Artist Bio

Cindee Travis Klement (B.1957 Dell City/El Paso, Texas) is a Houston-based visual artist who works in sculpture, printmaking, and social sculpture. Her recent work addresses conservation issues, looking specifically at living soil's ability to sequester carbon, soak up rainwater, and support wildlife in urban landscapes. Klement incorporates systems thinking approaches to create a functional balance between healthy ecosystems, human economics and societal landscape norms. Her work records our natural history to the collective memory so that it will no longer be endangered knowledge. 

Current and recent works include:

• Echoes of Existence: A Journey Through Nature's Narratives to Redefine the Anthropocene. Echoes is a work in progress, a site-specific art installation in the heart of southern Indiana, a living labyrinth, and a piece of conceptual art to be installed by the students. It invites participation and engagement in a dialogue with the land, embracing life's cyclical relationships. It is not just an invitation to observe but a call to action—to think, to act, to regenerate.

• Symbiosis, a social sculpture that answers the question: How do we holistically restore an ecological balance in Houston? It is a living site-specific art installation that reimagines the Lawndale Art Center Sculpture Garden's traditional urban landscape. August 2020 — July 2023

• Symbiosis Celebration is a social sculpture that applies economic and natural systems to inspire ecological recovery in Houston, Texas. A work in progress

• Endangered Knowledge: The Soul of Humus, was created for Sculpture Month Houston 2021, a large-scale and site-specific sculpture that researches and represents the deep environmental interrelationships between bison, grass, and carbon. Klement moves the piece to new venues, addressing topics such as civilization's conflict "between" ecology and commerce in the old Texaco headquarters and consumption, regeneration, and fast fashion in a vacant Forever 21 storefront.

• Rumblings, a monumental collection of fifty 30" X 44" watercolor monotypes. Rumblings draw attention to the unseen and endangered 20,000 wild bees and small creatures to create a balanced ecosystem—a work in progress.

Past works address wind erosion, native bees, and recovery from Hurricane Harvey.

Klement is an engaged Artist-in-Residency at Indiana University, Bloomington - Fall 2023 & Spring/Summer 2024. Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner proclaimed "August 24th, 2021, Cindee Klement Day" for her work to revitalize the community through art and conservation. She was named a finalist for the Artadia Awards in 2020 and 2021. Cindee is a member of Throughline Art Collective. Klement completed the BLOCK Program at The Glassell School of The Museum of Fine Arts Houston in 2018.

ARTIST STATEMENT

I have read that our cities are fast-forwarding evolution. If true, integrating holistic, regenerative biological systems into urban landscapes will fast-forward ecological recovery.

I currently live in the heart of Houston. Located on the far east side of Texas, the city is an important migratory pathway and covers 600 square miles of what once was the coastal prairie. One of the most biodiverse ecosystems in the US, less than 1% of this prairie system remains. Houston, projected to double in size by 2050, plays an impactful role in the continent's natural systems that once protected and nurtured the region's ecology, soaked up rainwater, cooled the planet, and stored carbon. Due to its location, Houston's landscape practices impact life on land and in the waters throughout the Americas. In August 2017, Houston received almost 52 inches of rain in a matter of days. Unfortunately, with the city’s current landscape practices and policies, Houston's rainwater no longer soaks into its soil, and its insects, flowers, birds, and the Gulf coral reefs are disappearing. Ironically, the coastal prairie is now just as much an environmental desert as my early home in far west Texas.

A few years ago, as I was developing my project World of Hum, I began to see my work in this city as an opportunity to have a positive impact on the environment – I now focus my artistic work to holistically reimagine Houston's landscape, return the carbon in the air to the soil, support wildlife, reduce water run-off, and support flood control. Inspired by M. Thomashow, who writes, "Record natural history to the collective memory so that it is no longer endangered knowledge," I develop "Endangered Knowledge" works, in which I am researching the natural systems in Texas' ecological history that build soil health and cool the planet.

In 2022, applying systems thinking to my work, I realized that profit paired with tourism is the fuel to change society's landscape practices to embrace the planet's ecological systems. Applying economics and industrial concepts to my work, I am reseeding how we see urban landscapes to propose the holistic restoration of biological balance — awakening urban consciousness to our kinship with living and economic systems and restoring what is lost.

Through sculpture and printmaking, my work continues to incorporate time and movement. Adapting these processes, including organic, living and manufactured materials, systems and social sculpture, I create new methods to develop narratives that inspire holistic urban land regeneration, extending our time on this planet. Unlocking widespread environmental change begins with envisioning (and making visible) the wisdom already inherent in the natural world.

I believe Houstonians—transplanted in this important migratory pathway, one of the most biodiverse ecosystems in the US—have the unparalleled ability and opportunity to lead an urban holistic, regenerative landscape movement. My charge is to inspire their action.

CV                         

COLLECTIONS

2019        -Houston Flood Museum, https://houstonfloodmuseum.org/hurricane-harvey-heroes-and-humanity/

2014        -Portable Works Collection, George Bush International Airport, Houston, TX                                                  

AWARDS

2024 -Soil Centric, Regenerative Action Ambassador.

2023 -Cabinet Oak Project, Juror's Award, and the People’s Choice Award.

2022 -The Houston Garden Club Grant — Lawndale Art Center on behalf of Symbiosis.

2021        -Houston Artadia Finalist

-City’s Initiative Grant— Lawndale Art Center on behalf of Symbiosis.

-Houston Mayor Turner Proclamation:  August 24t, 2021, Cindee Klement Day for revitalizing the

community through art and conservation.

2020        -Houston Artadia Finalist

-Scholarship, MFAH Glassell School of Art, Houston, TX

2018 -Merit award - 41st International WaterMedia Exhibition:  Water Color Art Society - Houston, TX

2017        -2nd in Show - Conroe Art League Invitational, Conroe, TX

                  -Honorable Mention - BUILD National Juried Exhibition, Ciel Gallery, Charlotte, NC

                  -Selected into the MFAH BLOCK XVI studio program

                  -Scholarship, MFAH Glassell School of Art, Houston, TX

SOLO EXHIBITION

2024 -City Center, Houston, Texas, Curated by Weingarten Art Group, Rumblings.

-Monterroso Gallery at the Crimson, Transient States.

2020-23  -Lawndale Art Center, Mary E. Bawden Sculpture Garden, Symbiosis

SELECT EXHIBITIONS

2024 -San Jacinto College, Flickinger Fine Arts Gallery, Solastalgia.

-FotoFest, Troubling Boundaries.

-2D meets 3D, Monterroso Gallery.

-throughline collective, Collaborative immersive installation with JRR Roykovich, Potentia // Actualitas

-City Center, Houston Texas

-Throughline Volume Two: RUN

2023 -The Big Show, Lawndale Art Center, Juror Dr. Kanitra Fletcher. June 1 - August 18, 2023

-Cabinet Oak Project, LBJ Ranch

2022 -Feral Atlas Exhibition, Climate Justice Museum, Rice University May – September.

- Craft Sawed, Soldered, Constructed: The Works of Houston Metal Arts Guild, Houston Center for

Contemporary Craft.

- Houston Forever, Mayors Office of Cultural Affairs, Prauper Studios, ArtHouston Magazine, and

The Nash.

-Blue Norther, Curated by Bradley Sumerall of the Ogden Museum and John Alexander.

2021        -Sculpture Month Houston, Endangered Knowledge: The Soul of Humus.

                     -Save the Planet — 2021, Gallerium Art Exhibitions.

                    -The Big Show, Lawndale Art Center, Juror Cecilia Fajardo-Hill. June 18 - August 14, 2021

2020       -44nd International WaterMedia Exhibition:  Water Color Art Society-Houston.

2019        -Sculpture Month Houston, Outta Space, SITE Gallery Houston in The Silos at Sawyer Yards,

                                    October 11- November 30, 2019

                  -Sixth Annual Artspace111 Regional Juried Exhibition, Ft. Worth, TX

                                    Juror – Hilde Nelson, curatorial assistant for Contemporary Art at the Dallas Museum of Art

                  -Glade Arts Foundation, 51.88”: From the Depths, Three Artists Respond to Hurricane Harvey

                  -42nd International WaterMedia Exhibition:  Water Color Art Society-Houston

2018     -Kinder Morgan Exhibition, Music Visualizations, November 30 - March 1, 2019

                  -The 13th Annual Open Call Exhibition, Animals, Art Car Museum, December 8, - February 24, 2019

                 -BLOCK XVII, MFAH Glassell Studio School, 5101 Montrose, Houston, TX                                                    

                                    Curated by Joe Havel

                  -Fifth Annual Artspace111 Regional Juried Exhibition, Ft. Worth, TX

                                    Juror – Christina Rees, Editor-in-Chief of Glasstire

                  -Kinder Morgan Exhibition, Creatures Exhibition

                  -41st International WaterMedia Exhibition:  Water Color Art Society-Houston

2017     -BLOCK XVIII, Williams Tower Gallery, Houston, TX

                  -The Art Cycle Project, “Trump This”, Art Car Museum, Houston, TX

                  -Nos Caves Vin, one person show, September - December

                  -Arts Brookfield, known and unknown, Allen Center, September - November

                  -Superstructures, Print Houston, Interspace Gallery, MFAH Glassell School of Art, Houston, TX

                  -Student Show, MFAH Glassell School of Art, Houston, TX

                  -BLOCK XVII, Interspace Gallery, MFAH Glassell School of Art, Houston, TX

                  -Texas National 2017, SFA Galleries, Nacogdoches,TX

                                    Juror – Benito Huerta, artist and curator of the Gallery at UTA

                  -Line, Kinder Morgan, MFAH Glassell School of Art, Houston, TX

2016      -Student Show, MFAH Glassell School of Art, Houston, TX

                  -Moments that Matter, Impasto Art Gallery, Longmont, CO

                                    Juror -Barbara A. Mac Adam Co-Executive Editor of ARTNews 

                  -Regional Juried Exhibition, Houston Metal Arts Guild, Jung Center, Houston, TX

                  -Build, National Juried Exhibition, Ciel gallery, Charlotte, NC, Juror – Murray Whisnant, FAIA  

                  -Bank of the Arts National Juried Exhibition, Craven Arts Council Gallery, New Bern, NC

                                    Juror – Larry Wheeler, Director of the North Carolina Museum of Art

                  -3rd Regional Juried Exhibition, Artspace111, Fort Worth, TX

                                    Juror - Eric Lee, Director of the Kimbell Art Museum

2015      -Kinder Morgan Exhibition, Student Show, MFAH Glassell School of Art, Houston, TX

                  -Student Show, MFAH Glassell School of Art, Houston, TX

2014      -Kinder Morgan Exhibition, Student Show, MFAH Glassell School of Art, Houston, TX

                  -Student Show, MFAH Glassell School of Art, Houston, TX

                  -Another Layover, Houston Arts Alliance Gallery

EDUCATION

2016-2018               BLOCK Program, MFAH Glassell School of Art, Houston, TX 

2013-2018               MFAH Glassell School of Art, Houston, TX

1974-1978               Graphic Design, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

- National Wildlife Federation, Jennifer Wehunt, Artist Cindee Klement Builds Buzz for Native Bees, Fall 2023

-Plantings, World Sensorium/Conservancy, Jake Eshelman, The Ecological Impact and Potential of the American Lawn, Issue 25-2023

-Austin American-Statesman, Michael Barnes, Bid on art made from a branch of the Cabinet Oak that stands at the LBJ Ranch, May 2, 2023

-Soil Centric, Judith Schwartz, Artists Bringing Ecosystems Into Balance, June 16, 2022

-Texas Monthly, Molly Glentzer, Build a Life-size Bison or Die Trying, February 8, 2022

-Art Houston, Haley Berkman Karren, Sculpture Month Houston Festival, Altimira 2021, Fall issue 13, p.36-37

-Houston Chronicle, Molly Glentzer, Here are the Houston artists that won some of the biggest art prizes this year, January 13, 2021

-Glasstire, Christopher Blay, Artadia, Houston Announces 2020 Finalists for Its Two-Artist $10,000 Award, December 22, 2020

-Houston Chronicle, Molly Glentzer, Sculpture Month Houston Gets Spacey, November 15-21, 2019, p. D23-24

-Glasstire, Top Five: 1. Outta Space, October 10, 2019 

-Art Houston, Sabine Casparie, After Harvey, Spring Summer issue 08, p.36

-Houston Chronicle, Molly Glentzer, A woman’s place is in the museum, November 25, 2018, p. G2

-Texas Highways, Gene Fowler, Flights of Fancy, May 2018, vol. 65 issue 5, p.14. 

-VoyageHouston Staff, (2018, March 28). Check out Cindee Travis Klement’s Artwork . VoyageHouston,                         

retrieved from http://voyagehouston.com/interview/check-cindee-travis-klements-artwork/

-Bridgette, Mongeon, 3D Technology In Fine Art and Craft, Focal Press 2016, p. 255-6, 273, 300

-Ekphrasis 2016, Ekphrast Poetry and the Art That Inspired it from the 2016 Bank Of The Arts

National Juried Exhibition, p. 37

My journey

The need to create has always been a characteristic of my personality that I cannot turn off - it finds its way into every aspect of my life. Spending my early years on an isolated cotton farm outside El Paso, Texas, I entertained myself with daily art projects. Living in this desert environment, I first remember being mesmerized by the elegance and grace of cracked, decaying, and twisted wood and the energy and graceful movement caused by the intense west Texas wind. During my early twenties as a freelance graphic designer in El Paso, Texas, I designed custom furnishings and painted murals for interior designers. Struggling financially, I made my way into commercial real estate and learned about construction. Through my thirties and forties, while raising my children, my need to be creative was satisfied by remodeling and adding square footage to old homes, knocking out walls, moving plumbing and electrical. For most of these jobs, I drew my own plans, was the contractor, designer, and custom painter. I often designed the home furnishings, light fixtures, and sinks to fit precisely the remodeled spaces. While living in New Orleans and remodeling a home built in 1908, I discovered the historical french art form of ferrocement faux bois, which embraces the same beauty in nature that I have obsessively studied and photographed my entire life. When my youngest child left for college, I decided it was time to refocus my creative energies. After two years of searching for a teacher, I found the late Donald Tucker, an artist in ferrocement faux bois. With a little arm-twisting, Donald agreed to teach me the chemistry and skills he took years to perfect. After creating a few pieces on my own, I found that I wanted to take the craft of ferrocement faux bois to another level. I then began to research metals that would be compatible with the concrete. Bronze was the perfect alloy. A brief internship with bronze sculptor Bridgette Mongeon confirmed my interest in bronze. After assisting Bridgette, she gave me a lump of clay and sent me home to sculpt my first piece to be later added to a faux bois bench. After sculpting my second piece, I decided to learn about the complete process of casting in bronze from the original carving or sculpture to the end of the process at the foundry. Enrolling in the foundry class at the MFAH Glassell Studio School provided me with the knowledge and the facility to sculpt bronze pieces to accent my faux bois work and inspired me to create independent bronze sculptures.

2014 was a significant milestone in my career as an artist. The city of Houston, Texas purchased two small bronze pieces from me. "Heritage" is on display at the Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport Terminal for international flights. A sculpting workshop with Simon Kogan in March 2014 opened up a more visceral, creative side of me that I did not know existed and has been exciting to explore. Fall of 2014, I decided to further explore this new form of instinctive creativity. I enrolled in Brian Portman's Mark Making and Gestures class and the Monumental Drawing Workshop. These were my first drawing classes in forty years. My goal in the class was to explore drawing in the same visceral and instinctive way I was enjoying sculpting. It takes complete focus to draw and sculpt not as I see others draw and sculpt but as is inherent and intuitive to the artist in me. I am encouraged to continue on this track as my first series of drawings "Happy Dog" was selected for the Works on Paper Exhibit 2015 and then my "Shake, Shake, Shake" series was selected for the Kinder Morgan Exhibit September 2015. I find that drawing works well with the sculpting as the sculpting is very physical, and is challenging to keep up seven days a week. Drawing is also a faster process to complete, and it is nice to have projects that do not take six months to years to complete as when casting sculptures in bronze.

Early in 2016, I discovered sculpting in wire. The process is a beautiful combination of drawing and sculpting… In April of 2016, I was accepted into the MFAH Glassell Studio School BLOCK 2016 fellowship. This program provided me with a studio on the school/museum property. I had 24 hr. access to the facilities and weekly mentorship was supplied from the school, museum, art community, and out of town visitors.