Forthcoming in 2024 Photos here show prototypes only. An artist book-sculpture honoring the form of the agave plant and addressing the impact of human-induced climate change on Earth’s ecological systems. Excerpts, handwritten, from Alan AtKisson, Rachel Carson, Donna Haraway, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Wangari Maathi, Donella Meadows, Val Plumwood, Terry Tempest Williams, Christa Wolf, others.

18 individually formed beeswax-dipped movable paper “leaves” with structure mounted into a ceramic vase. Housed in a faceted hexagonal-shaped vessel by Daniel E. Kelm, who also engineered the plant structure. Exterior dimensions: 21” H x 21” diameter.

Edition size: 10, with two additional copies NFS. Seven copies remain available as of fall 2019, prior to general announcement.

Payment terms: 1/2 is pre-paid, with order. Institutions please inquire.

A portion of sales will be donated to 350.org

This series grew from the original 2016 book object Witnessing a Dire Future: Cassandra, Rachel Carson, and our Contemporaries, created for the University of Washington’s “Just One Look” exhibition, seen here in the latter images, with maroon-colored base.

"The most alarming of all man's assaults upon the environment is the contamination of air, earth, rivers, and sea with dangerous and even lethal materials," wrote Rachel Carson in 1962. Witnessing is a cautionary tale, freighted with socio-political and environmental consequences. Yet the metaphor of the agave is hopeful, for it survives in even the most inhospitable conditions. – paraphrased from the 2016 University of Washington's Just One Look exhibition catalog.

28 movable "leaves"; each leaf 14.25 x 7 inches; diameter 20 x height 15 inches. 2016. Collection: University of Washington Libraries Special Collections (Seattle)