for environmental change, Symbiosis. So, while intellectuals debate the ages, I get out of weeds way, pull over to the right and let the weeds do their job.
In Wikipedia, weed is “of unknown origin.” Ironically, weeds are of unknown origins in most landscapes. So I break down the word weed into three parts.
We – all of us, me, you and I.
ee – In the English language, double e’s are a tool to
denote one connected.
ed – denotes verb, performs an action.
Holocene or Anthropocene? In this age of uncertainty, if humans “weed out” weeding, can all species win the battle? — I wonder…
Additional Weed Readings
WEEDS Control Without Poisons, by Charles Walters.
WHEN WEEDS TALK, by Jay, L. McCaman — includes charts with the functions of each species.
I purchased my copies on Acres USA.
Wood-sorrel exhibits nyctinasty, likely helping the plant conserve energy. It forms a taproot and is upright when young, but as it grows, its long, multibranched stems eventually flop over and trail out along the ground for as much as two feet, extending rootlets from nodes along the stem. This root is beneficial in breaking up the clay. Sorrels contain oxalates, a naturally occurring molecules that bind with calcium. If your soil needs calcium, keep the wood-sorrel.
Youngia japonica a member of the aster family and related to the dandelions. Dandelions Taraxacum officinale shows up when soil is low in calcium and compacted. The local bees, butterflies, birds, and I enjoy the blooms while the dandelion roots break up the clay. Their leaves are loaded with antioxidants and used by herbalists for many health issues.
I believe the above plant to be Cudweed. Cudweed is host for the American painted lady butterfly.
Why we shouldn’t rag on ragweed? The seeds of ragweed are rich in fatty oils. Fats are not only Ebut also is for fattening up birds and small mammals such as Eastern Cottontail, Meadow Vole, grasshoppers which eat the leaves, Dark-eyed Junco, Brown-headed Cowbird, Northern Bobwhite, Purple Finch, Mourning Dove, American Goldfinch, and the Red-bellied Woodpeckers to get them through the lean winter months.
It is an ancient grain for humans and ragweed is a valuable food source for the caterpillars of many butterflies and moths including the striking wavy-lined emerald and the uniquely adapted bird dropping moths. The seeds of ragweed are rich in fatty oils. Birds and small mammals readily consume ragweed seeds to help fatten up for the lean months to come.
I will use this post to document my experiences with weeds.
“All is not doom and gloom, though, according to Dr Rodger. Many plants are long-lived, opening a window of opportunity to restore pollinators before plant extinctions occur from lack of pollinators.”- First global estimate of importance of pollinators for seed production in plants
Symbiosis
4.5 cubic yards of compost ( living organic material), 200 plus Texas Native plants installed to support the return of Houston’s urban wildlife.
Summer 2021
Image by Nash Baker
Carbon by the Yard
Zoysia Turfgrass relief
35' X 48'
Embedded within the installation Symbiosis, Carbon by the Yard is a temporary, living sculpture in the shape of the Carbon element symbol, C. The work consists of carving a 16 x 14-foot shape into the existing grass, and allowing the Zoysia grass to grow tall around it. A simple gesture, the letter brings attention to the role lawn-grass plays in climate change. In 2020, the Environmental Protection Agency estimated that grass uses up about a third of all public water: in the US, this translates to 9 billion gallons of water every day. Our mowers consume 200 million gallons of gas. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that, gas-powered lawn mowers produce 11 times as much pollution as a new car hour for hour. And, manicured lawns provide no livable habitats for pollinators or the other plants and animals necessary to maintain a healthy ecosystem. With Carbon by the Yard, artist-environmentalist Cindee Klement brings attention to the ways in which our daily decisions can help to reduce our carbon footprints.
Reducing nitrate leaching losses from turfgrass fertilization of residential lawns
The sketch for Lawndale approval
September 23, 2021
I sketched the C into the space with flags. Moving and adjusting them until I had the shape C right and in the right place.
Next I marked the C with a water base paint used to mark fields.
The C marked in water based paint.
October24th- The first cutting.
The yard maintenance company used their regular mower. The CO2, cost, time, and noise pollution of the gass lawn mower was not worth the result.
I was afraid that the following week the lawn maintenance company would not be able to see the relief enough to remow it. I remarked the C with the flags.
The second cutting was rained out.
I will update this blog post through out the process.
October 8th - week three cutting #2
October 18th - Week 4 cutting #3
October 22 - week 5 cutting #4
After 4 cuttings the C is now beginning srand out.
November 1- week 6 cutting #5
November 7- week #7cutting #6
November 12th, week #8 cutting #7
November 19th, week #9 cutting #8
November 26th, week #10 cutting #9
December 3rd, week #11 cutting #10
December 24th, week #14 cutting #13
January 9, week #16 cutting #15
March 30 - this would have been week 29……. Unfortunately, it is not.
I noticed the grass was growing exceptionally slow. Long story short Lawndale’s lawn maintenance company was mowing on a high setting.
I am starting over on counting weeks of emissions saved.
April 10th, week 1, not cutting the yard #1
Spring 2022
August 2022
For several weeks I have noticed the neighborhood birds are not stopping into Symbiosis. I have asked the neighbors and they have noticed the birds were absent too. Today an article came out in the Houston chronicle, Songbirds Take a Break.
March 19th - first bird in garden. An Amerucan red robin foraging for insects, bugs, protein or seeds, poking it's beak into the newly installed living compost.
March 31, 2021 robin hunting for grubs as I install the American beautyberry.
April 9, 2021 robin on the oak stump. I installed rotting native tree stumps to give the birds a camouflaged lookout and hideout.
April 9, 2021 dove
May 22, 2021,
blue jay
May 1, 2021 American red robin
June 19, 2021
June 22, 2021
The armature with lath wired to it. Both back legs have material tests on them.
The surface material and how it will age/dry is a mystery. The arnature is the same atmature that I have used on all of my life size sculptures. The late Donald Tucker a local faux bois artist taught me this method. On the faux bous furniture, the finish is a concrete composite. On the other life size sculptures I have used concrete and hydro stone.
BROKEN
steel, reinforced concrete, and wire
40" X 29" X 55"
2018
photo by Nash Baker
Sonata in 4D - welded steel, lath, wire and plaster
2018
Photo by Nash Baker
HARVEY HEROES - LIVEstock BRINGING HOME THE BACON
66” X 42” X 60” - welded steel, lath, wire, wire cloth and hydro stone.
2019
Anniversary bench- Welded steel, concrete
2011
Mark Morganstern of Morning Star Prairie Plants invited me to join him to collect seeds for Symbiosis at the Nature Concervancy’s Nash Prairie Preserve. “The 400-acre tract is one of the last remaining segments of the Great Coastal Prairie, which once encompassed six million acres between Lafayette, Louisiana and Corpus Christi, Texas. Nash is a pristine piece of prairieland, largely unaltered by man or machine. More than 300 plant species have been documented there, including several rare species and at least one type of grass thought to be extinct in Texas since the 1800s.“
I will plant the seeds in Symbiosis this fall. Next summer I will collect seeds and share them with other properties.
Green tree frog on a Rattlesnake master. The rattlesnake master reportedly supports 250 species of wildlife.
Rattlesnake master seeds
The prairie
Coneflower seeds
Rosinweed Sunflower seeds
Rosinweed sunflower
These are the seeds on the plant
Today‘s progress may not look like much, however I worked 7 hours. I was focused on filling the tiny spaces in the groin, inside its flanks and rear end. And I was careful not to catch my skin on the sharp edges of the late. It is razor-sharp and requires careful deliberate moves.
Today's work
Yes, I use a sewing tape measure
I worked on his middle
One of my goals as an artist is to inspire city Landscape policy change. Our cities landscape policy evolved before we had the telescopes to understand the living systems below ground. It is Necessary to update these policies that regulate or urban landscapes and utilize the power of out native landscape.
I have made great headways with discussions with city council person Sally Alcorn. She has supported my work and thoughtfully listens to what I am saying. I can see in her face and her actions that applying these regeneration agriculture principles to urban landscapes makes sense to her. She has worked in the city government for many years and understands how the machine works. She does not have landscape policy roots in her background which actually is a good thing, she does not have to unlearn. In the last few weeks, I have facilitated connecting her with two people in the native landscape world.
First Linda Knowles has led the native plant movement in Houston and Texas. She served on the cities committee for designated wildscapes and she has let the Houstin native plant society and is leading the Texas NPS. Linda is a great source of knowledge and will be a great resource for Sallie.
A few weeks ago I emailed Jaime González. Jaime is Houston Healthy Cities Program Director of The Nature Conservancy Texas Chapter – Houston Office. Jaime is everywhere when it comes to Houston native landscape. Within 5 minutes of emailing him about “Symbiosis” he called me. He wanted to see the work. We met the following day at 8:30 am. It was not too hot yet and we had a great conversation. He was amazed at what a hot bet of wildlife can be revived in the middle of a lifeless concrete urban desert - the museum district. :(. He Specifically, positively commented that I did not leave spaces of dirt separating each plant. I could hear frustration in his voice. It is a social custom to separate species. My goal is to keep the soil covered with a minimum of 1 layer of greenery if not many layers. Hearing him approve was a relief. He also made some plant suggestions for the southwest corner. It was a beautiful corner until the lemon bee balm faded for the season.
Tuesday this week I was able to connect him with Sallie and Hannah Cobb Public Affairs Liaison Office of Council Member Sallie Alcorn City of Houston, At-Large 5. It was a great conversation and I know Jaime will assist Sallie's office with their plans.
Like Jaime, Sallie is a mover- I just received an email from her office that she is meeting with Kelli Ondracek on September 1st to discuss a native landscaping pilot program. A giant leap - this feels good.
can art active change? :) I am trying.
What can changing city landscape policy do? Right now this is how most vacant lots look in houston. This is the vacant lot adjacent to Lawndale. The owner regularly grooms/mows it per city policy.
This vacant lot is actively sequestering carbon and soaking up water cooling the planet. This is responsible urban land management.
In addition it minimizes the need for mowing. I think it would be even better with a surrounding ground cover that did not requiring mowing.
In June the Lawndale Art Center opened the Big Show. I was very fortunate that nature was cooperating and Symbiosis was vibrant with both plants, pollinators and insects. The skies were full of dragonflies of every color, there was not a mosquito in sight. The bee balm was a bee crowd-pleaser and the passionflower was crawling in caterpillars. It felt good.
For approximately two weeks after Houston received large amounts of rainfall. Rain or shine I still went every day to observe the landscape, look for signs of new urban wildlife and learn from the work. I saw that a living sculpture is a moving target. During this time period, plenty of volunteer plants appeared, covering the spots of bare earth as nature knows is best. I diligently photographed the volunteer plants and researched them through my National Geographic citizen naturalist iNaturalist app. If they supported wildlife and they were in a location that they were not distracting I left them. If they were visually obtrusive or blocking another plant's growth or light. I pulled them. I winced with each pull, my instinct in regards to healthy soil and natural solutions was to leave them, they are sequestering carbon, any disturbance of soil releases carbon. Weeds have a role in the ecosystem: they establish quickly, protect exposed soil, provide habitat for beneficial organisms. Weeds are a natural response to heal disturbed earth. From an environmental point of view, they are a benefit to the landscape. From an artist's point of view, I love the weeds. They add a variety of line, an unexpected pop of color, movement, rhythm and a variety of patterns. As a sculptor interested in ways I can incorporate time snd movement in my work, I am a fan of weeds they are a design tool.
That said as an earth conservation art activist the purpose of the work is to inspire others to use native plants in urban landscapes. If the weeds turn people off before they learn about the work, the piece as art activism is a failure. Finding the balance, the symmetry with weeds continues to weigh heavily on my mind. I remind myself of the bigger picture—activate change, create a micro-ecosystem that others will be inspired to imitate. I know change can happen at lightning speed when innovation is coupled with imitation.
Phytolacca americana, also known as American pokeweed,
Detail of Phytolacca americana, American pokeweed,
Sesbania is a genus of flowering plants in the pea family, Fabaceae, and the only genus found in the tribe Sesbanieae. Riverhemp
a nitrogen fixer
“Nitrogen is the element responsible for lush green plant growth, but plants aren't actually able to use the nitrogen gas in Earth's atmosphere. Certain plant species, though, harbor bacteria in their roots that convert nitrogen from the atmosphere into a form that plants can absorb.“ learn more here.
Aesthetically as an artist this quiet corner of graceful movement is inspiring. The repeated surfboard shaped leaves delicately attached to the slender stem create a stunning rhythm and repeated pattern.
Jacquemontia tamnifolia Hairy cluster vine - insanely cool bloom, complex in its texture, shape, and color palett.
As stunning as this complicated vine’s bloom is I could not find anything about it it online, except it is capable of surviving fires. It does have the physical characteristics that attract bees, blue petals, and exposed stamen. I will take the risk and keep it. With any luck it will support at least one of pollinator species that we do not yet know we have lost. To return what we do not know we have lost is what inspires me to do this work.
I came across an invasive species, Fatoua villosa Hairy Crabweed. see future Symbiosis post
Progress from the last two days of work.
Sagged bellie and manhood
Ferlocks, hocks and nape
Right front leg chap and starting to build the neck muscles. The neck muscles are massive.
I build the legs on separate days. Left keg the hock curves up and right keg the Hock curves down. I still need fetlocks. I think bison have two per foot. More research
Todays work- His right back haunch and leg.
In creating a living sculpture, I have to accept change. I can not control the piece nor do I want to. From soil microbes to leaves, petals and butterflies, bees, skippers and caterpillars, I am always looking to the natural processes. I look to see what does the material want to make, what does it need to be. Competition, succession, disturbance, consumption are the sculpting tools of my collaborator, characteristics of the work. I have to let them follow their path to self-design their regenerating community. I bend my creative processes to the design principles developed through the ages on this planet for this place and time. The time is right to change how we landscape. I believe Houston is the right place and Houstonians the right people to plant the seeds.
Competition
Succession
Disturbance
Consumption
