{"id":14998,"date":"2024-05-07T08:16:00","date_gmt":"2024-05-07T12:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/?p=14998"},"modified":"2024-05-07T09:05:04","modified_gmt":"2024-05-07T13:05:04","slug":"installation-creates-connections-between-community-and-the-environment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/2024\/05\/07\/installation-creates-connections-between-community-and-the-environment\/","title":{"rendered":"Installation Creates Connections Between Community and the Environment"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Fences coming down and neighbors coming together. That\u2019s the concept behind Associate Professor of Art Margaretha Haughwout\u2019s living participatory art installation titled DE-FENCE.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The installation connects people with their community \u2014 and their environment \u2014 along the Sanctuary Eco-Art Trail in Troy, N.Y. The trail embeds art, culture, ecology, and history into a nature walk. It\u2019s part of the NATURE Lab, coordinated by Kathy High \u201977, which links local scientists and artists with an international network in the field of bio-arts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The NATURE Lab and adjacent Eco-Art Trail are located in an impoverished neighborhood on 6th Street in Troy near the Hudson River. \u201cThere\u2019s a long history of environmental racism [there],\u201d says Haughwout. \u201cSo [NATURE Lab does] a lot of work in the community to try to reckon with that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Haughwout\u2019s project began last summer with a drawing event during which participants discussed the neighborhood\u2019s environmental health conditions, discovered medicinal plants growing in the marginal spaces and edges of the neighborhood, and sketched medicinal plants that have historically been used for the immune system. Examples include elderberry, which grows in hedgerows and is traditionally used for the flu; yarrow, which is found on the roadside and is for the cardiovascular system; and nettle seed, an edge plant that is used to induce a healthy response to external stressors.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

DE-FENCE is \u201cthinking about making the fence line its own space that can actually bring people together,\u201d Haughwout says, \u201cbut also bringing about greater health, greater bodily defense, through collectivity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She took the sketches drawn by community members (with participants\u2019 permission), digitally traced them, and etched them onto fence posts she filled with pewter. Participants drew their sketches in a nonlinear way, having multiple endpoints so that they could connect to other participants\u2019 drawings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Drawings by Troy, N.Y., community members inspired the design of the fence posts installed in Professor Margaretha Haughwout\u2019s DE-FENCE. She traced the drawings using vector graphics, which were carved into kiln-fired walnut posts. Colgate carpenter Chris Naylor CNC (computer numerical control) routed the wood. Haughwout then filled the carvings with pewter, a process helped by studio safety technician Kevin Donlin. Photos by Mark DiOrio; bottom right photo by Sina Basila Hickey<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This May, Haughwout is placing the first group of fence posts around the living installation \u2014 \u201cnot in a row, but this deconstructed fence feeling,\u201d she says. During that community event, neighbors will plant medicinal plants alongside Haughwout, whose work typically involves a pedagogical element with site-specific teach-ins to talk about the context of the project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another phase of planting is planned for this fall or next spring. \u201cIt\u2019s staggered because I want to see what\u2019s doing well, what might need to be replaced, and work with the site instead of just dropping in, planting everything, and leaving,\u201d Haughwout says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She told Hudson Mohawk Magazine<\/em>: \u201cAs individuals our health means nothing unless we\u2019re thinking about our larger ecologies, our larger environment, as well as the health of one another.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Haughwout\u2019s father, Peter \u201950, was a medical practitioner, which motivated Margaretha to learn about herbalism at an early age.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Professor of Art Margaretha Haughwout\u2019s installation titled DE-FENCE connects people with their community \u2014 and their environment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":15080,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[37,2309,2308],"coauthors":[388],"class_list":["post-14998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scene","tag-art","tag-eco-art","tag-haughwout"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/palXSH-3TU","amp_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2024\/05\/ArtInstallation.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14998"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14998\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15162,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14998\/revisions\/15162"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14998"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=14998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}