Tag: ecology
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Kuunkukka (Moonflower)
Before her death in 2015, my mother and I planted Moonflowers (Datura Inoxia) in a few parts of the yard where they continue to flourish. Rather than blooming during the day, Moonflowers spin open at night, unfurling their origami buds into a five pointed star and emerging into a broad phonograph trumpet. My mother loved…
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Emerging Wonder: A Shadow Ballet
Lewis Carroll played with time and scale throughout Alice in Wonderland in order to reframe the quirks of British culture. It’s publication in 1865 coincided with the end of the American Civil War, and despite optimistic framing at the time, vestiges of both British and American culture still contribute to inequitable systems of power.
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First Song to Urban Ecology: Jamaicaway Matins
While natural systems and cities are symbiotic everywhere, there are huge equity gaps across the globe. Higher income areas have more access to open space, and foliage and are therefore more likely to have active and noisy animal populations. There have been many articles about this through the years. One of the most memorable for…
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Brecht, Aelita, and other Inspirations
One of my other recent projects was at the same school where we did Charlie Brown, but with the “Upper School” students (Grades 9-12). It was the play by Bertholt Brecht, The Caucasian Chalk Circle. It takes place in the Caucuses region in what is present day Georgia. It is not about “white” people, though if…
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Goings On About Town
Though my drawing a day project has once again fizzled, I have in fact been making art nearly every day. When I started the project, my intention was to do all kinds of work, showing progress, drawings, sketches, and finished work as it went on. But as the project went on, my parameters got more…