Endangered Knowledge: The Soul of Humus

20’ more of rebar.

I used 20’ more of rebar today to build the hip bones up on both sides and his right side in the stomach area of his side. I worked from the hip to his shoulder.

My work space is not large enough to get a good side photo.

Endangered Knowledge: The Soul of Humus

Another big day of welding..I added a big 96” circumference chest. Put the entire piece on four dollies and started his hump. Below are a few pics from todays work.

Behind my garage is a telephone pole. I use it to bend my rebar. This is a side view where I am going to bend the piece for the chest.

Halfway to becoming a bison chest.

Then I use my weight to even out the shape.

I hang the chest over the back and decide if it is big enough.

Next I weld the ends together .

Recycling some old dollies from past work and deciding on the best plan. Balance and portability is the goal. The brown paper is the footprint of my bisons. Each leg is supported by a dollie.

Thanks to Curtis for getting me the plywood and helping me mount the beast. This is just for while I work on the sculpture and for transportation. It is not part of the work.

Just goofing around

My garage studio assistant is taking a sun break.

Starting to assemble the hump.

And that's a wrap.

Endangered Knowledge: The Soul of Humus

July 5th.

Attaching the head—
I welded just one connection from the neck to the head. As I assemble other parts of his body I will continue to evaluate the position of the head. I want him to be his reaching to the side searching for the next blades of grass within the reach of his massive head and tongue. With only one weld I can easily cut it off if I decide it is not in the right place or at the right angle. I do enjoy having a bobblehead bison in my garage for a while.

Building the girt—

I happened to have a circular scrap piece of rebar almost the right size. I created it years ago to be a round seat for a faux bois chair that was started and not finished. I turned it into the basis for the bison’s rear hip girth/stomach.

It is a little small, the small size gives me the flexibility to add to it exactly where I want it to protrude. As I get more elements worked out I will make it larger by adding the back hip bones that protrude. t is a lot easier to add pieces as I build him than to cut out pieces.

1 small tack world neck to head. Just to see where I want it.

SOCIALsculpture — how to see Houston

"If you want to make small changes, change how you do things;

if you want to make big changes, change how you see things."

— In Dirt to Soil, Gabe Brown

How do we restore an ecological balance in Houston? We see Houston in the global ecosystem, see our relationship with wildlife and sea life of the western hemisphere.

Houston

See — Houston can balance humanity and urban wildlife.

Site-Specific installation: Symbiosis is a micro-ecosystem in an important ecological space.

Houston is 600 square miles of mostly privately owned land inhabited by 2.3 million organisms, on the Gulf Coast of South-Eastern North America. Its rainwater runoff feeds the ocean and impacts reefs one hundred miles into the seas. Chemicals from Houston are reported killing reefs 100 miles into the Gulf.

Drain

See — The pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides used to keep Houston’s commercial, residential city and county landscapes manicured are leached by rainwaters that drain into the Gulf of Mexico from our streets.

The plants in Symbiosis do not need chemical inputs to thrive. They have evolved to withstand droughts floods and freezing temperatures.

Located near the lower apex of the triangular-shaped North American continent Houston’s land and water provide nesting, hydration, and nutrition for animals that utilize this critical migratory pathway that funnels migratory life between the northern and southern continents of the western hemisphere. More than one in four birds in the U.S. and Canada has disappeared within my lifetime. Birds play crucial roles in maintaining an ecological balance on the coastal prairie, from eating mosquitos to providing food for scavengers and decomposers.

One In Four Birds In the US Has disappeared In My Lifetime.

See — that birds play crucial roles in maintaining an ecological balance on the coastal prairie, from eating mosquitos to providing food for scavengers and decomposers.

Symbiosis is building living soil that supports bugs, beetles and insects that birds need to feed their young.

A male American Robin sits on the fence at Lawndale at the light of day June 18th, 2021 with Gulf fritillary larvae in his mouth. Until Symbiosis was installed birds flew over Lawndale. The garden was sterile of what modern civilization calls landscape pests/what birds feed their young. The sculpture garden did not offer food or habitat for birds.

Larvae of Gulf Frittilary butterfly – Detail of Symbiosis

See — An important nutrient necessary for birds young to thrive.

With native plants in our urban gardens and commercial outdoor spaces, chemical inputs are not necessary. Chemical-free yards will help bring back the 1107 species once common in the Coastal Prairie.

Houston, the site, has experienced extreme flooding and weather conditions. We are located where once was the Coastal Prairie ecosystem that sequestered Carbon like an upside-down rainforest and absorbed water like a sponge. Of that original landscape, only 1% still exists. And yet, we can see an opportunity to capitalize on Houston’s reputation as the city of energy and cultural diversity. We can mitigate global warming and extreme weather conditions by changing how we see our role in a balanced ecosystem.

Lawndale Symbiosis

Lawndale’s sculpture garden is a micro-ecosystem within an important macro-ecosystem that casts a wide net.

Symbionts

The Passiflora incarnata provides nectar for pollinators. Native bees are the original regenerative farmers, they take nectar and regenerate the flower pollinating the Passiflora incarnata.

This is one species of the 4,000 bees native to the US. (Please note this is not a honey bee. Honey bees are not native to the US. They are part of the industrial farming ecological problem.)

I see an opportunity to create the visual for environmental change. I see hope.

“Look closely at nature and you will understand everything better” - Albert Einstein

Look closely at your micro-ecosystem.

To sustain is not enough. Our civilization has depleted the Earth's soil. It is not enough to sustain a depleted planet; we must all do our part and regenerate soil health to sustain life. Regenerating the Earth’s soil is an ongoing DIY project.

ART CAN ONLY ACTIVATE CHANGE WITH YOUR ADDED PERFORMANCE

—If you care about the environment, help get the conversation going and restore an ecological balance in Houston. Post one image of Houston native plants and or wildlife on Instagram  #lawndalesymbiosis and tag two friends.

In addition, forward this to two friends. 

Ask two friends to do the same, and ask them to ask two more friends, building a pyramid of activism.

For an enhanced experience viewing Houston’s wildlife and landscape I recommend the citizen science apps

“iNaturalist” and “Seek”.

#LawndaleSymbiosis

Symbiosis — DIY (the images for this post are under construction, stay tuned)

Symbiosis — DIY Steps

Change can happen at lightning speed when innovation is coupled with imitation. Here are the steps I took feel free to imitate them.

I became familiar with the six principles of Holistic Regenerative agriculture through the Savory Institute, Roam Ranch and was recently featured in the film Kiss the Ground. I wanted to make a difference and regenerate depleted land, too. However, a bison ranch is not in my future. It occurred to me that changing how we landscape Houston could make an ecological impact. Lawndale Art Center offered me the opportunity to install an environmental sculpture in the garden. They had just re-landscaped the sculpture garden with a traditional garden, so I did not expect them to accept my proposal. However, Lawndale is committed to artists that explore aesthetic, critical and social issues of our times. Symbiosis is a catalyst to invite the public to change Houstons’s environmental impact. Applying these principles to Houston’s greater urban landscape will significantly impact climate and extreme weather conditions. Houstonians—or anyone—can do this. Climate change is a DIY project.

Below I describe these principles as I applied them to Symbiosis.

See how others across the world have used the same principles I used below.

6 PRINCIPLES of HOLISTIC REGENERATIVE AGRICULTURE AND SYMBIOSIS

Installing this site-specific installation, I incorporated the same principles used to regenerate depleted soils worldwide.   

Holistic management — BALANCE —Symbiotic

I keep in mind that the garden is a microsystem that must contribute to and function in the greater ecosystem of the western hemisphere’s continents and waters. In Symbiosis, I balance the needs of the; art institution, urban wildlife, donors, exhibiting artists, the surrounding community, and volunteers.

Holistic management — balancing the needs to run the art center, the neighboring community and urban wildlife/landscape.

Integrating livestock to build soil microbes — GroundWORK

 Living soil does not come from synthetic inputs. Instead, it comes from decaying matter that completes the circle of life. Mimicking this process in an urban environment is a crucial step. Without it, there is no life. In the natural world, grazing livestock such as bison, cows, sheep, goats, or chickens provides the decaying matter through their waste, stomping it in the ground and eating and damaging vegetation.

In Symbiosis, I mimic this process by installing a native leaf compost with animal waste components. It is full of beneficial microbes, free of dangerous synthetic chemicals, toxic dyes, and sewage. The heat from composting kills the pathogens. It is safe for children and pets. Because this step is critical, I turned it into a community performance art event. — GroundWORK

Intergrading animal — GroundWORK

Native moldy leaf compost was installed during the GroundWORK event on behalf of RoXoR gin a sponsor of Lawndale’s spring 2021 fundraiser event.

 Eliminating tillage  — CarbonSINK

 While we work to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, it is more critical to sink the Carbon in the atmosphere back into the soil. Carbon is stabile in the roots and microorganisms of plants in the ground. When soil is disturbed, Carbon is exposed to oxygen and transformed into carbon dioxide, which warms the planet. Conversely, organisms can establish communities that feed off the soil's organic matter when the earth is undisturbed. As soil organic matter improves, so does the soil’s internal structure.

A healthy soil biome is vital for suppressing plant diseases and cycling nutrients among plants, eliminating the need for synthetic inputs whose production increases our carbon footprint.

 In Symbiosis, I am building a CarbonSINK by not turning the soil over before planting, keeping the soil structure intact as much as possible, and implementing “Chop and Drop” composting when plants go dormant.  Symbiosis builds soil biology and increases soil structure, increasing the soil's ability to absorb Carbon and water, reducing runoff, soil erosion, flooding, and preventing pollution from entering nearby bayous. 

Eliminating tillage — CarbonSINK

After a freeze in 2022, the red salvia above ground suffered. I carefully chopped all the dead materials and dropped them in the garden. I always leave the roots in the ground and 6” - 10” of stems for solitary native bees to nest in.

Maximizing crop/plant biodiversity, — ReCover

 We do not know what we have lost until we recover it.

With this thought, I researched native plants and what roles they have played in the Houston area ecosystem. Identified in the Coastal Prairie are more than 1,000 plus plant species. I have not relied on hybrids/variants of species or plants considered beneficial. Instead, I selected 36 species known as indigenous to the area. Native plants have supported over 4,000 native bees, 1,107 bird species, 750 species of butterflies, 200 skippers, and 11,000 months, and 4,000 wasps.

Symbiosis is to recover and support as many of these species as possible for all four seasons. In addition to supporting wildlife, I sought out plants that helped control ground erosion and water absorption.  — Plant it and they will come—

Maximizing Biodiversity — ReCover

Hyla cinerea , there are five true tree frogs in Texas. They climb grass and require a permanent water feature, a trough pond will do. I first saw tree frogs in the garden in September 2021 on a bushy Bluestem. I have since seen them on the Mealy blue sage. I have never seen a 2.5” tree frog in Houston before. I hope we can recover a few for every yard.

Plant material selections:  Salvia Lyrata, Calyptocarpus vialis, Phyla nodiflora, Bouteloua gracilis, Carex peredentata, Tradescantia occidentalis, Calyophus brerland, Oenothera speciosa, Rudbeckia hirta, Ratibida columnifera, Monarda citriodora, Echinacea purpurea, Schizachyrium scoparium, Salvia coccinea, Gaillardia pulchella, Symphyotrichum patens, Salvia, Farinacea, Chasmanthium lati, Silphium gracile, Verbena xutha, Salvia azurea, Eryngium yuccifolium, Solidago sempervirens, Capsicum annuum, Callicarpa  Americana, Symphoricarpos orbiculatus.

Grasses:  Andropogon gerardii Vitman, Schizachyrium scoparium, Chasmanthium latifolium, Carex texensis

VINES: Lonicera sempervirens L, Gelsemium sempervirens, Wisteria frutescens, begonia capreolata, Passiflora incarnata

Keeping the soil covered — Skin =  CarbonSINK + GroundWATER  =  GlobalCOOLING

—Skin, Like human skin the palnet’s skin provides many services necessary for good health.

The Earth’s skin is green. “The Earth is a living organism, composed of millions of species and billions of organisms—bacteria, algae, microscopic insects, earthworms, beetles, ants, mites, fungi and more—representing the greatest concentration of biomass anywhere on the planet. Microbes, which make up only one-half of one percent of the total soil mass, are the yeasts, algae, protozoa, bacteria, nematodes, and fungi that process organic matter into rich, dark, stable humus in the soil."  There are more soil microorganisms in a teaspoon of healthy soil than there are people on the Earth! The living organisms in the soil receive their food and shelter from plants' biological processes and physical structure.

In Symbiosis protecting the surface of the work with green skin is an easy decision for me. The quality of the skin is intimately tied to cooling the planet through Carbon and groundwater.

Keeping the soil covered — Skin

 —CarbonSINK

I installed the plant material in a manner that mimics how seeds drift in the wind and are carried by animals in their coats or deposited in their waste — resulting in multilayered vertical, horizontal, and diagonal jigsaw puzzles of leaf shapes. These shapes have evolved over thousands of years, woven together to maximize every ray of sunlight. The living material will grow into a three-dimensional solar panel from 6" to  6' tall, sequestering Carbon out of the air and storing it in the living soil. I did not leave the ground bare around each species as is popular in traditional urban landscapes.

CarbonSINK — utilizing a variety of plant shapes to maximize carbon capture.

— GroundWater

Living organisms need oxygen. When rain hits the unprotected ground, the micro spaces that allow air to penetrate the soil collapse and the living organisms die from lack of oxygen. I selected thirty-six species of plants to include various leaf sizes and shapes, stem heights, bloom sizes, and surface textures. As the plants mature, they become a multitiered water slide of twists and turns, slowing rainwater, trickling it to the ground. This allows the Earth to respond like a sponge soaking up the precipitation and channeling it through the root systems and air pockets as freshwater to the aquifer for future generations. Slowing rainwater can mitigate flooding that has become the norm in Houston. 

— GlobalCOOLING: Soil soaked in water like a sponge and covered in plants that move, as a gentle breeze blows off the Gulf of Mexico, conditions and cools the air and the earth as it is warmed by the sun. In contrast moving cool rainwater across hot surfaces such as turf grass, artificial turf or concrete landscape, warms the water, picks up chemicals and dumps the urban solar-heated water full of toxic chemicals into the ocean. 

GroundWater and GlobalCOOLING — multiple layers of plants slow rainwater, giving the ground time to soak it up, purify and store it in the aquifer.

Maintaining living roots year-round — FoodWEB — GlobalCOOLING

Living roots in the soil are vital for feeding the bacteria and fungi that provide food for the creatures further up the chain. Living roots keep mycorrhizal fungi alive and healthy. These symbionts are vital for nourishing plants and provide convenient fertilizer and water. Maintaining living roots in the ground feeds organisms, providing year-round carbonSINK and GlobalCOOLING.

Endangered knowledge: the Soul of Humus.

SMH fall of 2020 was canceled due to Covid 19 last July of 2020. I put a halt on welding my piece and focused on planning “Symbiosis.” “Symbiosis” is installed the Big Show is opened which provided a tremendous amount of traffic. I will still check on it every day, but I will spend most of my day building my piece for SMH 2021. Today I started where I left off. Below are images from last year's work and blog posts.

When I stopped in 2020 I had the hooves on steel plate bases and new where I wanted them to bare the weight.

Today I cut the rebar to form the lover part of the legs and grinded the tips. Tomorrow I weld.

Some of my notes from measuring Epics Bob the bison January of 2020.

My bison will be in motion not standing still.

The skull and upper jaw.

And lower jaw

4 pieces of rebar cut for each leg will provide the structure of the lower legs.

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

Spontaneity and art - a good thing, we will see

I started my day at 6:30 am, pasting images of work into a word document for a curator/art consultant. A necessary task that I was thrilled to do- however, mind-numbing, to say the least. By 12:30 crossed eyed I took the dogs on a walk. When I came across this. My mind numbing was instantly healed with inspirational thoughts.

Seven immaculately bundled trimmings from a neighbors Crape, Myrtle. Crape murdered or not I- the trees were in the backyard, could not see them.

My trimmings from a site-specific installation @Lawndale Center for the Arts. Symbiosis

The image above is from last week at Lawndale (a post in am tardy with) My trimmings are wild and unruly. I am using them on social media to make a point - to change how we landscape- to landscape with habitat for wildlife in mind.

My neighbor's bundles of limbs are in sharp contrast to mine. They are an example of how controlling urban green spaces have become, the tidiness that is expected In our yards.

I am so tempted——— Such a great opportunity to turn these found object organic materials, perfectly assembled tied up with yellow cords into gorilla art. The colors will look amazing at Lawndale. It is not part of my work on Symbiosis to install anything I want. 🤔 The entire dog walk I was haunted by the bundles and their yellow cords. I am not comfortable installing gorilla art but I am excited with the idea and I know Lawndale won’t have me arrested like other institutions might if I randomly installed objects in their sculpture garden, right?

I have always challenged myself to take on the art that scares me the most- to embrace the butterflies as my son tells me. You don’t know until you try. - jump

I went to the door, I was hoping no one was home, Abby was a new neighbor and I introduced myself. - she moved in during Covid. We had a nice chat and she welcomed me to take her piles.

It took two trips

😁 when I bring new materials to Lawndale, I like to photograph them on this turquoise wall- documenting my materials. And I have to say! I love the colors - the Textures.

I declare this installation number 1. Untitled.

This technically is not Lawndale property, the wall is theirs, but the lot is unfortunately not owned by the institution. The lot is vacant. I get all the bundles out so I can pick up load number 2.

Installation number 2

Installation number 3

The yellow ties make my heart sing, that rich brown against the turquoise, and the golden grass softening the base, I am in heaven. I see ballerinas chins up, lined up to take their bows center stage. I had one left.

A painter from last week left their yellow roller- waste not want not. The clippings Are rich on the violet too.

Sometimes I feel guilty that I love my work so much.

There are bees that have not been seen since the 60’s that are not listed as endangered.

While the law lays out a process time of 2 years for a species to be listed, what we found is that, in practice, it takes, on average, 12.1 years," said Emily Puckett, who recently received her doctorate in the Division of Biological Sciences in the MU College of Arts and Science. "Some species moved through the process in 6 months but some species, including many flowering plants, took 38 years to be listed -- almost the entire history of the ESA."

After reading the document that listed Bombus Affinis as an endangered species I formed my own opinion by and it does not reflect well on the chemical industry.

Bombus Affinis - the rusty patch bumble bee

The bee that pollinates tomatoes is not the honeybee.

Summary from sciencedaily.com

The yield and quality of many crops benefit from pollination, but it isn't just honey bees that do this work: bumble bees also have a role. A team has used innovative molecular biological methods and traditional microscopy to investigate the pollen collecting behavior of honey bees and bumble bees in agricultural landscapes. It turns out bumble bees take much more pollen from different plant species than honey bees to satisfy their need for protein.

bumble bees are superior pollinators of tomatoes than the honey bee. The southern carpenter bee also pollinate tomatoes.

Lawndale Art Center - symbiosis

"It's not about glorifying the past, or vilifying progress," emphasizes Professor Boivin. "Instead, it's about bringing together the best of the past, present and future to steer a responsible and constructive course for humanity."

In a nutshell, this is what I hope to achieve with my site-specific piece, Symbiosis.

I am rethinking the uses of yard clippings.

Lawndale - Symbiosis - extractive

In Symbiosis I am stretching my practice and creating a living piece of site-specific art activism that will reimagine a 53.5’ X 48’ traditional urban landscape/sculpture garden and answer the question: how do we holistically restore an ecological balance in Houston? Symbiosis is a collaboration with Lawndale Art Center’s community, neighbors, urban wildlife, and the coastal prairies carbon cycle.

The west border of the garden has five 1 1/2 year old Crepe Myrtle’s a tree famous for murder. The murder refers to badly pruning the tree- down to the knuckles. I was not having these Crape Myrtle’s murdered. Today I used a extractive method of sculpting and clipped- nipped - and cut the existing branches. I shaped the branches/armature of the two end trees.

A sculpture garden has the four seasons of the year and a sculpture garden has the additional change of exhibitions. The pedestals from the last exhibit were still in the garden. 🤔perfect way to highlight the beauty in the wild- the imperfect- the not immaculate urban landscape.

FYI- crepe Myrtle’s are not native however they are a cherished gift to the Art Center. As an optimistic art activist I look at the project holistically to include the desires of the Art Centers board.

When I work in wire, or steele if I cut too much I can always weld it back it add more wire they are forgiving materials. When I clip a branch it is gone- no second chance. .

#artactivism #cindeeklementart #symbiosis #lawndaleartcenter #nativeplants #coastalprairie #sculpture

Create Myrtle cuttings wildly place on a pedestal.

North West Crepe Myrtle after pruning.

Cuttings from two Crepe Myrtle's and the olive trees from a few weeks ago.

South end Crepe Myrtle

The Gift of Crepe Myrtles part 1 — Ready-Mades, Assemblage

Found object — Lagerstromia indica

Size varies 70"– 93" X 49' X 4'

Two of the five Crepe Myrtles on the northwest corner, before I started sculpting Symbiosis, — summer of 2020.

The first thing I did was release the stakes supporting the trees. Just like humans trees become strong from movement, thickening their trunks and stimulating root growth.

The Crepe Myrtles were generously donated to the garden before I started sculpting Symbiosis. Donations are the lifeblood of Lawndale — it is crucial I not clip off that support. Planted in a row on the Travis street side, the treasured trees are the west border of the space next to the fence; they are a significant element of the work, objets trouvés, ready-mades. They anchor, frame and end the assemblage. They are stage left from the parking lot. Many of their characteristics will change every year; they are moving targets, living found objects. I will use them to create the above-ground kinetic components of the sculpture.

detail of the found objects

They are stage left from the parking lot. summer of 2020

There is a symmetry in Symbiosis that balances the needs of the Lawndale Art Center's artists, exhibitions, neighbors, urban wildlife, and the soundscape of urban sculpture gardens. As I prune the Crepe Myrtles, I have to weigh the impact of these elements with every extraction; most features are not physically part of the garden but are part of the whole. Like all sculptures, they have components you can't see; the armature supports everything and the welds that give strength.

The Crepe Myrtles are planted in a row on Travis Street, at the far west end of the garden.

This work requires considerable online research and quiet observations: listening, seeing, and questioning; I continue to learn and observe what wildlife these Lawndale treasures will benefit, symbiotically balancing the needs of the living organism in the heart of the arts district on the Coastal Prairie. What would the arts be without the influence of the natural world?

I took this image through the Crepe Myrtles at the Fall 2020 opening. There was plenty of room for social distancing. It was the first COVID event for Lawndale and for me.

Lawndale’s Symbiosis - constant research

Symbiosis is a long term art installation. A piece of dirt in the middle of a large US city, an ecosystem that serves the local art community. Through pairing my intuitive sculptural practice, and natural history research I am sculpting the garden into an ecosystem that balances the needs of the Homo sapien art community and the urban natural world. I spend much of my time filtering through biologist research, inspirational documentaries and interviews of individuals that are leading the way. New Year’s Day I listened to a remarkable podcast an interview of Nora Bateson who is an award-winning filmmaker, writer and educator, The podcast was taped before the pandemic. She knows what she is talking about. Here are two quotes from the podcast that gave me pause and reminded me how grateful I am for my opportunity to make a difference through Symbiosis at Lawndale

“ In my little fantasy there is a great big pause button, and we can say hold everything, let’s regroup, let's turn this titanic around”

“One way or another the systems that we are within are going to change.”

A very enlightening podcast regarding how change and regeneration happens. It is haunting to consider this came out before the Covid 19 quarantine of 2020. Everything Nora talks about addresses the things I am thinking about. She is most definitely an influencer. I will continue to follow and monitor her work.

You can find the interview at The Regenarration podcast on Soundcloud Solve Everything at once.

Checking on the garden I found a moth that was still alive laying in the Pond. I rescued him and laid him out to dry.

Lawndale symbiosis - milkweed and monarchs

I have read that a few migratory monarchs spend the winter in the Houston area and join a small resident population of monarchs. I have also read that it is essential to choose native milkweed as opposed to tropical. Tropical milkweed—doesn’t die back in the winter as native milkweed does. When a place to lay their eggs year-round is available, many monarchs don’t bother making the trip to Mexico.. I saw this caterpillar on my morning walk. It was seriously munching on the milkweed. Milkweed is the only plant that provides the nourishment that will transform the caterpillar into a monarch butterfly. It is important to plant only none-hybrid native milkweed. Texas milkweed will be included in my 2021 Lawndale Art Center Sculpture garden piece Symbiosis. In Symbiosis, I am stretching my practice and creating a living piece of site-specific art activism that will reimagine a 53.5’ X 48’ traditional urban landscape/sculpture garden and answer the question: how do we holistically restore an ecological balance in Houston? Symbols is a collaboration with Lawndale Art Center’s community, neighbors, urban wildlife, and the coastal prairies' carbon cycle. For more details see this link.

#carboncycle #cindeeklementart #texasart #houstonart #contemporaryart #modernart #caterpillar #monarch #milkweed #nativeplants #migration #energy #movement

#lawndaleartcenter #symbiosis #artactivism

The day after the caterpillar sighting.

The beauty of a leaf runs deep.

How beautiful droplets of dew or rainwater puddle on the waxy leaf surfaces? They provide the watering holes for nature’s tiniest creatures.🐞🐛🕸️🦎🐌🐸🐜🦋🐝

What do you see when you see a leaf? ☘️🌿🌱🍀

I see a unique natural system. Leaves multi-functioning as micro reservoirs, coats of armor protecting the soil, and micro floodgates slowing rainwater. 💦🌊💧

On the Coastal prairie, leaves function to protect the soil from being compacted by the pelting raindrops. If the heavy raindrops fall is not broken by layers of leaves and organic matter, the tiny cavities in living soil collapse, and rainwater moves horizontally across our landscape instead of into the tiny reservoirs in the soil. We need these small cavities to allow water to penetrate deep into the soil. Leaves also slow rain droplets giving the soil time to transport the rain to its deepest roots. Once the rain is in the ground cooling our planet leaves protect the soil from the heat of the day. This multilayered ground cover gives rain more time to trickle into the aquifer. Purifying our water and cooling our planet. How amazing are leaves? As an artist my how we see urban landscapes

My work records endangered knowledge to the collective memory and reimagines urban landscapes to holistically balance the needs of humanity and wildlife.

In Symbiosis I am stretching my practice and creating a living piece of site-specific art activism that will reimagine a 53.5’ X 48’ traditional urban landscape/sculpture garden and answer the question: how do we holistically restore an ecological balance in Houston? Symbiosis is a collaboration with Lawndale Art Center’s community, neighbors, urban wildlife, and the coastal prairies carbon cycle. #symbiosis #lawndaleartcenter #urbanlandscapes #artadia #coastalprairie #water #leaves #conservation art #bioart #nature #contemporaryart #modernart #artactivism #cindeeklementart #texasart #houstonart

Symbiosis - Living environment affects the microbiota and health of both dogs and their owners

Every morning I start my day reading an email from Sciencedaily.com. I read the environmental and health-related research news, scanning for articles that relate to my environmental/conservation sculptures and monoprints. The article Living environment affects the microbiota and health of both dogs and their owners Is an exciting read for me. My World of Hum kinetic sculpture was inspired by the impact pesticides have on native bee microflora and one aspect of my current work in progress Symbiosis at Lawndale addresses soil microbes in the sculpture garden.

Visitors are relaxing in the garden during a performance piece at the fall opening event.

Dogs are a large part of urban living and, surprisingly, at Lawndale Art Center. Every other day I stop by Lawndale to study the garden, looking for any changes in the soil, leaves, vines, pond water, and look and listen for any wildlife. Often I run into neighbors of Lawndale with small dogs that visit the garden. Stephanie, her four-year-old daughter, and King Charles Spaniel also spend time together enjoying the outdoors in the garden. Sometimes on Sundays, I bring my labrador Tobi with me. It is hard to judge the impact of urban landscapes on those who visit these green spaces with their pets. Living soil unquestionably has an impact on our microbiomes and our pets as well as supports urban wildlife. One of the most interesting books on the subject of our microbiome is I Contain Multitudes by Ed Yong. Dogs

Basically everything we do impacts our microbiomes. In order to build a healthy immune system a key element in any environment is diversity. My sculpture Symbiosis will be have a positive affect on the microbiota and health of both dogs and their owners who spend time in the garden.

Symbiosis- fluffy bluestem

Through art, I am finding new ways to see Houston’s urban landscapes. The bushy bluestem is a coastal prairie native and a volunteer at Lawndale art center, the location of my 2021 site-specific sculpture installation.

For creating movement and living soil, bushy bluestem is a fabulous material to consider. At this point, I do not know if it will make the cut of materials for the sculpture; however, it does have some attractive characteristics as a material for living soil, and aesthetically I think it is beautiful. The spikelets of silky feathers curl out of a sphere of fine hairs. It is tall and graceful, peering five feet off the ground. In my mind, I can see a cluster of them suited in costumes of golden cotton candy swaying across the stage of coastal prairie under the spotlight of our earth's closest star. Their rhythm succumbs to the breeze that sweeps off the coast. They create the perfect; kitchen of seeds for birds and small mammals, cozy nesting materials for birds, winter food for prairie chickens, field sparrows, and juncos. I can hear a symphony of songbirds serenading the morning as butterflies flit, and flingle and native bees start their day. With close inspection and a little luck, you may even discover a Skipper or Satyr larvae starting a new life amongst their stems. #symbiosis #cindeeklementart #livingsoil #sitespecificart #texasart #bushybluestem #houstonart #texassculpture #contemporaryart #nativebees #bees #wildlife #livingsoil

Changing how we see urban landscapes in Houston.

Grasslands vs. trees

When it comes to the environment in the 21st century grasslands beat trees when it comes to carbon sequestration. Our planet is a living breathing organism, impacted by our actions, always changing. I believe It is important that we constantly observe and evaluate how it changes as humans developed and expand across it.

Trees are a thing of beauty but they store carbon above ground in their trunks and limbs.when they catch on fire the trunks and limbs release their carbon into the atmosphere. Grasslands storing carbon underground release little carbon when they catch on fire. In addition the grasslands are a giant sponge soaking up water that prevents dryness and fires.

With the forest fires we have suffered world wide it is time to plant more grasslands and turn these areas suffer ending from droughts into giant sponges for soaking up water and carbon. When the ground is moist then we can can start adding back trees.

Drying coastal prairie native grass in my studio.