The Watershed Mural Needs Your Support!
Gorgeous Quilted Panel of the Watershed Mural
Mixed media artist Laura Denny had a vision. She wanted to create a quilted mural that incorporated art, environmental education and service learning. The mural would be large- 15 feet and would show water’s long journey from land to sea. Laura wanted the mural to be a community art project. She also wanted it to be made with gathered objects like sticks, stones, bones, shells, pop tops and items from the Art From Scrap Reuse Store.
On May 15th 2013, Laura Denny’s vision became a reality. In collaboration with Explore Ecology and with the help of over 300 students’ grades 4-6, the Watershed Mural was completed in ten months and recently unveiled at the South Coast Watershed Resource Center (WRC). The mural depicts imagery of the flora and fauna represented in the different local Watershed zones in Santa Barbara: Mountain, Urban, Riparian, Estuary and Ocean. Imagery was painted on fabric strips, drawn on paper and then cut and arranged to create six tapestries each measuring 3’x3′.
Explore Ecology has started its first crowdsourcing campaign on Kickstarter to fund the installation of the mural. $2,500 is needed to pay for photography, printing, and permanent installation of the panels at the WRC for public viewing and on-going student education. Donate Here to ensure that these student artists are honored with a public installation of their work.
This project is funded in part by the Community Arts Grant Program using funds provided by the City of Santa Barbara in partnership with the Santa Barbara County Arts Commission.
Josh was born and raised in Santa Barbara, where his passion and curiosity for the environment began and has continued to grow. During his undergraduate studies, Josh pursued this interest at the University of California at Santa Cruz, receiving a Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Studies.
Melissa Dodos developed her passion for creative reuse as a mother of four and elementary educator over the past 25 years. She loves to inspire creativity by connecting people with resources and ideas.
Veronica grew up in San Diego and spent four years in San Luis Obispo studying Animal Science at Cal Poly. As an undergrad she learned lots about livestock, agriculture, and wildlife.
Stephanie began her journey as an educator over twenty years ago working as a preschool teacher in Washington state for a cooperative preschool program affiliated with Whatcom Community College. She loved observing the wonder and curiosity of the children and bringing them out into nature to explore the natural world. She continued her love for learning and got her teaching license and then her Montessori certification and worked as an elementary teacher in Tribal, Public, and Montessori schools. She collaborated to create a school garden and her students loved it so much that it became a special place where they could garden, read, explore, play, and it provided a safe sanctuary for students to calm down and reset when they were having difficult moments.
Morgan’s mermaid soul is always seeking adventure—swimming a relay across the Santa Barbara Channel and taking the first photo of a newborn orca off Anacapa Island being standout experiences close to home.
Lindsay Johnson