Protect the Trees Totems

These installations were created with Arts Street youth as part of a P.S. You are Here grant awarded by the City of Denver to the Trust for Public Land. New Freedom Park is located in Denver near a large refugee community and was designed around a large cottonwood tree which was the main gathering space for many of those new to this land. Recently, the tree died and Denver Parks and Recreation planted several new trees in the park. Unfortunately, most of the new trees died soon after planting because of the intensive use of the park and patrons not realizing the fragility of the baby trees. I was contracted to work with Arts Street youth in the summer of 2019 to create art installations for the park that would protect the trees.

*These were created in collaboration with Arts Street staff Amy Banker, Chelsea Romaniello, and Rudy Monterroso, and Arts Street youth Hawa Musa, Oyuki Caraveo-Haro, Antionio Najera-Dominguez, Jayden Eppes, Christopher Valdez-Estrada, Michael Valencia-Galvan, Oscar Perez-Frias, Maria Aguirre-Jose, Jorge Cruz-Jimenez, Nadia Gonzales, Brittany Rodriguez, Tania Rodriguez, Darrick Dobynes, Adama Bomba, and Goretti Martinez

Denver Parks and Recreation donated two large planters to Arts Street for the project. We used these as foundations for two large entry totems to the park. These and a few cedar fence posts were painted with bright colors and the words “Protect the Trees” in the languages spoken by the refugees in the community. The youth constructed concrete beads using plastic containers as molds with PVC pipes through the middle and then painted them to represent the countries from which the refugees came. These were stacked on threaded rods secured upright into large buckets with a fence post foam product. The youth also painted bird houses to top the totems. These were set inside the planters, which were then filled with dirt onsite.

Elemental Palisades

These palisades were originally designed to be installed in circles at the cardinal and midpoint directions around a few of the most vulnerable trees in the park to protect them. In nature-based traditions, each cardinal direction represents an element - fire, air, earth, or water - all of which are involved in the surviving and thriving of a tree. Each student researched, designed, and painted a short cedar post and a tall cedar post based on which direction(s) their posts were to be installed and it’s corresponding element(s). In the end, the palisades were not able to be installed near the trees because of potential root growth interference and the possibility of hitting irrigation lines while digging. So they were installed in other areas of the park near the playground. One in a circle shape around a rock, and one in a curved line along the basketball court.