Spiral Wetland is an eco-art project supported by the Walton Art Center as part of the Artosphere Festival in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Spiral Wetland is made with native soft rush, Juncus effusus, growing in a closed-cell foam mat anchored to the lake’s floor. The plants help remove excess nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus from the lake water, and the mat adds shade for fish habitat. Inspired by Spiral Jetty (1970), Robert Smithson’s famous earthwork sited in the Great Salt Lake, Utah, this spiral is a working earthwork floating on the surface of the lake.
When the installation is taken down in Summer 2014, sections of the wetland will be adopted and transplanted into other wetlands and retention basins in the region, continuing the environmental benefits of the project in new waters.
http://www.artospherefestival.org/spiral-wetland-by-stacy-levy/
Do you know of other interesting eco-art projects? Please share with us in the comments section.
Stacy Levy’s projects show the presence of urban nature. She works with water of all sorts, from acid mine drainage to urban streams and rivers to rainwater. Many of her recent projects utilize stormwater runoff, to make rainwater an asset to the site.
She has recently worked with the Pittburgh Park Conservancy to artfully infiltrate stormwater at Frick Parks’ new Environmental Center as part of the Living Building Challenge. She just created a rain garden for the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education in Philadelphia. Levy often works collaboratively with architects & landscape architects: She has worked with Biohabitats Inc and the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society on Pier 53 on the Delaware River to create a park where the plant roots and the cycle of freeze and thaw begins to breakdown the hardscape. Her floating wetland based on the Spiral Jetty for the Walton Art Center in Fayetteville, Arkansas is helping to reuse the excess nutrients in the lake water.
Stacy graduated from Yale University with a BA in Art and a minor in forestry. She earned her MFA from Tyler School of Art, Temple University PA. She is a recipient of the Pew Fellowship in the Arts.
