Generational Amnesia and Regeneration.

My husband Curtis and I drove to Christoval, Texas for a public hummingbird tagging event. I had been to a private tagging before, but this one was different. The public was invited in. Children were there.

Biologists carefully capture tiny hummingbirds to collect vital information — sex, age, length, weight. After gathering the data, a skilled volunteer carefully cradles each delicate bird in the palm of an observer’s hand.

The tiny creature briefly pauses. You hold your breath. You feel an almost mechanical vibration, like a toy stuck in the “on” position — the rhythm of its heartbeat. Then, in an instant, it is back into the wild.

It wasn’t until I looked at my photos afterward that I saw it — a trusted volunteer placing the bird in a child’s hand. The transfer of knowledge, right there in the frame. A tiny beating heart. A child holding their breath.

That moment — the exchange of a tiny life from seasoned hands to smooth palms — is a living metaphor for what it means to nurture the passing of knowledge and care across generations. It is the story of regeneration.

This is what generational amnesia looks like in reverse.

Generational amnesia — also called shifting baseline syndrome — describes how each generation views the environment they inherit as the normal standard, even if it is significantly more degraded than that of previous generations. We absorb the world we are born into. We mistake it for the world as it is.

In the 1980s in Houston, our garden was filled with hummingbirds. Their vibrant presence shaped our daily conversations, our sense of place, our sense of wonder. They were part of our love story. Curtis proposed and hummingbirds were there. We miss them.

Today’s children in Houston have likely never seen one in a garden. They have no baseline for what’s missing. And that is the whole loss — not just the hummingbirds, but the memory of them.

Breaking this cycle requires hands willing to reach out and moments prepared to receive. It demands nurturing curiosity, empathy, and attention in children and adults alike. It calls for the deliberate passing on of more than just facts — but also the emotions and experiences that bind us to the world beyond ourselves.

The hummingbird’s pause in the palm of a stranger’s hand is brief. But it is enough. This is how we pass down the endangered knowledge of our natural history now — not around a campfire, not through a grandmother’s photo album, but in a field in Christoval, Texas, with a tiny beating heart in your hand and a trusted volunteer saying: this existed. Pay attention

.

Planet Popsicles — and spam

I received a spam email this summer with a bold photo of a popsicle asking, “How do you cool off in the heat of the summer?” I immediately thought about how the planet cools off. That spam email inspired these ephemeral sculptures, I used the materials mother nature uses to cool the planet.

PLANET POPSICLES

6” X 1” X 12” ephemeral

Sticks, H20, Passionflower, Fall obedient plant, and American Beautyberry

PLANET POPSICLES

6” X 6” X 24” ephemeral

Sticks, H20, Passionflower, Fall obedient plant, and American Beautyberry, Beatles, Pokeweed, Scarbs, Golden Rod, passed butterflies, and passed moths

Symbiocene Celebration: Eco—Systems

Symbiocene Celebration

social sculpture

—from Chemical Plants to Native Plants—

Native Wildflowers, Food, Art, Music and Migration

Fall color tourism contributes $1 billion per year to North Carolina. Houston has fall and spring color migration; we can cultivate them into tourism and build soil health.

“For profit is the fuel that will change society's landscape practices to embrace the planet's ecological systems in Houston. Applying economics and industrial concepts to my work, I see ecotourism as an untapped resource that can strengthen our environmental and economic health. I propose nurturing and marketing Houston’s ecotourism, through a Symbiocene Celebration of migration, that ultimately encourages and celebrates new mutualistic relationships between Houstonians and the planet. Through fostering relationships that regenerate Houston's micro-ecosystems, we will move our reputation from Chemical Plants to Native Plants — we can prosper as the Green Energy City.” — cindee travis klement

“If you dig deep and keep peeling the onion, artists and freelance writers are the leaders in society - the people who start to get new ideas out.” — Allan Savory

In April 2021, I installed the first native plants in Symbiosis, in Lawndale's Mary E. Bawden Sculpture Garden. Within two months, Symbiosis exploded with bountiful native blooms. Plants expected by the Ladybird Wildflower website to be one to three feet tall in Symbiosis were instead two to four feet tall. In June, the endangered native bees started returning. In the first twelve months, I have witnessed seventy new species in the space: from bird nest fungus to Red Admirals, Monarchs and skippers, skimmers, one of the bumblebees listed as endangered, Bombus pensylvanicus, treefrogs, toads and birds.

Building Mutual Symbiotic Relationships to Power Ecological Recovery

In preparation for the celebration I envision cultivating relationships among the City of Houston, local property owners, Houston's indigenous landscape and its wildlife, soil and climate, food, restaurant, music, visual and performing arts, museums and professional sports team communities and wildlife conservation groups.

 The following steps will contribute to building these relationships:

·       The business and private property owners will need to redirect their existing landscape budgets to native plants that support our wildlife.

·       These new landscape practice guidelines will align with the Mayor's Office of Sustainability and Resilience.

·       New native wildflower and grass landscapes will slow rainwater, allowing it to soak in and return to the aquifer to cool the planet while sequestering carbon and storing it in the ground where it is stable, providing food and safe habitats for our indigenous wildlife.

·       The approximately six hundred species of birds, four hundred and thirty species of butterflies, eight hundred species of Texas native bees, one thousand species of moths, eighteen species of dragonflies, thirty species of turtles, including two box turtles, and seventy-two species of amphibians native to Texas will expand their populations in our city.

·       Houston's creatives in the food, restaurant, music, visual and performing arts, museums and professional sports industries will respond to the new mutualistic/symbiotic relationships among Houston's landowners and our unique plant and wildlife in exciting creative ways and performances during the celebratory periods.

·       The City of Houston will promote, market, and support the above-described new relationships with its services infrastructure, completing the mutualistic relationship that will support Houston's economy and ecosystems.

Why Houston Can Support Ecotourism

Although Symbiosis taught me the speed with which an urban landscape can transform into a wildlife haven, it was not until I was in Fredericksburg that I realized Houston's ecology is an untapped tourist economy. When you combine Houston's rich soil, high humidity, heat and long growing seasons with the indigenous native plant landscapes supported by Houston's urban irrigated commercial and park landscapes, Houston's native plant wildflower and wildlife tourism can far exceed those of the small towns in Central Texas. Another tremendous asset is Houston's central geographic location in the bird and butterfly migration paths between the North and South American continents and our proximity to the Gulf Coast. Texas has the most butterfly species of any state in the United States. Houston's inner city is 600 square miles; our "sprawl" is an asset to urban ecotourism.

As additional support that Houston can be an ecotourism powerhouse, I have read that one of New York City's most popular tourist attractions is The High Line's native landscaping. In North Texas, Plano also uses wildflowers and music to attract tourism dollars.

Funding

I see businesses and organizations all over the city which are starting to take advantage of the ecological benefits of native landscapes. Unfortunately, many other property owners (business and home) are unaware of the economic and environmental benefits of native plant landscaping. They spend $50-$100 per hour for weekly maintenance and $4—$12 per square foot for seasonal plantings, while also incurring high water usage and bills. Suppose the City appeals to these businesses and individuals to convert their existing non-ecological landscape budgets to native wildflower and grass landscapes. In that case, the City can promote a native plant/wildflower and wildlife, food, arts and music festival that will symbiotically support native ecological systems. The supporting businesses can profit from the tourism they generate.

The Texas Can-Do Spirit

Systems thinking to mitigate climate through industry and the arts is a new territory — will Houstonians embrace this new field of thinking? In Texas, that depends on how you ask and present the need. In our recent history, from Katrina to hurricane Harvey, unsolicited Houstonians volunteered to help their neighbors. In 1901, wildcatters discovered Spindletop, drawing people worldwide to build a better life in unknown territory. “Wildcatter” is used to describe one that drills wells in areas not known to be producing fields. The spirit of the wildcatter is deep in our Texas Can-Do Spirit. It is in our nature to embrace a new field of wild.

Why Big Ideas Are Important.

“The climate needs big, public, audacious goals that everyone can contribute to,” he argues. “Cathedrals were not completed in the lifetime of anyone starting them, but communities bought into these projects.” -The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/12/19/climate-change-cathedral-project/

The white pedestal?

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.

Symbiosis - The first anniversary and a feisty or rebellious future.

What would the next twelve months look like?

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.

Mockingbirds and toads.

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.

Palpada vinetorum is a species of syrphid fly in the family Syrphidae.[1][2][3][4] It is a native flower fly species to North America, mainly found in Texas and parts of the east coast and fall obedient plant.

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.

four-banded stink bug hunter wasp

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.

Symbiosis- Food chain - Mockingbirds and Toads

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.

Endangered knowledge:The Soul of Humus

I dried some cosmos leaves to us as the coat of a sculpture that is in the works - Endangered knowledge: the Soul of Humus. The piece will be in the #sculpturemonthhouston 2021 exhibit. I started the armature during COVID for the SMH 2020 exhibit, which was postponed. The sculpture looks at the ecological history of the coastal prairie. This texture is perfect #cindeeklementart #endangeredknowledge #coastalprairie #tezasart #houstonart #bioart #environmentalart #cosmos #art #sculpture #bison