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I have cut the steel for two sets of horns, the center of the face, top of the scull and part of the nisee. .
Working on the horns
This bison skull was a Christmas present. From Griffin and Alex my son and daughter in law. They have been unbelievably supportive of my environmental works. They are the best. The skull is proving extremely helpful in figuring out how to build the head armature.
For the Full story see Endangered Knowledge: The Soul of Humus
When I start to build a new piece the first thing I do is gather and organize all the reference images and information I am going to need.
I staple all the images to a piece of cardboard. This way it us easy to see as I work. This secti n focuses on the hoofs. I am starting with the hoofs.
For the full story see Endangered Knowledge: The Soul of Humus
One of the most critical problems to solve is the placement of the hooves. They will be welded to Steel plates that act as the base. The base serves several purposes; it will make it easier to transport the piece without damaging it, it will make working on a large piece safer and less likely to fall on me. I am going to use 4 - 14” X 14” 1/4” steele plates. One for each hoove. This will give me the flexibility to adjust the placement of the hooves as the piece develops.
I am sending the hooves to Blumenthal metal and having them weld the hooves to the plates. It is tricky welding to a thin plate and not warping the plate.
Why is this important to me? Please see Endangered Knowledge: The Soul of Humus
It does not stand to reason that gardens or yards in Texas, Maryland, California, Iowa, and Illinois should all be landscaped with the same selection of plants. The below image from Native Texas Gardens says it all. In a country with great diversity from coast to coast, shouldn’t the sculpture garden landscapes be embedded in plants that define the place?
It will be more interesting to see sculptures in gardens of indigenous plants, plants that define the place, terrains that have attracted its people and impacted its economy. A sculpture of a boat marooned in a desert landscape might imply global warming and the same wooden vessel docked in a sea of woody pines congers up thoughts of concervation. one thing the same boat Sculpture changes across geography. What does sculpture look like in a coastal prairie sculpture garden?
Page xviv of Native Texas Gardens, maximum beauty, minimum upkeep by Sally and Andy Wasowski.
I am spending a lot of time looking at and thinking about the bison's hoof. Bison are ungulates. Their two toed hooves are a cross between a spade and two chisels. With the weight of their massive bodies their hooves cut into the soil, churn it up, break clumps, and create pockets that hold moisture. They trample old vegetation into the ground a long with the 40 lbs of waste they create everyday. They have a two pronged tools on each leg that tills and cultivates 24/7. And then you put them in a herd and they are mother nature's industrial farmer.
Image from bob the bison used at epic food conferences
Image from under the shoot at the roundup
Image from the harvest
the back story Endangered Knowledge: The Soul of Humus
I am starting to design and build the armature (the support structure) of the piece. The structure will be supported with welded rebar and then covered in a steel lath to help hold the mud and dried native plants to the sculpture.
I begin with the hooves It takes a lot of muscle to bend a piece of rebar enough to make a complete hoof side, I will have to piece it.
I did not measure the circumference of a hoof but I do know the ankle is 12” and hoofs are bigger.
I think best in wire or a material I can shape by hand - by feel. I decided to wrestle up a wire sketch of a hoof to get me started.
The front part of a front hoof
Front hooves started
I reached out to the Houston Arboretum describing my project and my need for native plants. They responded immediately. They are steadily cutting plants out and I made a big haul today. My studio floor is covered in drying plants. I am drying these on my patio. Curtis suggested every morning I flip them, so rodents don't decide to nest in them. I love all animals but I am not a fan of rodents nesting around my house. They offered me to raid their compost bend as I need. :)
I have shared ideas regarding environmental land art concepts with Stephanie over the past few years, and this spring Lawndale Art Center decided to allow me to see what I can do. After some time thinking about what the work should be, I verbally made a proposal recapped in the letter below. I am pumped about his opportunity, the Lawndale sculpture garden feels like a traditional front yard in anywhere USA. The sculpture garden is lovely, but this is the Coastal Prairie, and Coastal Prairie landscapes offer many environmental benefits. I am addressing many of them in Endangered Knowledge: The Soul of Humus. This Lawndale piece will provide an example of a native plant landscaped area of the same scale as their yard. People need a project they can mimic. They can see native landscaping at the Arboretum, Katy Prairie Conservancy, and Buffalo Bayou. Those sites are enormous tracts of land, and most people can not visualize those landscapes in front of their homes. The Lawndale Sculpture Garden will be instrumental in communicating what a reimagined urban native landscape can be. It will inspire change.
Emily, Stephanie, and Will,
First, I want to introduce you to Will Isbell and thank you for meeting with me regarding the Lawndale Sculpture Garden, again. Now that I have had time to think about the space in the greater picture, I am proposing that Will Isbell, work with me to create a plan that will reimagine the Lawndale Sculpture garden as a work of living land art. Will is an artist, past President of the Harris County Master Gardeners Association, oversees the Family Garden at McGovern Centennial Gardens and makes educational videos for Herman park and works at Sicardi Gallery. I have pasted for your enjoyment a link to an Educational video Cooking From Your Garden that Will created a few weeks ago. Will's knowledge, credentials, and experience as a sculptor and gallerist at Sicardi Gallery will be extremely valuable to the project from conception to funding.
Will and I had initial discussions regarding the space last Friday evening, and we are like-minded regarding our landscape philosophies and vision for Lawndale's Sculpture Garden. As artists, we see our involvement as sculptors of a living piece of land art and environmental art activist. The long-term goal of our land art will be to take the garden from it's beautiful traditional landscaped state to a holistic living sculpture garden that works with the Coastal Prairie native landscape and, at the same time, showcases Lawndales sculpture exhibits. The living land art will be educational, functional as an exhibition space, and an environmentally healthy ecosystem/habitat. It will be groundbreaking in the art community to have a sculpture garden that showcases work in an ecologically conscious native landscape and will save Lawndale future dollars.
The first step is to get Will and I the landscape and irrigation plans and a key to the outdoor garden closet. Will and I will then do the research to reimagine the space and give you a conceptual proposal. If you are on board with our vision, we can then work with you on creating a site plan, securing funding, installation/timing plan, and estimate the volunteers needed. We are aware that this may be a long term staged project but are hopeful that it can be realized in the short term.
I am also looking forward to creating a piece that addresses the connection between humans, the natural world, and landscapes. Emily and I discussed that we should discuss the details of this future piece after my Sculpture Month Houston opening on October 10th. I would like to add the growth I realize as an artist from my experience creating the sculpture Month piece to my future Lawndale installation.
I am grateful for the opportunity to work with all of you and know this is going to be an amazing experience.
This is Will’s cooking from the garden video
Best,
Cindee
It will be groundbreaking to look at sculpture in a landscape unique to Houston Texas. .
A peak in n my studio rich with native plants drying
I reached out to the Katy Prairie Conservancy, and they put me in touch with Bill Stransky with the Texas Rice Coalition, Bill a founder of the Katy Prairie Conservancy is a rock star in the nature Conservancy world. He very kindly offered to help me identify native grasses. He met me on a Sunday morning with his college-age daughters and not only pointed out native plants, but they helped me cut and bag them. It was such an honor to meet him and have him support my environmental work. I can not finish these piece without help in accessing native plants. It was a great day. I am hoping to meet Bill again in the fall when the rice plants are ready to harvest. It is important I have rice grasses since the exhibitiion space is a Success rice grain silo. The plants we harvested are presently drying in ny studio. My studio smells like heaven covered in plants. It is also the new home to a few spiders.
Bill Stransky and his daughters.
A bag of prairie seed mix. - donated by Bill to my project
The mix-
A new studio mate.
This is just the beginning, I need a lot more plants to dry for this large old male beast.
This was awesome to receive, I am feeling hopeful. It is amazing to have a city Council Woman who cares and listens to citizens opinions. Screenshot from my phone email.
Sally and Hannah
The video of the FY21 budget workshop-Parks and Recreation was very informative.
Here is what I got out of the video that will help you move the city in an environmentally forward direction. I have broken it down into five steps.
Steve Wright knows the value of native plants and grasses. He expressed that he would like to move more in that direction. He does not because the public is not educated. With Steve on board, this is a great opportunity, and the timing is perfect. Sally, it is great you identified this opportunity, by leading Steve you can save the city money and the planet.
Step One – In Steve's presentation, #5 Greenspace Management (GSM), the city is spending $2,000,000 on mowing esplanades, and in #15 Quality Assurance, they spend $2,500,000 for safety training to maintain the esplanades. Making all esplanades native grasses is a change that will free up a significant amount of money and help all insects as well as the bee. With Covid 19 sucking the life out of the country, the financial savings alone is reason enough to make the transition. This change will start the education of the citizens. Now is the time to take the first step in making Houston a leading city in environmental policy and help with the budget.
Step Two – Steve did not mention the chemical additives or equipment the city uses. City Parks and Recreation would also save money on the chemicals used on manicured landscapes such as herbicides, pesticides, fungicides, and neonicotinoids. This change would also impact the dollars spent on equipment and fuel for lawnmowers. Have Steve add that number up for you.
Step Three- Have Steve's people look at every area they manage: the city libraries, trails, parks, sports fields, golf courses. The zoo should also be charged with evaluating its grounds. Have them identify pockets in these city public spaces where they can save money by transitioning to native plants. There is a lot of precedent in other cities for native plant golf courses. Golf courses use an extreme amount of labor and chemicals; this could be a significant number in the budget.
Step Four – Steve mentioned Public Works land. It was not clear whose budget it is in, but it should be maintained in an environmentally forward thinking manner.
Step Five – Steve was concerned about the public's knowledge of the benefits of native landscaping versus the mindless conformity of the manicured landscapes that we are used to seeing. This education is a project for his new social media employee. In addition, the Mayor should call a press conference and make a big deal of the City Councils' commitment to not only the health of it’s citizens but also the environment and not mindlessly conforming to unhealthy chemically dependent landscape practices and to saving Houstonians a lot of money. The Mayor can also go into the benefits of restoring native prairie vegetation as it decreases water runoff and flooding, increases soil absorption of water and slows floodwaters on land.
A press conference is excellent advertising. It can also be addressed on the citiy’s website.
If you need inspiration, look at the 5/2020 National Geographic, Where Have All the Insects Gone? Pp. 40-65. The article is a study from 1989 to 2016 of flying insects. The study reported a 70% decline. You will find quotes such as "ecological Armageddon", "we find ourselves in the middle of a nightmare", "According to the website Altmetric, which tracks how often publish research is mentioned online, the study was the sixth most discussed scientific paper in 2017."
Insects do the dirty work for us; they pollinate, disperse seeds, are food for freshwater fish, and about every land animal, from reptiles to birds. They decompose our waste; without insects dead, organic matter will pile up. N. G reported the work insects do is equivalent to $57 billion a year in the US.
After you tackle the City Parks, we can look at residential and commerci
