author...illustrator...guerilla artist
author...illustrator...guerilla artist
a batch of seed bombs drying in the sun. working with clay gives me the urge to partake in a primitive ritual of some kind. faces painted with red paste. dancing around a fire.
a morning walk revealed a small cropping of wild leeks. you can often smell them before you see them. I picked some to eat for lunch. foraging in the wild often involves using many senses. soon the sumac will be in bloom and I will make tea from the bright red fuzzy berries. i have a new woods to forage in which could yield some new things. i must pull out the euel gibbons. nature is always providing food if we choose to see it. you have to become a kind of detective, scanning the ground and sniffing out clues.
another quote from fukuoka, (this book full of great stuff):
"I believe that if one fathoms deeply one's own neighborhood and the everyday world in which he lives, the greatest of worlds will be revealed."
this is exactly what I am trying to get at with the guerilla art book/work. it involves fostering a deep connection with your city/town by getting down close to the ground and paying attention to all that goes on. observing it's nature, noticing the patterns, and at times documenting them and sharing them with others. i am looking for ways to connect in a very direct way (and take ownership of) this place where i live. this connection is not limited to only the woods but to urban spaces as well. especially to urban spaces, as these are usually where we feel most disconnected.
this week I will be dropping many of these seed bombs on abandoned lots in my town. and from that moment on, everytime I go downtown and walk by these places and see wildflowers growing I will feel like they are a part of me, (instead of the usual feeling of sadness that comes from seeing places that are abused, laden with garbage and abandoned by the former inhabitants).
reading fukuoka i am learning that vegetables can grow very successfully in areas with weeds. that will be my next experiment. my thinking is that while i am not attempting to try and feed everyone in the city, I am demonstrating an idea. that it is possible and feasible to grow food everywhere. how strange to be walking and see a squash patch growing next to an abandoned industrial site.
who would have ever believed a hundred years ago that growing vegetables could become in itself a revolutionary act?
Posted by kerismith at May 04, 2007 09:39 AMcomments closed due to an overwhelming amount of comment spam.
(an excellent example of how overuse of advertising directly impacts our lives.)
Posted by: keri Smith on May 12, 2007 06:23 PMGrowing your own food IS revolutionary in this day. Resistance is fertile!
Posted by: Heavy Petal on May 9, 2007 12:29 PMthe more earth that is taken from us the more we feel a need to connect. i love that the internet can connect us in another way but the real connection takes place in our families, with our friends, at work, at play, in our communities. thanks for your sharing!
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If you haven't seen this, here you go: http://www.heavypetal.ca/archives/2007/04/operation_moss_graffiti.html
Posted by: cheryl on May 7, 2007 01:34 PMI think you'd be really delighted by the work of David Sobel, and his book Place-based Education (if you aren't already familiar). The preschool/elementary/middle school where I work has committed to making place-based education a core piece of our curriculum -- it's about teaching children (1) the intense richness of their own, immediate, natural environment and (2) the need to connect with the people in the community -- through public service, through knowledge sharing, through meaningful connection. I think it's about raising children to naturally do the kinds of things you're exploring yourself....
Posted by: Jennifer on May 7, 2007 07:29 AMAn excellent idea. I had stopped reading your posts for awhile, because of so much homework and everything else. I didn't have any time. Now that I'm back, I truly appreciate what I was missing. You are an amazing writer, and your ideas are so unique and exciting. You add a little spark of happiness to all my days :-) I look forward to all your future posts.
Posted by: Sabine on May 6, 2007 05:12 PMand this is exactly what brings me back here, time and again:-)
Posted by: wendy on May 6, 2007 01:17 PMHey Keri...have you seen this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoSIXnwEhhM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_organ
It's a sea organ.
Don't you just love the idea of an "acoustic sculpture".
:o)
Posted by: AK on May 6, 2007 09:53 AMAdmire what you are doing. Here in LA they also have some movements that work in that direction. People can pick fruits that hang over the fence and grow on public land http://www.fallenfruit.org/news.html
and there is are a lot of comunity gardens and some initiatives to turn useless front lawns into "fruitful plots".
I've always thought weeds have their place in a garden...most of them have medicinal properties, and have exquisite flowers--if you take the time to notice. I'm looking forward to hearing how your garden goes...
Posted by: christina on May 5, 2007 11:44 PMcongratulations on your new book(s).
you are a fabulous and deep inspiration.
thank you.
Posted by: Goddess of Leonie on May 5, 2007 07:39 PMyour ability to move this world forward in to beauty and vitality and inspiration is always so amazing. i love that you are the 'flower fairy'! have a wonderful time sprinkling around your love :) xo, mindy
Posted by: wish studio on May 5, 2007 04:27 PMI absolutely can not wait for your guerilla kit!
Posted by: kelly on May 5, 2007 08:31 AMOh kerri, I love this. You reclaiming public spaces, you subverting urban ugliness; with such a simple and intuitive act.
Kerri i think you would love the books by jacki French "Jacki French's guide to self-sufficiency" and Jacki French's guide to companion Planting". Well hese books changed my life anyhow.
keepup the good work of planting seeds of Hope and beauty
Posted by: rachel on May 5, 2007 07:24 AMi've just stumbled upon your blog and i'm in love. you're very inspiring. and your artwork is unique and beautiful.
Posted by: lyss on May 4, 2007 11:10 PMI want to throw some seed bombs of my own. How did you make these?
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You spreading your seed bombs reminds me of the wonderful children's book, Miss Rumphius, by Barbara Clooney. Have you read it? You must.
You are always an inspiration....
"I believe that if one fathoms deeply one's own neighborhood and the everyday world in which he lives, the greatest of worlds will be revealed."
i just thought it was worth another mention and over and over and over again to myself...
thank you, keri. always.
Posted by: Kat on May 4, 2007 02:50 PMI grew up in Minnesota and enjoyed the sumac forts I'd live in on our city and rural lands. Now in Oregon, we do have sumac, but much of it is poisonous - be careful what you ingest. While our wood faireis and wild friends often have the capacity to decipher non-edibles, we humans don't.
http://poisonivy.aesir.com/faq.html
Posted by: Katherine on May 4, 2007 02:10 PMthat quote is so powerful - and so true. thanks for sharing
Posted by: tracy on May 4, 2007 01:36 PMWhat an amazing idea. I'm pationate too about reconnecting with our food. The earth provides what we need not the plastic wrapped containers. I live in a city and I can list off a few places where I'm going to go off and do JUST that. The first place be right next to our apartment!
Posted by: Stephanie on May 4, 2007 12:22 PMI love this -
and the seed bombs are beautiful in and of themselves -
I live in a semi-rural area and find it increasingly difficult - I guess that I should say that I am reluctant - to go in town to my big studio and DO SOMETHING - my son has been making fairy houses - yesterday's is perched on a branch at his eye level and there is a little swing for the wee folk - down below is a birch bark and string yurt-like structure - the beds are made from large (well - large for fairies) piles of collected wild violets - imagine sleeping in a pile of violets - ahhhhhhh the aroma...
maybe something like this in town with the townie kids - little structures cropping up here and there next to the wild flower seed bombs in bloom - creating the necessity to get down on the ground at fairy level and explore or peer up into the tree branches to experience a wee folk nest - little mini trash houses...
oh dear -
I've been swept away by these imaginings...
this happens when you visit the wish jar
thanks again
xox - eb.
This is such a beautiful project. There are a few lots around my house that could benefit from a few seed bombs.
And I'd like to see the bit of intrigue that would arise if people noticed the little meatballs (cookies? what would they guess?) scattered among the weeds.
Posted by: Maile on May 4, 2007 11:07 AMthanks for this, Keri ... as I'm longing to go somewhere else, to travel, to see different things and meet new people
this is just what I needed
Posted by: Janice on May 4, 2007 10:52 AMa beautiful vision.
just a word of caution, however - vegetables grown in lead-contaminated soil (like next to an abandoned industrial site) may be unsafe to eat.
http://www.ene.gov.on.ca/cons/3335e.pdf
Posted by: becky on May 4, 2007 10:46 AMThis statement is soooo profound: Who would have ever believed a hundred years ago that growing vegetables could become in itself a revolutionary act?
How about a guerilla sign: Fight the overlords; grow vegetables yourself.
beautiful... i can't wait to see what comes of this
Posted by: liz on May 4, 2007 10:38 AMthat flower-bomb (and your post on the one straw revolution) blew my mind - thanks!