One of 70 pieces created for a site-specific installation along the Woodland Trail of the Wildflower Center. On view from October 2022 through April 2023

"If we just act with awareness … we find that art is a wonderful way to share our peacefulness," –Peace is Every Step.
I read this book by Zen Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh whenever life feels too hard. He reminds me that I don’t get to choose if my path will be smooth or rocky. But from moment to moment, we all choose whether to sow seeds of anger and frustration or kindness and peace as we walk. I created “The Seeds We Plant” for the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center to share my joy and peace.
In the two months since installing this work along the Woodland Trail, I've watched people of every age slowing down to look with intention and curiosity. They are experiencing the joy of discovery as they point out each uniquely shaped artwork—seventy in all. The colorful abstractions hang from trees and rise from grass and stony creek beds. They playfully engage with the wild nature, colors shifting with the changes in light throughout the day and seasons.

This piece stands alone, at one edge of the only open meadow along the trail. It is framed by a copse of trees that often sway in the breeze. During winter, as the sun sets earlier and from a more diffused angle, the top half of those trees will glow as if on fire. The reflective paint on the creamy-white side of this artwork will similarly glow in hues of yellow, orange and red.

The Woodland Trail is a 1/8th mile flat, curving walk through a space that feels much like any greenbelt around Austin. Unlike most of the Wildflower Center, it is not planted with manicured flower gardens. It was the perfect space to create an experience of discovery. Each artwork leads the viewer either further down the path or guides their eye to a spot deeper into the tangled woods. Simply noticing our everyday environments in more detail, with a new sense of wonder, can have a profoundly calming affect on the nervous system. When we are calm, our hearts become open to the simple joys around us.

The only grassy place along the trail. I began calling this section the "river meadow." I situated the two largest artworks here because they can be seen from afar as well as up close. The forms are in conversation with the swaying trees and grasses as well as each other.