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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.”
When I started in the MFAH Glassell School block program, I needed pedestals for my smaller sculptures. I made stark white cubes as I saw in museums and galleries.
Over the years, my work has transitioned to tell a specific story. I make work to reveal the beauty in diversity, the messiness in the natural world and the connections between all living things on the planet. And most importantly, I work to inspire society to step into a rhythm that will flow with the natural world and celebrate the beauty in its messiness. My work conflicts with borders that separate, clean lines that divide and sterile objects.
The white cube pedestals are a symptom of sameness, monocultures and sterile environments, a symptom of me wanting to ” look “ like I belong and fit in. A change is an imminent.
I am leting my eyes and mind play with how objects that physically support my work should look. Work that reimagines urban landscapes to balance humanity and natural systems should not be sterile cubes. What should, - what could they be?
The images below are some thoughts I am considering. .
Rocks
Bricks
Stones or concrete.
Cracks
Dried plant material
Electrical wire
Upcycled lawn furniture.
Palm tree trunk skin
Salvaged construction site rotting root with interesting chain link necklace imbedded across her shoulders.
Orange blister beetle and Ratibida columnifera
prairie cone flower. The beetle eats problem insects.
Gulf fritillary butterfly's mating and green anole ruins the mood.
Xylocopa virginica, the Eastern carpenter bee has evolved to the exact height to Maximize pollinating Passiflora incarnation. This relationship is one of my favorites in Symbiosis.
Soaking wet American bumble bee (endangered bee) using a Missouri ironweed leaf as an umbrella.
black mud daubersa, is a solitary wasp. This female his hunting for caterpillars to provision her mud nest. Plants recognize the vibrations of caterpillars chewing. This causes the plant to send out pheromones to attract wasp to keep the caterpillars down. She seems frantic.
Ascra bifida, exploring crabgrass and Marsh Fleabane (both volunteer plants) hunting for moths, caterpillars, harmful beetles, aphids and other pests. They are valued citizens in “Symbiosis”. Oddly there is very little online about this sweetheart of a stink bug.
American Mockingbird and American beauty berry.
On the left side of the image perched atop the dead olive tree a Mockingbird searches for insects. Camaflouged by the orange trick background a juicy dragonfly flies into to the upper right corner of the frame and catches the alert Mockibgbirds attention.
Cyathus stercoreus
Dung-loving birds nest fungus also known as splash cups.
Cyathus stercoreus
Dung-loving birds nest fungus also known as splash cups.
When a raindrop hits the cup's interior, the peridioles are ejected into the air tearing open the purse. In the lower part of the purse, the coiled funicular cord expands. The peridioles, followed by the sticky funicular cord and basal hapteron, land on a nearby plant stem or stick. Flying through the air, the line wraps around the plant's stem. The peridiole remains attached to the vegetation. In a natural setting, a grazing animal may eat it and later deposit it in that animal's dung to continue the life cycle. This amazing amazing creature breaks down dung, and captures raindrops.
Brown Anole
The ESTERN CARPENTER BEE AND PASSIFLORA INCARNATA
A dragonfly lays eggs in the still water of a trough pond. Her nymphs keep the mosquito larvae in check and are protein for the Texas mosquitofish.
Long-tailed Skipper Urbanus Proteus I
30” X 44”watercolor Monoprint.
Long-tailed Skipper Urbanus Proteus II
30” X 44”watercolor Monoprint.
Long-tailed Skipper Urbanus Proteus II ghost
30” X 44”watercolor Monoprint.
Long-tailed Skipper Urbanus Proteus llI
30” X 44”watercolor Monoprint
Long-tailed Skipper Urbanus Proteus llI ghost
30” X 44”watercolor Monoprint.
9/2021 Green Treefrog Hyla cinerea Sighted in
"Symbiosis” @ lawndade Art center
30” X 44” Watercolor monotype
2022
9/2021 Green Treefrog Hyla cinerea Sighted in
"Symbiosis” @ lawndade Art center ghost
30” X 44” Watercolor monotype
2022
Green Tree frog Spotted 9/2021 Day II
Insects On The Menu - Blue
Watercolor monotype 7/1/2022
Leafcutter Megachilidae (petal cutter bee) and blanket flower also known as fire wheel.
watercolor and pastel monotype
30” X 44”
I saw a blue swallowtail flitting across the garden, looking for a suitable host plant for her eggs. Below are images of Eggs under the same leaves the following days. This post will be ongoing. As I see Pipevine Swallowtails, I will document them here.
Swallowtail laying eggs under a white vein Morning glory leaf. 8/13 2:29
Full view of blue swallow tail 8/13
Swallowtail caterpillars eggs . 8/13 3:57
8/14 5:04
8/14
8/14
8/17 10:19
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.
All living and nonliving matter are connected in form or system. Through my work on “Symbiosis,” I have witnessed the power of holistic management, also called systems thinking. I can see that Changing our decision making process to consider whole systems and connectedness is the solution to our environmental and social issues. Changing how society thinks is the driving force in my art.
With this new awareness I am inspired to consistently reflect it in my work. I have decided to rethink “Rumblings,” which began as a collection of monotypes of 50 of the 10,000 bee species. It wasa mono crop of bees. However, you can’t separate the interconnection between bees, humans, or other living organisms and the earth's natural systems. We are all part of the living planet Earth. I will start applying systems thinking to all my installations. “Rumblings ” will celebrate the relationships among a diversity of species up and down the food chain. I will weave into these pieces the relationships that whisper of Earths biological processes and Physical and chemical Elements. The connections can be obvious or subtle, they can be unmeasurable or invisible. This will be fun.
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 think about the symmetry or lack of symmetry in the found object (a man made object, the building and land) aspect of” Symbiosis” and I think about ways to balance it. In contrast every time I look at an element of the installation (a nature made element) I see nature has a design formula. I have noticed the Symmetry in nature is redundant and it seems the tech world is looking too.
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.
Tiny spent sunflower bloom/seed head-the colors - suttle and faded, still rich and deep. The shapes of the seeds as they dried ❤️ The beauty of the natural world when you stop and look. I studied this dried object probably 4 minutes turning it in my fingers watching the white blooms from the crepe myrtle attached by the thread of a spider and then turning it over hiding underneath- a creature. As we enter the Anthropocene, saving insects is a priority in “Symbiosis.” When I edit out any materials such as this elegant, delicate, dried Rosinweed sunflower head from the garden, I do not bag them and put them in a trash can. I chop and drop. This tiny spider is evidence that chopping and dropping not only builds soil and saves money it also saves insects.
We had the first big spring rain the week before Mother’s Day. That Saturday , I stopped in "Symbiosis" to check out the wildlife and chat with anyone visiting the exhibitions. To my surprise, the pond is now a green tree frog nursery. The trough pond is surrounded by tall native plants that tree frogs love. I have not seen the green tree frogs since last year, I thought I heard them one night few weeks ago. Mother toads and tree frogs have to have water to lay their eggs. I believe tree frogs lay their eggs on limbs where they fall in the water.
Above are a few watercolor monotypes I did of the tree frog.
A Mockingbird feeding a juvenile a small toad.
On an early July morning, with a new camera in my hands, I was hopeful the zoom lens would document unseen details in Symbiosis. I focused the lens on the “feed me” gesture of the juvenile bird. Later zooming in on the image on my computer revealed the middle of the food chain — A Mockingbird feeding a juvenile, not a caterpillar, wasp, or an insect but a slight blurry silhouette of a toad. On my laptop, I witnessed the middle of the food chain, a moment in a living sculpture, evidence of a healthy ecosystem and hope in a sea of asphalt on the Gulf Coast.
In Symbiosis building, a food chain that has not been exposed to chemicals or pesticides is crucial to building a base and armature that supports the more visible kinetic elements — wildlife and humans, the upper food chain. Its strength is critical to the success of the whole.
I use systems thinking to plan and organize my sculptural additions and extractions to the piece. In this case, not using pesticides to control insect pests or unruly vegetation is a priority. The water feature in the garden invites mosquitos, dragonflies, frogs, toads, and aquatic insects to lay their eggs in the still water. The tadpoles, nymphs, and Texas mosquito fish eat the mosquito larvae.
In the work, all of the individual species are linked by the health and abundance of the lower species. “Symbiosis” is an element of the “living” Earth, a community of organisms existing within the Art center's sculpture garden and social sculpture.
The earth tone Horace's dusky wing skipper alights on the side of a blue dragon head shaped blossom. The blooms are stacked in a whorl pattern on it’s square green stem forming a Salvia azurea spike . The upper lip of the tubular blossom is hooded and is shorter than the three-lobed lower lip, which serves as a landing pad for pollinators. The Dusky wings long curled proboscis unfolds into the white throat of the delicate bloom to which it clings. In return for nectar the Dusky wing pollinates the flower.
The native Salvia produces square tall arching stems that terminate into large, branching, flower spikes. It’s opposite placed grey-green leaves are narrow with slight notches. If you rub the leaves you release a minty aroma.
I see in most gardens the hybrid Salvia with compact green foliage. It is unfortunate that the pollinators are not attracted to the short hybrid.
Salvia is a favorite of North American butterflies, bees, moths and hummingbirds.
I specifically leave dried dead plant materials in the garden for 3 beautiful reasons. First many butterflies leave their eggs on the under side of dead leaves and many chrysalis look like crumpled leaves. If I bag and dispose off all the dead plant material we loose endangered insects. 2nd, birds need the seeds for nutrition. 3rd I love the soft earth tones they offer. One of the principles I apply to the garden is protecting the soil with plants.
As a result symbiosis is a sea of green. Traditionally contemporary gardens leave the bare ground around each plant. This results in compacted soil . A garden that adheres to regenerative agriculture principles needs earth tones to break up the green.
July 2020 - the sculpture garden as it was when Stephanie and I first discussed the project.
February 2021. After the Texas freeze
May 2022 - 12 months from installation.
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
14” X 6” X 6”
Found objects — a glass jar and cork lid, shale, charcoal, mesh, distilled water, Springtails, a Monarch carcass, living soil, Horseherb (Calyptocarpus vialis), Bigfoot Waterclover Marsilea macropoda, two chrysalides, two oyster shells, decaying bee balm bloom and a bird skeleton.
water + air + citizen
I documented the event by having the participants take a small step as a community to build a healthy functioning ecosystem collectively. Earth's water system is a closed water system. Although we can make soil, we cannot make more water.
Before the discussions began as a symbolic gesture, each person added an element to provide the future with a water system to sustain life on Earth. The objects in the documentation are found objects — a glass jar and cork lid, shale, charcoal, mesh, distilled water, springtails to eat the fungus, and a Monarch carcass to envision the future. Sourced from Symbiosis, the piece includes living soil, Horseherb (Calyptocarpus vialis), Bigfoot Waterclover Marsilea macropoda, two chrysalides, two oyster shells, decaying plant matter and a bird skeleton.
After the event, I added elements present in urban earthly healthy ecosystems; the bird skeleton I found in Symbiosis last spring, two chrysalides vacated by butterflies and left on Lawndale's fence, a dried lemon bee balm bloom, and lastly, a past Monarch butterfly. Monarchs were not witnessed in Symbiosis' first year. I found this Monarch on the sidewalk of my neighborhood. To recover endangered species, we must envision them in our terrain, provide habitat and plants that give them nectar. I placed the terrarium on two broken concrete pavers. As an urban community, we took the first step we successfully built an ecosystem where our actions support natural systems that temper weather and provide clean water and air.
In 2021 I proposed to Lawndale a social Sculpture that addresses the three ways humans intersect soil in Houston. The way we treat our soil impacts two ingredients necessary to sustain life on Earth, water and air.
Public policy, Design industry, and Art activism.
Water + Air + Citizens is a discussion that looks at three ways Houstonians (humanity) impact these natural systems through urban landscapes.
Medians, yards, gardens, lots, parks, blocks are all surfaces of Earth. But, by any name, the skin of our planet purifies its water and regulates its atmosphere.
As the event grew close, I began to see a bigger picture, another layer to the work. In my sculpture practice, this is a common occurrence. In this case, I became aware that the title I chose for the sculpture is three of the most potent elements in weather. First, with water, we have floods and hurricanes. We are hit with hurricanes, tornadoes, and dust bowls in the air. Finally, citizens' power of public opinion is a tremendous force and often overcomes the common sense of individuals and leaders.
When I study the areas of the work that visibly support the most wildlife in Symbiosis I often think of the the most notable works of Pollock. I am presently reading The Extended Mind by A.M. Paul. In the chapter on thinking in natural spaces she wrote. - “Nature changed Pollocks thinking - gently tempering his raging in-tensity- and it also changed his art. In New York, Pollock worked at an easel, painting intricate, involved designs. In Springs, where he worked in a converted barn full of light and views of nature, he began spreading his canvases on the floor and pouring or flinging paint from above. Art critics view this period of Pollocks life as the high point of his career, the years when he produced "drip painting" masterpieces like Shimmering Substance (1946) and Autumn Rhythm” the extended Mind by A.M. Paul. I often see Pollockness in “Symbiosis”. This images especially reminds me of his Autumn Rhythm. In “symbiosis” it is winter shelter. This scarlet sage was damaged after the freeze.
