Fall has been quiet on the blog, but busy in real life! I've been consulting with a secret band of genius 8th graders and pre-schoolers to design the next mobile greenhouse. I've been working on a secret project hopefully to launch in the spring, and working with the best and brightest new young designers and artists. I've set up a blog for general research and links on design, textiles, crafts, practical skill, technology, and generally beautiful things.

Go forth, little thing! Little leaves, little bud, and sometimes a little thorn.

The workshops/crafternoons/potlucks at NURTUREart and ABC No Rio served as a time to assess how Secret School and the K.I.D.S. have been doing in this year of growing, playing, and learning about plants and the people around us. I am trying to be a bit more reflective about my process and extend projects into the indefinite future through being accountable to my neighbors and loved ones for the things that I make and do. Here are a couple of collages that capture the spirit of these past events:

Activities at Cuchifritos

The Dry and Spy seed table at NURTUREArt

The Greenhouse-a-go-grow took a trip to Connecticut for a show at the Aldrich Museum. They collaborated with a local organic farmer and are growing all kinds of winter greens inside! The visitors are watering and tending to the plants and hopefully eating them too.

We are maintaining, but the neighbors immediately noticed that it was absent! We had to put up a sign. (Will post soon).

Summer is time to get busy. I've been jumping into lakes and pools and oceans. I've been hanging out with the brightest, most enthusiastic students and starting a lot of trouble with them all over the city. I've learned how to bike and now understand the expression "anarchy machine!" It really is empowering!

I've been most excited about an ongoing collaboration between the K.I.D.S. and Secret School. This summer, we've been experimenting with rooftop gardens, sub-irrigation systems, and hanging gardens at the Secret School Garden, Covenant House, and ABC No Rio. We've also been making a lot
of books and printed matter to go along with our gardening and social practice.

For instance, here is the Bee Line map that we made for a show at Smack Mellon. It is a reconfiguration of the subway map for birds, bees, and bugs to call attention to the lack of city planning and citizen action for wildlife in new york, and to encourage people to create their own networks for wildlife migration through the city. (Click for larger image) We also made a tiny, pop-up version that comes with fold-up binoculars. Email me if you are interested. (Leo and Alice are demonstrating the binoculars and map above)

We've been holding a lot of workshops, crafternoons, and garden tours. Here's the full schedule:

***Secret Seed Exchange and Garden Party:
Bring seeds to exchange.
April 19 *AND* May 3, 1-3PM
120 Waterbury #2N
Brooklyn, NY 11206

***Storytelling at FEAST:
May 9, 6-9PM
Church of the Messiah
129 Russell Street, Brooklyn
$10-20, no one turned away
FEAST Website

I got to be a part of a really great week of costuming, performances, picnicking, general romping and acting like a kid (not unusual for me of course) as a member of K.I.D.S. (the Kindness and Imagination Development Society). Also, I got to collaborate with some of my favorite people including the talented Hong-An Truong and the wonderful Colin McMullan. The whole week was fun, but here are images from just a couple of events: Text Me Theater (a changing pair of people stand on a busy corner in midtown Manhattan during lunch hour and read the script of their lives from the text messages on their phones) and Blind-Fold PB&J (a blind-folded person makes a sandwich for a non-blind-folded person who must verbally communicate how sandwich should be made.

Photo: Stéphanie Beaulieu

I just participated in a performance exchange with some really nice folks in Bulgaria. It is through the Electric KIDS performance exchange, and you can do one too. In fact, you SHOULD do one too. You do a performance based on instructions (which you sometimes translate from Bulgarian), post the documentation online, and then post your own set of instructions. Visit the blog: electrickidsperformanceexchange.blogspot.com

My dear friend Amara Antilla is organizing a screening of shorts of artists she met on a recent research trip to HK. She's kindly including Moonchitecture, never before screened in NY. It will be at The Archive this friday. Here are the details:

These guys are totally great. We had so much fun presenting the network of secret gardens. We brought a big salad with mesculin, arugula, spinach, radishes, green onions, and rosemary, and a rhubarb pie, all from the garden! We gave out seedlings to a lot of first time gardeners, and garden network packets to seasoned growers who wanted to start their own networks. We also presented the very beginnings of our animation with Emmett McMullan as narrator! Totally a cause worth supporting.

The Pop-Up Studio took a big trip to Madison, WI this week for the Return to Function show. It runs from May 2-August 23 at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art. It is curated by the lovely Jane Simon, and I've heard they've published a really lovely catalog to go with it.

Apologies for the lame web snapshot! I'm hoping to make it out to Madison this summer to see the show in person.