Coffee with inspiring Texas Women conservationists.

Curtis reads everything. When he finds articles, I will enjoy heaves them for me on the kitchen counter, where I have my morning coffee. This article is from Texas Parks and Wildlife. I had coffee with these Ina Hogg, Terry Hershey, and Ladybird. I am in awe.

They were strong, forward-thinking women. You would not believe how hard it is to get people to plant flowers.

I wonder what advice they would give me? Probably don’t be so opinionated. 😜🐝💐🌺🌻🐞🦋🐌🕊💧🐠

Becoming a Conscious Carnivore- I made the lead photograph in an article in the Dallas Morning News. I am wearing the dog people dad cap.

This was not my first rodeo when it comes to being a conscious carnivore; I was four years old when I had my first exoerience. That was a long time ago and another story. Since then, my experiences in harvesting protein have been few and far between. The most intimate experience I have not felt was the right time to release it into the wild public. The experience in this article was very impactful, beautifully photographed, and written. Lynda Gonzalez did a beautiful job capturing what can be an unspeakable and imaginable moment into today's world that is so disconnected from wildlife. Check out Lynda’s article in the Dallas Morning news Becoming a Concious Carnivore @dallasmorningnews @lyndamgonzalez

https://www.dallasnews.com/food/2020/10/05/becoming-a-conscious-carnivore-texas-bison-harvest-shows-meat-eaters-how-to-honor-the-animal/

Subterranous secrets

Once I started researching roots, I was in love. They have many cool features as a group and individually. I have three bronze roots completed and a few more in the works. Many scientific labs study root characteristics for their role in food production. I am interested in these conversations and those that discuss the roots architecture. Under recognized for their amazing features roots bring many values to the table. They are a tool that sequesters carbon, transports water deep into the soil and pumps it up Into the plant. They inhibit erosion and are the heart and vascular system of the planet. And that is just a start.

Endangered Knowledge- in my own family- a conversation with my mother about Dell City.

These last several weeks, I have struggled to write my Gust artist statement. I always start by getting too much into the history of the environment. My first attempt focused too much on the Dust bowls of the ‘30s, ‘50s, ’70sand ’80s. Mainly because I was not aware, there were any other dust bowls other than in the dirty thirties, and this unknown knowledge was surprising. Sunday, I called my Mom, Minnie Lee Travis, on my morning walk, and we had an interesting conversation about Dell City and the dust. The conversation started when I told her I was using my Gust sculpture to look at regenerative agriculture practices as a solution to wind erosion and desertification. She inspired this connection of the piece to regenerative agriculture A few years ago, when she mentioned the time they ended up with two feet of dust in their home after a storm. Hearing this comment was when it occurred to me that the desert it's wind and dust that consumed my early years was human-made. On my walk my Mom went on to tell me she used to tape all the windows shut to keep the dust-out. If the wind was blowing, you could not see to drive on the road to our home. She was not sure if I would remember. I mentioned the government’s solution to the 1930’s dust bowl was a wall of trees. She commented yes that in the ‘50s, the government sent them free trees to plant. She went on to tell me that one year after a particularly bad crop of cotton, my father bought a new plow that would dig extra deep to reach the “good soil.” That year’s crop was no better, and the dust storms were worse. I expect my father had consulted with one of the American Farm Bureau representatives who would have recommended the plow. Lastly, my mother mentioned that she remembers one day meeting an old rancher from the area. Dell City did not have a doctor, so once a week or so, a doctor from El Paso would spend a day in Dell City, seeing patients. She was standing in line to see the doctor when she met an old rancher for the first time. They discussed the weather as strangers do. In their conversation, he told my mom that he could remember when the land around Dell City used to be covered in grasses as high as a horse’s belly.

While farming in Dell City my parents had three children, me and my big brothers so of course a grassy area by the house was important. She said It was a struggle because the wind would blow all the dust from the plowed bare fields into the yard and bury the grass. Grass stopped the dust yet it was never suggested as a solution to the dust storms.

I am adding images to this post of my last visit to Dell City.

My Mom looking at grave markers in Dell City in 2017.

A view of the landscape from the front walkway of our old home. This is one of the two areas my parents had grass for us to play on.

A view from the side of the house where my brother Dean and I used to play with toy cement trucks and dig holes.

Tree rings - mother nature’s baby book

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/10/201009121932.htm

All moms love to record their babies growth and jot down important moments. So does Mother Nature. Through geology scientist have studied civilizations and soil health and now humans are seeing that tree rings are recording not only the trees life but climate change. Trees as a “climate proxy” is fascinating. My environmental interests is presently resting in the prairies. If tree rings are a proxy in the rainforest I am sure there is a proxy for precipitation in the prairies. The natural world is a fascinating stimulus for creativity.

Climate history imagined in a faux bois chair seat I made in early 20000- time flies

COVID 19 unintended consequence- Oops, I dropped my phone in the pond.

Early during Quarantine I started thinking about taking photographs of the lillies from just under the surface. I researched for underwater cases for both my phone and camera began in May. Paralyzed by too much information I still had not pulled the trigger to make the purchase in July. My son Griffin always the optimist and supporter of all my daring creative adventures insisted - “just do it, your phone can handle it”, he would insisted.(Griffin also pushes me to Make art that makes people uncomfortable.) It turn out if you take a lot of pond photos at some point you will drop your phone in the pond. And then you go with it. I fell in love with the underworld. Mean while - Our big fish started acting bizarre they were not coming to the surface when I walked up to the edge. In fact they disappeared to the the deep end. In 15 years of pond observations this is a new occurrence. Normally they come to the top and greet me in the feeding corner at the sound of my garage door. I keep the fish food in the garage. Curtis and I discussed many reasons for the change in behavior. It turns out a night heron was hunting them from our roof or it could have been the red shoulder hawks that spent the summer in our trees. Anyway I am wondering what do the fish see that is scaring them. The power of gravity gave me permission to submerge my phone (accidents happen) - an unintended consequence of Covid 19. I started trying to angle my phone camera lens up to see what the fish see. I still don’t know what the fish see of the predatory human world, however my phone sees an interesting reflective image. I now have 4,000 pond images  🐝🐬🐟🐠🐌🐞🌺🌻💐🦋 and I am not complaining. 

A note from my Uncle and artist John Warren Travis recalling the landscapes that have shaped his work and words- genes are strange and mysterious creatures.

i arrived in california in 1960 to someone raised in el paso. texas in the forties, it was transcendent the ocean the state parks the tree lined streets on the hills and the flowers flowers everywhere i still rermember west texas with its deserts and mountains i look back on therm with awe the franklin the pass to the north el paso del norte mt cristo rey carlsbad caverns there was no t.v. i still can recall these locales and vistas i carry my landscapes with me san francisco was another country the fog the hippies the hills the bridges the bay the theatre of the haight ashbury all were intoxicating i paid my way by teaching and designing sets and costumes and inadvertently with help from many others eager to change the landscape of the american theatre we succeeded at some point i wanted to become a fine arts painter and moved gradually to painting my feelings about the abundance around me landscapes that were both spiritual and cultural sadly two years ago i had to leave california and move to columbia missouri the heart of the midwest a wise man once said the midwest is the last frontier and i am beginning to believe he was right the lanscapes here are bolder the huge skies the seas of grass the trees a bald cypress that is over 800 years on the old lewis and clark trail the big muddy the great missouri i still think of el paso and san francisco at night in my dreams in this time of covid i cannot go back thankfully i carry my landscapes with me

Looking at changing landscapes through my work, I find inspiration in my uncle’s poetic expression of landscapes through grand brush stokes on canvas, eloquent theater designs and rivers of prose. He posted this on Facebook earlier this week. Clearly Travis genes are deeply rooted in love for landscape and nature.

Uncle Warren  to be closer to family has retired to aunt Genie Lou and uncle Widgies’s ranch in Columbia Missouri. He is still actively painting and keeping up with his website.

https://www.johnwarrentravis.com/

Lawndale Art Center — Symbiosis environmental art activism project announced

Lawndale Art Center a staple on my radar as a possible venue for an environmental art exhibition. The sculpture garden, primed to be relandscaped in a manner that could communicate any number of environmental issues in my head.

The Lawndale Art Center Sculpture garden before the 2019 re-landscape.

I have had a few casual discussions with Stephanie about these ideas in the past, however other opportunities came my way, and frankly, I dropped the ball.

During the first COVID 19 quarantine, Lawndale Art Center reached out to me regarding their sculpture garden. They were interested to know if I would assist them with some weeding in their newly landscaped sculpture garden, I often volunteer there. When I heard the words, “newly landscaped sculpture garden,” my heart fell to the ground. I had blown it, I missed the best art venue opportunity to create a piece that looks at urban landscape as a found object. I was crushed, disappointed and angry at myself. I decided to focus on my Endangered Knowledge: The Soul of Humus, a piece I am creating for Sculpture Month Houston. In turning Lawndale down I sent them a copy of the proposal I made to SMH. A few days later I remember thinking to myself, “well you blew that opportunity, you will never get a show at Lawndale now.” A few weeks after that— they called me back and asked me to meet them at the sculpture garden. Masked I met with Stephanie and Emily and they asked me to do a site-specific environmental piece in the newly relandscaped garden. It was the last thing I expected—A dream come true was not in my mind of possible COVID19 realities. We also discussed their need for some happiness in the garden. The garden does not have any beneficials planted. Sympathetic to their need for some visual happiness I offered to plant a few flowers.

By this time it is unbearable—Houston—July—Hot.

What can you plant in July and have it not fry, if anything? I am not an experienced gardener I am an artist/activist and a citizen environmentalist—but my friend and past President of the Harris County Master Gardeners, artist, and curator is a very knowledgable gardener. A super busy Renassaince man, Will Isbell kindly offered to meet me on a Friday evening at the garden to see if there was anything I could plant that would not die in this July heat. There was not, but we did have a great talk.

We both saw the existing garden in the same way a missed opportunity for an environmental artist. And then it hit me. I suggested that I propose to Lawndale that the two of us do a project that takes the existing new traditional landscaped garden and use it as a found object to create a piece to activate change in Houston’s landscape. Will did not hesitate.

The question was how do I get them on board. They have already spent good money and the garden by any standards is beautifully done. One thing everyone knows about Lawndale, it is an art space for the voices of artists breaking boundaries and unearthing contemporary knowledge, nothing is too daring for Lawndale. They are the space in Houston to open minds. They were encouraging and interested in this new idea and wanted me to continue working on a concept for a solo environmental piece as well the piece with Will.

I am still num with these two opportunities and excited with the potential to instill hope and heal the environment.

Lawndale announced the project Will and I are doing together last week. Below is the proposal for the work. I wrote it in early July, as I read the opening paragraph today, with California on fire, and Houston flooding again I am taken back by how much the world has changed since I wrote it.— and not in a good way.

Lawndale Sculpture Garden Proposal

Cindee Travis Klement and William Isbell

What is to be gained in the year 2020, the year of perfect vision? In our largest cities, a tiny virus is killing our most vulnerable, crippling our strongest economies, forcing our families into food lines, and providing kindling for social reform protests. In the natural world tucked within our largest cities, this same tiny virus has improved the air that we breathe, returned fireflies to our summer nights, and allowed wildlife to inhabit our neighborhoods. The connection between the land, plants, mankind, and wildlife in urban environments has never been more evident.

What is to be gained in the COVID 19 moment of enlightenment: our eyes have opened to the state of our living systems, and we have discovered that unimaginable change is possible. We have seen that we cannot wait for the tests to tell us if we are sick. Without design, we have found an unprecedented moment, we have gained an opportunity to change.

SYMBIOSIS

As visual artists and art activists, we will connect soil health and the health of our city. We will create a living piece of site-specific art activism that will reimagine the urban landscape and answer the question — how do we holistically restore an ecological balance that can coexist in Houston with nature/ wildlife through sculpture and community involvement. We see the Mary E. Bawden Sculpture Garden's terrain with its manicured, status quo landscape as our found object. With ordinary tools, organic matter, with the help of the community, we will sculpt it into the armor that historically protected Houston’s geological epidermis and gave life to its keystone species — the Coastal Prairie ecosystem. The title of this found object sculpture is Symbiosis. Over time Symbiosis we will morph into not only a landscape but also a soundscape that changes kinetically with the seasons.

Lawndale’s Mary E. Bawden Sculpture Garden’s Symbiosis will be a catalyst for change. In addition, it will be functional as a contemporary art exhibition space, a piece of functional activist art as well as a healthy ecosystem/habitat: a sculpture garden that heals and honors the history of the land.

Physical Description of Piece

Once the parameters of the project more are specifically defined we will insert the specific plants, their ecological roll in the

design and define the work.

Environmental Impact

Soil scientists around the globe agree that solutions to global warming, soil erosion, water runoff, drought/flooding, loss of wildlife habitats, and species extinction are rooted in the treatment of our soil — the skin that covers our planet, which includes our residential and small business landscapes.

Restoring the native prairie vegetation increases soil absorption of water and slows floodwaters on land, decreasing water runoff. For every 1% increase per acre of biological organic material, the soil can hold an additional 20,000 gallons of water. Given Houston’s extreme building practices and concrete hardscaping, reimagining the landscapes within Houston's 600 square miles of real estate can significantly impact the region's flooding. In addition, the roots of vegetation in a coastal prairie can extend from eight to fourteen feet deep; these roots sequester and store carbon like an upside-down rainforest, cleaning our air.

Value of Location

Change can happen at lightning speed when innovation is coupled with imitation.

The current state of Lawndale's sculpture garden provides the perfect opportunity to break the mindless conformity that dominates Houston's urban gardens/yards. The sculpture garden has the feel of a perfectly manicured, traditional front yard, making its size and plant selections relatable to the general public.

With the Houston Arboretum transformations, Katy Prairie Conservancy, Buffalo Bayou, and the new Memorial Park renovation, Houstonians have awakened to the importance of native Coastal Prairie landscaping; however, those sites are enormous tracts of land. It isn't easy to visualize those landscapes outside the parks. This permanent and living metamorphosis of Lawndale’s Symbiosis will provide the 2020 vision of transformation by imitation for yards throughout Houston. It will shift mindsets by prompting Houstonians to question Houston’s urban landscaping and imagine a holistic Houston that protects the environment by balancing human, natural and economic systems.

Value for Lawndale Art Center

An art institution that looks at its community holistically to include not just a monoculture of humans but also beneficial plants, animals, and micro-organisms will be groundbreaking. Symbiosis will cultivate a medley of life that historically has defined the place, has impacted its economy and attracted its people. Lawndale’s Symbiosis will leverage this endangered knowledge with a living site-specific art installation that provides the artistic vision that changes hearts and minds. It will connect the history of the land to contemporary art. Using additive and subtractive sculpting techniques and nature the Symbiosis of the Mary E. Bawden sculpture garden will become a living love letter from our past to our future.

Ecological impact of Houston

With 2.3 million people living on a footprint of 600 square miles, close to the Gulf of Mexico, located along the migratory bird pathway, Houston is an urban wildlife sanctuary.
Changing Houston's ecology will profoundly impact our oceans, human life, wildlife, and microbial environmental health. Let’s not miss this unprecedented opportunity and heal the skin of the planet and our people.

Installation Process

The beauty of this piece is to have it be a catalyst for inspiring homeowners and businesses to imitate the change and heal their landscapes too. We will Involve the community to take on an active role in the transformation. Installation of the piece will engage and educate the community in ways to be defined after specifics of the piece are worked out.

Lawndale after one of our early Symbiosis meetings.

Beautiful new fence and Jasmine and crepe Myrtles.

Olive trees, African Iris, Dwarf Yupon Holly, Gardenias, Asian Jasmine, Crepe Myrtles -6 very popular landscape elements across Houston.

Will’s and my found object — Lawndale Art Center, Mary E. Bawden Sculpture Garden

World of Hum and Rumblings experiment

I have often wondered how my monotypes would look with a kinetic showdown piece. This is the first print I have tried with the kinetic sculpture. I think it is worth exploring.

This is a screenshot of a message I received on Instagram In the above post. I am please to make an Apis Dorsata and help spread the word regarding the bee problem in India -

Apis Dorsata - ghost #2 watercolor monotype print 30” X44” detail of a 458 sq.ft work that addresses the plight of native bees worldwide. ”rock bee” its common name is responsible for every third bite of food in India.

Apis Dorsata - Rock bee. 30” X 44” watercolor monotype

Apis Dorsata - Rock bee. Ghost

30” X 44” watercolor monotype

Apis Dorsata - Rock bee. Ghost 2

30” X 44” watercolor monotype

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/263252362_The_Rock_Honey_Bee_Apis_dorsata_and_its_pollination_potential_in_some_plants

Rumblings - Xylocopa micans

A male southern carpenter bee- This bee was sleeping on my Salvia the morning of July 4th. The male wild bees do not live in nests. When they emerge they fly out looking for females to breed with. When the females return to their nest to sleep the males curl up to an petal.

Xylocopa micans I

Xylocopa micans II

Xylocopa micans II ghost

Image from my video

Rumblings - Bombus Morrisoni - repeat

Bombus Morrisoni II Ghost

I was not happy with the first Bombus Morrisoni so I made more. The first is swimming in violet blooms

Bombus Morrisoni III

Bombus Morrisoni III ghost

Carpenter bee

When I first started watching carpenter bees I thought they were goof balls or they must be ill, (something I could blame glysophate for 😀) they were buzzing with all their might the outside of the flower tube, not the stamen. It turns out Carpenter bees are robbers- stealing nectar without pollinating the flower. There bodies are too big to reach the stamen of some blooms, they get nectar by cutting slits with their mandible at the base of the flower and steel nectar without getting coated in pollen. You can see the slits if you look close. The much smaller sweat bees gather pollen from the end of the flower’s reproductive parts and make their way from flower to flower. I tend to focus on the larger bee, but with closer observation the large bees are thieves and the tiny bees are actually pollinating the flowers. I expect there is a benefit to the flower or another creature because that is how nature works. And you thought you knew everything about bees. Such amazing and unstudied creatures. #nativebees

Xylocopa micans - male

This is a male Southern Carpenter bee sleeping on a flower tube on the 4th of July. .

Rumblings Monotypes without a printer.

Sometime in 2019 or late 2018 I discovered the USGS photographic library of wild bees. I was overwhelmed at the number of species and their individual beauty. They are jewels of the insect world. These facts combined with the reality that most well educated people believe that there is just one bee species - the honey bee. There are 20,000 species. How a creature who is responsible for our food could be misunderstood to this existent is baffling. Scientist just started realizing the error in their studies last summer. Committing to telling the story of the plight of the most important being on the planet is a worthy story. I have always felt the need to support underdogs.

Below us the artist statement for the project as I incusion it today. Artist statements remain fluid as I work on big projects.

RUMBLINGSA rumbling in the distance is nature's way to alert living creatures to their environment. Rumblings; monumentally draws attention to the 20,000 unknown species of threatened wild solitary bees. The bees that can not bee industrialized.  The watercolor ink carefully manipulated on the fifty interconnected monotypes to reflect the synergistic, aqueous effect of; the unexplored bee species superior magnetic attraction of golden dust, the movement of the anonymous Keystone species dedication to pollinate, and their fragility due to the applied chemicals that flood industrial agriculture. With Rumblings, there is knowledge and knowledge is power; it is a resounding call to all for action. 

The COVID 19 quarantine in March was a huge buzz kill to this series. These are all monotyoes. I use the plexiglass surface to create my water effect that I then press into the paper. I am very attached to this method as the best way to communicate this work for a few reasons. 1. It is a process I created and as far as I know no one else creates monotyoes with this type of mark making., 2. The watery look suggest the use if pesticides that are impacting their extension and lastly the tiny details that make up the bee is suggestive of pollen dust. I have been creating this pieces in MFAH beautiful Glassell studio school printmaking studio. With COVID that us not an option for me.

Since March, I have stitched bees and tried to be open-minded to another process to complete the series. I finally decided to see if I could hand press a 30” X 44” print in my studio.

Here I am applying the ink to the plexiglass. On the wall is a photo of Bombus Dahlbomii, the largest humble bee in the world at 2” long and endangered if it us not already extinct. The photographs are stunning. The photographs are taken if dead bees. In ny pieces, I try to put movement and energy back into the buzz pollinator.

Here I have just pressed the plexiglass with the watercolor ink bee image onto the wet paper. And surprise surprise surprise.

Bombus Dahlbomii IV

I have made three other attempts to print this monsterous fluffy ginger and not been happy with the results.

Bombus Dahlbomii IV Ghost.

The prior attempt are below. Getting a mono-colored fluffy bee with out muddying the ink was tricky.

Bombus Dahlbomii Day I

Bombus Dahlbomii Day I ghost

Bombus Dahlbomii Day II

Bombus Dahlbomii Day II ghost

Bombus Dahlbomii Day III

Bombus Dahlbomii Day I'll ghost

I am hoping the Bombus Dahlbomii day IV pieces cut the mustard. I am feeling hopeful and extremely excited that I can create monotypes without a press Is this non-verbal size.

Why soil?

“The soil is the creative material of most of the needs of life. Creation starts with a handful of dust.” - Dr. W. A. Albrecht ph. D.

That is a powerful thought. How important is soil to our health? For me it is clear.

And it is not dirt, it is not clay, it is humus living soil.

This quote is deeply tied to all of my current work, in The Endangered Knowledge piece that I am in the early stages of welding soil is the material that will become the protective layer of the keystone species, in Subterraneous Secrets soils energy is stabilized and captured through root systems, in Mute Testimony, it records its history, in Gust the life it provides is Endangered. In the photography of life in my cement pond, it establishes natural rhythms and compliments the other living systems. The pond is a complete ecosystem; it is free of pesticides and herbicides. In this type of ecosystem, even the blooms in their last phase of life are beautiful as the tiny microorganisms convert them back into minerals that build soil health. #inmycementpond In this image, you can not see the humus, but you can see the magic in the life it brings when we allow it to thrive in a natural state.

Endangered knowledge: The Soul of Humus #17 Cowbirds

I just read an intesting article; how Cowbirds are hedging their bets when choosing surrogate birds to hatch and raise their young. Another instance that supports the theory that diversity is the ticket when it comes to the survival of a species.

Coincidently I picked up the bronze Cowbirds yesterday. They are ready for me to recreate the texture where they were damaged during the spruing process. Once that is complete I will deal with their patina. I should wait and decide on their finish once the abstract bison is further developed. That said I am excited to see how the materials will look in a polished finish. Below are closeups of each bird - just for the record.

The finishes are very powdery looking and flat because they were just sandblasted. When I decide on the patiba the textures will really show up.

I took a risk when I decided on the manner in which I would create the birds. The Cowbirds are constructed in a primitive manner. And they look extra primitive laying on the faux bois chair. Context impacts the way we see. I feel hopeful the organic and rough construction will work on the abstract beast they will be attached to. Roughly constructed they support the story, polished perfectly detailed birds would not relay their connection to the geography and mammals. I realize I have not taken the safe root and hope I didn’t need to hedge my by as the Cowbirds did theirs.

The big bird side 1

Opposite side.

On this image you can see a smooth surface from where the sprue was cur off. One spots the I will retexture.

From the top

Bird 2

Bird 3

Derail shot of bird 3 - you can see the seeds and grass stems.

Bird 4

As I recall this one gas some bluebonbet seeds in it's back feathers.

Bird 5

Texture gives me good goosebumps.

Keeping up with local mud

Everything dealing with local soil interests me now that I am working on Endangered Kniwledge: The Soul of Humus.

You never know what might turn into a new way to express art.

Building with local soil and 3D printing

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200820102452.htm

Subterraneous Secret II

Subterraneous Secret is part of my Endangered Knowledge work. For several years, I have been researching grass-fed food production, attending soil conferences, and visiting regenerative ranches. Research in these fields shows how to fight desertification and reverse climate change through regenerative agriculture practices. Interestingly, this natural history of living soil, how it evolved with roots, fungus, plants, food, and animals, carbon and their essential roles within microbial communities in human health, is not common knowledge. 

Subterranean Secrets II

bronze

Endangered Knowledge: The Soul of Humus #16

Art/computer work that has interfered with my welding but I never miss an opportunity to collect native plants. I have converted an old kayak rack into a plant drying rack. Stacking up and drying out.

Drying native grasses

Recording natural history - ”Mute Testimony”

Recording natural history

Mute Testimony.

3” X 6” X 4”

bronze

phot by Nash Baker

A fossil is our planet’s recorded history, the memoir of a life in a place, time, ecology, and evidence of global warming. It is Endangered Knowledge.

Many processes in art and the natural world lead to fossilization, including casting or mold making. I crafted a mold of a fossil that one of my children found at my son Griffin’s 8th birthday party in El Paso, Texas. It was a fossil hunting party at Cerro de Cristo Rey. (The intersection of two countries and three states, a special place.) A prehistoric relic, now a family treasure, I thought it would be meaningful to make a mold and cast it in bronze for each of my two children, a reminder of their childhood. A mold-of-a-mold a fossil-of-a-fossil. I found the redundancy poetic.

My son is now 31 years old. I have probably walked by the fossil once a day since Griffin was eight years old and did not think twice about it. Casting, it has forced me to think about the form and its value as an object of art. Evidence of aquatic life resurrected from the middle of the Chihuahuan desert— This poetic symbol of desertification will find meaningful ways to wander across disciplines into future environmental works.

Hearing, “this desert was once an ocean.” did not use to phase me. Thinking about the mineral remnant of a sea creature surfacing in one of the driest terrains in the US gives me pause; it makes me consider how we can live our urban lives and preserve natural systems.

I cast three additional fossils to share with others who are interested in natural history; two are finished in a natural patina and one in a contemporary finish — polished stainless steel.

Traces of ancient life tell story of early diversity in marine ecosystems

Stainless Steel finish changes everything 🤔 more to come

What We Think, We Become from conception to the completion.

My goal for this piece is to embody joy, celebrate life, be complex yet straightforward, and have moments of imperfection.

I will attach to the wax sculpture red wax channels (sprues) and a brown wax cup. 

Below the piece is sprued up and ready to dip. 

The dipping process builds layer by layer a ceramic shell around the sculpture and sprues. Once the Shell is built I will burnout the wax leaving a hollow cavity to pour the bronze in. 

Dip 1 Slurry only  

Final coat 24 hours after drying  

Cutting the top of the cup and drilling holes to help the expanding gases escape when the wax is burned out. 

The piece is now ready to be fired. The firing will harden the shell and melt out the wax sculpture, leaving the cavity for the bronze to be poured into. The wire sticking out will fall out when the wax is burnt out.  

We poured the bronze into the shells last night. Now that the shell is cool it is time to break it off and see how it turned out. 

the pour-

my shoulder has taken all the pounding it can. I will have to get help to finish breaking off the shell. 

In the below images all the metal work is done and the piece is ready to patina.  

Adding the white marble patina