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May 5, 2020, Filed Under: Uncategorized

Waller Creek: The End For Me But Not For You

This semester was an interesting one. Never would I have imagined that a nationwide pandemic would force us to stay home, effectively stopping the Waller Creek Earth Day Project in its tracks. All the work that we had done as a class just negated, meaningless. I’m graduating, so I won’t even be able to see the end of the project. So, what’s the point now? What can I do?

It’s easy to get caught up in this kind of negative thinking, so let’s not do that. Let’s instead focus on the good that we have done, and are continuing to do despite our situations. Firstly, we are still accomplishing our goal of raising awareness for Waller Creek. Every student in this class has been working hard to expand our project to social medias since we can’t physically finish it.

A social media flier created by Laura Godinez to help continue our Earth Day Project

We’ve been reaching out to people, to get their voices heard, to channel the voice of Waller Creek through them.

Second, we’ve been writing about everything we did earlier this semester in detail. Just because it didn’t happen this year, doesn’t mean it won’t happen ever. I actually have a feeling that by next year, when we have a better grip on this virus, Waller Creek will still be calling, and it will be louder than ever. And even though I won’t personally be there to listen to its call, others will. So that’s why we’ve written down everything we’ve done, from all the little details that seem trivial to the bigger ones that seem so daunting, so that the people who pick up this project will be able to do all that we did, and more. I might not be there physically to help, but I will be there spiritually. So, this might be the end of my journey with Waller Creek, but it’s far from the end for Waller Creek. As long as it calls, people will listen.

May 1, 2020, Filed Under: Uncategorized

Earth Day Course Review

The story for this project begins with Karen Maness and Texas Performing Arts being presented with an opportunity to participate in the Waterloo Greenway 2019 Creek Show by creating a site specific art installation.

This opportunity led to the formation of a course in the Fall which designed and realized a Creek Monster Habitat over the course of the semester which was experienced by 60,000 people during the Creek Show. (That’s the photo Below.) The project is still ongoing and we’ve been working this semester to bring an iteration of the installation to UT campus for a celebration of Earth Day 50.

Our focus through all of this has been on engaging the public in natural urban spaces, revealing aspects of our riparian habitats and that often go unnoticed, and all while taking into account sustainable design and fabrication methodologies.

I’d like to mention here that this work is a reality because of a collaboration with the Sustainability Office and support through the Green Fund.

The first and most central goal we have is to raise awareness of the environment and our responsibility to it. As storytellers our approach has been to empathize with the creek ecosystem and use the installation as a space to bring people into connection with the spirit of the creek. We want to create caring connections across our community; for ecosystems and critters, for ourselves and our mental wellbeing; all the while connecting with the researchers and organizations on campus that are working for a sustainable present. We believe art is a powerful means to bring compelling new perspectives to light that can bring about healthy change and community action.

Community engagement is at the heart of this project and over the course of the last year we have had the opportunity to collaborate with a diverse set of people and organizations.

We’ve gotten to learn about and share work being done by researchers and student groups across campus and even beyond UT.

The physical creation of installation has necessitated and allowed for guest artists and experts to come and engage with the courses to help realize the vision. Creating new connections and opportunities for students.

All aspects of the work have been dreamed up and created by students from a diverse set of departments and colleges.

I’d like to share with you a little of what we had planned for our Earth Day installation, which would be up and glowing on 24th and San Jacinto along Waller Creek right now. We have three main areas of engagement we are working with.

Our installation team has been working to create physical manifestations through lighting and sculpture in order to express the story of the creek and to generate curiosity from passing pedestrians.

The social media team is working to spread the word by gathering stories from our local heroes, making infographics, and by creating fun filters for social media platforms.

The mental wellness team has been in charge of putting together activities that engage the community in positive practices.

Like all events… we’ve had to put a pause on our physical encounters for the time being, but we plan on bringing the installation back next Year! Luckily, social media has been a part of our plan from the beginning so we are now focusing on sharing the stories of sustainability and growth we’ve gathered from students and local heros. We’d love your help and voices in amplifying the Call of Waller Creek. If you are interested in participating the sustainability office, on their website, has shared the call we are putting out to gather personal stories and testimonies of sustainability being done throughout our community.

May 1, 2020, Filed Under: Uncategorized

Looking Back: the Creek Monster Habitat Project

The Creek Monster Habitat Project was created with the intended goal of promoting sustainable environmental practices, appreciation of our natural environments and the 50th anniversary of Earth Day through the use of art. All was in place for a successful completion of the project through the first days of March—before the start of the quarantine period due to Covid-19, at which point we started to look for other ways to fulfill our mission.

Earth Month celebration Facebook filters created by Terry Nguyen.

Our strategy had to change, but that didn’t mean the impact of our message had to. We started to look at ways in which to use the quarantine period as a way to promote reconnecting with our natural environment—by taking time to walk outside or to”dig our feet in the dirt” as Karen Maness would say.

And so we decided to look within our UT community for help by featuring Local Heroes, local figures who actively work for a sustainable future, and other community members through a video selfie challenge to share how they view this important topic. We received video responses from numerous UT faculty, staff and students describing their work and why they do what they do—videos which can be seen at Texas Applied Arts’ Facebook and Instagram page.

Pre-Covid-19 post draft. Research by Andrea Pantoja, design by Laura Godinez and Terry Nguyen.

We also shifted our focus to documenting this semester’s work so that a future iteration of this project can pick up where we left off—this includes social media strategies, installation blueprints, sound files, etc.

It was plenty of fun working on this project but also quite eye-opening. The amount of work that needs to be done for a sustainable future is one that can only be done by joining together for the cause of an environmentally safe Earth.