SEED SPIRES + THEODORE PAYNE FOUNDATION
Earthen Sculpture Installation & Gallery Show
Seed Spires are the first sculpture series to be installed throughout the grounds of Theodore Payne Foundation (TPF) for Wild Flowers and Native Plants. Each spire contains a custom blend of seeds, artfully selected by Genevieve Arnold, Seed Program Manager of TPF. Over time, the geometric compressed earth forms sprout, grow, erode, bloom, and reseed.
Seed Spires at TPF are presented with an accompanying installation of painted and written pieces in the TPF gallery space — together the works seek to articulate our ever-mounting need for native habitats to replace concrete-minded thinking, and contribute to a shift in collective consciousness about our natural environment.
What is this? Why is it here?
When some people first encounter the Seed Spires they ask us, ‘what is this? why is it here?’ And we say something like, ‘Seed Spires are compressed earthen sculptures embedded with native wildflower seeds - see how this one is beginning to sprout? They are impermanent and responsive to nature’s cycles and will eventually bloom and feed our dwindling pollinators.’
But those questions are the seeds we’re really trying to plant. Our hope is that once planted, those questions - what is this and why is it here will start to pop up all over the place - what is this tree I see all over the city, why was this exotic tree species planted and not a native oak? Why are these planter boxes filled with trash? What is this bush that’s buzzing with bees? Why have these big trees been given only tiny squares to live in?
Building Seed Spires on the Theodore Payne Foundation grounds was an experiment with new seeds, soils and site conditions. An unseasonably dry winter meant less germination and growth. Unusually relentless spring winds took down tops of some spires “prematurely.”
But didn’t we say these are ephemeral sculptures, designed to bend to the whims of nature — so why is it so hard to give up control?
As public artists who’ve designed and fabricated over 80 public art pieces, we are used to making sculptures out of aluminum or steel, the same way people are used to lawns and hedges - predictable, static, “perfect.” Now, watching our Seed Spires lean and germinate in unpredictable patches we are forced to accept that perfection often excludes dynamism. And classically, we the artists are learning the lessons we came here to express in our artwork.
As summer marches along wildflowers droop and shrivel - moving their remaining energy to setting seed. Living in California means getting to know the nuances of the dormant season. We used to lament the fading of green, but looking up close we see the way some leaves dry into graceful curls, how dark glossy seeds can look like tiny jewels, and how enthusiastic the birds are about seed snacks.
Seed Spires Map & Species Key
1 Summer Shade - 3/22/2022
Collinsia heterophylla (Chinese houses)
Festuca rubra ‘Molate’ (creeping red fescue)
Gilia tricolor (bird’s eye gilia)
Nemophila maculata (five-spot)
Nemophila menziesii (baby blue eyes)
2 Summer Light - 3/22/2022
Aristida purpurea (purple three awn)
Asclepias fascicularis (narrowleaf milkweed)
Baileya multiradiata (desert marigold)
Bouteloua gracilis (blue grama grass)
Deinandra fascicularis (clustered tarweed)
Eriophyllum confertiflorum (golden yarrow)
Eschscholzia californica (California poppy)
Pseudognaphalium californicum (pearly everlasting)
3 Spire of Return - 3/2/2022
Camissoniopsis bistorta (California Sun Cup)
Eschscholzia californica (California Poppy)
Lupinus bicolor (Miniature Lupine)
Phacelia tanacetifolia (Lacy Phacelia)
Salvia columbariae (Chia)
4 Quiet Fuzz - 2/10/2022
Collinsia heterophylla (Chinese houses)
Festuca rubra ‘Molate’ (creeping red fescue)
Gilia tricolor (bird’s eye gilia)
Nemophila maculata (five-spot)
Nemophila menziesii (baby blue eyes)
5 Groundling - 2/2/2022
Clarkia bottae (Botta’s clarkia)
Clarkia purpurea (winecup clarkia)
Clarkia unguiculata (elegant clarkia)
Phacelia distans (common phacelia)
Phacelia minor (CA bluebell)
Phacelia tanacetifolia (lacy phacelia)
Phacelia brachyloba (short lobed phacelia - local source)
6 Little Earth - 2/2/2022
Clarkia bottae (Botta’s clarkia)
Clarkia purpurea (winecup clarkia)
Clarkia unguiculata (elegant clarkia)
Phacelia distans (common phacelia)
Phacelia minor (CA bluebell)
Phacelia tanacetifolia (lacy phacelia)
Phacelia brachyloba (short lobed phacelia - local source)
7 Superbloom - 1/29/2022
Eschscholzia californica (California poppy)
Lupinus bicolor (miniature lupine)
Phacelia tanacetifolia (lacy phacelia)
Lupinus succulentus (arroyo lupine)
8 Sister Bloom - 1/29/2022
Eschscholzia californica (California poppy)
Lupinus bicolor (miniature lupine)
Phacelia tanacetifolia (lacy phacelia)
Lupinus succulentus (arroyo lupine)
9 Sunset Spire - 1/25/2022
Amsinckia menziesii (fiddleneck)
Clarkia unguiculata (elegant clarkia)
Eschscholzia caespitosa (tufted poppy)
Lasthenia californica (California goldfields)
Layia platyglossa (tidy tips)
Lupinus truncatus (collared annual lupine)
Salvia columbariae (chia)
Calandrinia menziesii (red maids - local)
Lupinus hirsutissimus (stinging lupine - site local)
10 Moonlight Spire - 1/25/2022
Acmispon americanus (American bird’s-foot trefoil)
Castilleja exserta (purple owl’s clover)
Clarkia bottae (Botta’s clarkia)
Eschscholzia californica ‘Moonglow’ (moonglow California poppy)
Leptosiphon grandiflorus (largeflower linanthus)
Lupinus microcarpus (chick lupine)
Chaenactis artemisiifolia (artemisia leaved chaenactis - local regen)
Gilia capitata (blue field gilia - local)
Salvia carduacea (thistle sage - regen)
Holding Opposites
Los Angeles is textured. A vibrant yet harsh home for an incredible diversity of life. It holds many opposites in one.
Holding Opposites is a vision of our city as a habitable place for us and those delicate life-giving creatures upon whom we all depend — for pollination, for their place in the web of life, for their profound beauty and magic!
Natural pigments handmade from locally foraged flora are layered with factory made synthetic paints. Native flowers abound amongst the crumbling concrete. Fragments of a McDonalds fry box are layered with the same healthy terra-cotta TPF earth within the Seed Spires.
Observations and materials collected from some of the hottest, most neglected streets in the city were translated into sparse abstract impressions. Lively little paintings were inspired by walks and studies of lush native habitats, incorporating elderberry paint, oak gall ink and pollen. Holding Opposites layers these materials and experiences together in one piece.
If you look closely you’ll find butterflies and native bees. If you leave and forget about the painting but keep looking closely, you might start to notice which plants attract the most bees, or see a certain kind of caterpillar on only a certain kind of plant. If you get really good at looking closely you might even spot a chrysalis or a praying manis egg sac!
And if enough of us practice looking closely at the plants and creatures that should be here, a vision for a future for all of us starts to emerge.
Seed Spire poem by Jaqueline Suskin
On the gallery wall we painted Suskin’s poem with healthy soil gathered from the grounds of TPF. Written as ‘words of intention,’ we say them aloud before removing our form to reveal the Seed Spire within.
We extend our deepest appreciation and gratitude
…to the Theodore Payne Foundation team for the collaboration, support, trust, water, seeds, soil, vision, emails, planning, documents, care, curiosity, expertise, and generosity.
To the visiting butterflies, hummingbirds, coyote and rattlesnake, the palo verde shade, lupine blossoms and clove-scented elderberry flowers.
And to the land, the TPF grounds that sit on the traditional village of Wiqánga, the ancestral home of the Wiqánvitam who are now known as the Fernandeño Tataviam Band of Mission Indians.