"Ancesteral Learning: A Watercolor Monotype Celebrating Self-Experiential Learning and the Vitality of Water"

We have two granddaughters 6 months apart. Both girls are inspiring. I decided to try again to capture the moment of self discovery.

The back story-

With my commitment of shaping society for the better. My recent contemplation on human learning, sparked by observing my son and daughter-in-law’s newborn granddaughter discovering their toes, has deepened my belief in self-experiential learning. Inspired by this and other experiences, I have decided to create a conceptual installation at Indiana University, granting the students the opportunity to take ownership and install the work themselves.

In this watercolor monotype, I delve into the ways in which humans learn and highlight our crucial connection to water. Just as we care for an infant, it is vital that we care for and protect this precious resource.

“Rumblings” the next step

Originally Rumblings was going to be a wall of wild bee portraits, 50/10,000. It is time to start thinking about the next step.

Since I started these in 2019 my knowledge has expanded. It is no longer enough to exhibit the bees as portraits. They are an integral part of a bigger system. In incorporating systems thinking I will arrange the pieces into a 11’ X 25’ work on paper composition, an abstract eco-landscape that holistically balances urban and natural systems.

It will be a composition of twenty-eight 30” X 44” watercolor monotypes from my Rumblings* body of work. The pieces will be installed in a tight grid to reference urban development. Centered in each 30” X 44” piece is an abstract portrait of a wild pollinator.

The work will be completed in my studio when the defined space dimensions are finalized. At that time, I will select the portrait pieces and organize them in a systematic manner that works best for the size and shape of the proposed space. I will then transform the individual portraits into the monumental composition of an urban ecosystem that balances manmade and natural systems. To do this, I will add abstracted shapes representing biological systems that pollinators depend on into the blank spaces of the individual works. These marks will be extremely light and delicate, watercolor and pastel. They will be leaf and petal-like silhouettes of birds, vines, blooms, grasses, roots, water, and hooves. These shapes will weave in and out chaotically, connecting the portraits in the urban structured grid and transforming them into an ecologically balanced urban landscape composition.

RUMBLINGS* WORKS 2019 — present

Camouflage, fire ants and anole

When maintaining “Symbiosis” and when I observe urban landscapes, I see the beauty in decaying plants and the tiny creatures they protect. This brown anole is a garden beneficial, keeping fire ants and other insects in check. Without camouflage, they are prey for birds, snakes, and some spiders. As an artist I find beauty through systems thinking and a balanced ecosystem.

Can you find him/her mimicking a dried, twisted leaf?

Tipping Point

Our past actions formed the precarious state of our environment. What we do today shapes our future. This piece suggests a caring and protective relationship between natural systems and urban development has extraordinary potential. I believe the human species has the creative capability to make our cities lush and diverse carbon sinks. My work investigates these possibilities.

Altamira- video Endangered Knowledge: Soul of humus -

courtesy of Sculoture month.

Documenting the art of creating living soil. SOILED — Tighty-Whities 2021

SOILED — Tighty-Whities 2021

Photograph by N. Baker

How do you document art that lives beneath our feet? Creating art beneath the Earth’s surface I am finding new ways to document the work and it's movement. This photograph is the result. Let me explain. To test soil for fungi that recycle wood and live on dead material soil, scientists buried cotton fabric. In Symbiosis, to document the Saprophytic fungi, I planted new, washed men's medium cotton briefs. This photograph demonstrates the results. In 2022 I will recreate the piece and grow the tighty-whities in a vertical column. This change will document that living soil, the diversity of microbes is built from the top down. In contrast, when my father farmed in the 50s and 60s, the farm bureau that advised him told him to invest in a new plow to dig deeper to access the richest soil.

The purpose of my work is to change how we see landscape. It isn’t just about creating beautiful gardens. Landscape can store carbon and soak up rainwater to cool the planet. It is the cheapest and fastest way to get our planet back on track.

Digging up the briefs I immediately knew I had made a mistake. I left them In the garden’s soil too long. Still, I dug them out with tender care. The petroleum-based elastic band was entwined with a plant root. The root took the elastic leg 6” deeper into the earth than I planted it. I left the elastic and the root as I found them. Laid them on a board and took them immediately to Nash’s photography studio to document the work.

First, I delicately untangled the elastic. The cotton had completely decayed. The elastic was not biodegradable.

Seeing that the briefs were still intact minus the cotton and plus the root I started reassembling the briefs and the added appendage.

In art many times you have to listen to the materials.

A prairie rising

Armand Bayou Nature Center

Prairie Rising:

The Armand Vayou Nature Center is a great example of the ecology and restoration of a local coastal tall grass prairie. It is great to see Texans committed to preserving natural systems. With the social unrest, a universal pandemic crippling our economies I can’t help but think about what we can learn from biological systems; the importance of species diversity, the importance of healthy bacteria, the importance of whole organic foods, the importance if finding a balance between humans and wildlife in all spaces including urban population centers. What that looks like is the focus of ny 2021 work.

After seeing the above article I was sitting at a stop light when I noticed this grass preserving in a sea of asphalt. Nature is amazing and will always win. Our challenge as humans is to learn how to live with it, preserve and respect it. In the end nature will always win. We can incorporate the coastal prairie landscape into Houston’s urban landscape.