Watershed Sculpture

Line of Defense

An installation aimed at helping local community members of Louisiana’s Gulf Coast restore the storm surge barriers can best be described as creating a technology to help make local efforts to restore wetlands more successful.

Bald Cypress are a keystone species in Coastal Louisiana, as well as the state tree. Their role in creating storm surge barriers is a vital one. As a first line of defense, Bald Cypress stands allow bayou marshlands to survive.

After three months the planted Cypress survived predation from Nutria, a highly invasive aquatic rodent that decimates unprotected seedlings by pulling them up and chewing their roots. The trees are growing and holding strong on a small island.

This project was made possible with support from The Puffin Foundation and Tulane University, Center for Bioengineering Research.

Installation in Southern Louisiana

Artists’ sculptures pose ecological curiosity | News | The Advocate — Baton Rouge, LA

Thicket

3 Faces of Thicket

A watershed sculpture in Adobe Creek, Los Altos, California.

Nearly 100 members of the local community were involved with this project in California's Silicon Valley. As volunteer stewards, several members of the community have adopted this restoration site, and the cycle continues.

Image: Gary Hedden

Bay Silt Reef: Oyster Restoration in San Francisco Bay

Progress on Bay Silt Reef continues thanks to supportive funding from Center for Cultural Innovation, Arts & Healing Network and Headlands Center for the Arts.

Harvesting oyster reef tests with volunteers from The Watershed Project group

Bay silt oyster reef models

Exhibitions at the David Brower Center and Sonoma Valley Museum of Art

Two new shows this Spring:
Materials and Methods: Ecological Art in Practice at the David Brower Center in Berkeley CA.

Iterations of Ecological Art and Design at the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art

A Master Plan for Charlotte, NC

Our Master Plan for Environmental Art in the Public Domain was sponsored by McColl Center for Visual Art, The Blumenthal Foundation, The Surdna Foundation and the Knight Foundation.

Photo: Jeff Shiner/The Charlotte Observer .

Intersections

The work in Charlotte is transitioning well through the changing seasons.

Thread Trail Installation in Charlotte, NC

The latest installation is sited at the newly established Carolina Thread Trail in downtown Charlotte, North Carolina. On September 15th a crowd gathered for the groundbreaking at the edge of Little Sugar Creek near the Charlotte Nature Museum in Freedom Park.

For more information see the Creating a Thread blog.
A unique partnership between Catawba Lands Conservancy, the Carolina Thread Trail, Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation, the McColl Center for Visual Art, the Charlotte Nature Museum, and the involvment of local volunteers and merchants is helping make this project possible.