Project Statement

Sept. 2020:

While the world as we know it is shifting at pandemic proportions, innovative and resourceful people are working tirelessly to restructure “what’s next,” such Byron and his community at Jack’s. Harnessing the energy of the sun, experimenting with agriculture, promoting conservation, developing regenerative farming, and supporting the arts are some meaningful ways to build lasting, connected communities. 

To capture the above yields at Jack’s, especially the large renewable resource array, I sought to mimic the multiple outputs in the works themselves. I blended photos of the events on the farm with the reworking of discarded materials, sourced on-site. This is done in effort to spark the belief that all needed resources are quite close at hand to thrive and overcome the challenges we face; the sun, ground beneath our feet, hard materials, and many helping hands of friends, family, and colleagues. Thus, the project literally “closes the loop,” by diverting waste from the landfill, or as the old adage states, “reduce-reuse-recycle.” It shows that innovation can be as simple as a redesign, not necessarily starting from scratch or using new materials. These creations add beauty to one’s surroundings and revere our roots.

My favorite event and element of the project was co-hosting the Art & Action Volunteer Day in August, when Jack’s and I collaborated to bring volunteers out for a multi-output day. This entailed farm maintenance for the newly planted pollinator habitat, an art station to create insignia within it for education purposes (from found stakes and discarded wooden pallets), music, an education session about Jack’s and permaculture, and true human connection, all done with mindfulness and compliance around COVID-19. 

Rackel will split 10% of the proceeds from works sold of this series to Black Lives Matter 5280 and Audubon Society of the Rockies.

Dedication

Sept. 2020: I dedicate this series to my grandmother, Rena, who rocked my world as a child, giving me more creative outlets to make messes with in her garden and china painting studio than a young kid knew what to do with. I listened.

I offer the ideas captured in this series to children living in the United States in 2020, grappling with the state of the world through impressionable eyes while looking to adults for answers, survival, security, love. Sending you hope that your future may be as bright as mine has been from my own youth to the present day. Believe that the world is your oyster - if you can dream it, you can do it. You have all of the support, resources, and technology to help you get there.