Watch the full video in the link in bio.
Kiersten Torrez and I want to thank everyone who joined us last Saturday at Laumeier Sculpture Park to celebrate our commission Wak’a Garden. This project is the second installment in Laumeier’s Begin Again series, which highlights the Park’s 50-year history of collaborating with artists and supporting new commissions and exhibitions, curated by the talented Dana Turkovic. A big thank you to the thoughtful and creative performers who helped us activate the Wak’a’a Garden: Lyn McClain Tess Angelica Losada-Tindall), and Aida Lizalde. Many Thanks to Bobby Best for your exceptional video. Your ability to capture our story with empathy, a sense of community, and creativity is truly the BEST!
Wak’a Garden - Laumeier Sculpture Park
Video description: Wak’a Garden is a Laumeier Sculpture Park commission by 2026 Visiting Artist in Residence Juan William Chávez and 2026 Kranzberg Exhibition Series Artist Kiersten Torrez.
Curated by Dana Turkovic and filmed by A Broadys Work Films
Performers:
Saundra L. McClain-Kloeckener
Native Women’s Care Circle
Educational Consultant - Teacher-Storyteller
Tess Angelica Losada-Tindall
Dancer, choreographer, and scholar
Aida Lizalde
Artist, sculptor
Please consider an end-of-year donation to support our art studio, a chemical-free teaching garden, and bee sanctuary. Our programs inspire self-expression, environmental stewardship, food sovereignty, and community building—donation Link in bio.
This year has been filled with growth and collaboration.
A special collaboration has been with Rico Rose (Diné). Together, we established a medicinal garden, hosted Indigenous St. Louis Working Group meetings, and created the zine “Decolonize the Garden,” which addressed colonialism’s impacts on land management. We co-led an educator workshop titled “Decolonize the Garden: From Seeds to Bees” with support from the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum.
Our partnerships have been invaluable, especially with the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis. A highlight was working with students at Sumner High School, where students experienced how to support native bees by planting native plants. This workshop honored Charles Henry Turner, a pioneering entomologist and former science teacher at Sumner.
We also had terrific interns from the Collegiate School of Medicine and Bioscience and Washington University’s Environmental Studies Program, who helped create a Seeds Zine and develop a Plant Profile zine featuring all of our teaching garden plants.
We were part of a fantastic team that helped organize the Old North House Tour and Art Festival.
We had many outstanding garden conversations with community members and friends (longtime and new).
As the year ended, we enjoyed a special winter workshop with Dail Chambers and fellow North City creative farmers and gardeners, capped off by the sighting of a bald eagle soaring above the garden!
Thank you to everyone who has worked with us and supported us this year.
As a small (but mighty) non-profit, we could not do this work without your friendship and support. Much Love, and see you all in 2025!
EDUCATOR WORKSHOP
Decolonize the Garden: From Seeds to Bees
Northside Workshop
Rico Rose
Horticulturist and Indigenous St. Louis Working Group Member
Juan William Chávez
Artist and Director, Northside Workshop
Kiersten Torrez
Master Gardener & Director of Programming and Sustainability Northside Workshop
Special Guess
Saundi McClain-Kloeckener
Native Women’s Care Circle Member, Educational Consultant, Storyteller, and Jingle Dancer.
The educators’ workshop was led by artist Juan William Chávez and horticulturist and Indigenous community member Rico Rose in conjunction with the Kemper Art Museum’s exhibition Seeds: Containers of a World to Come (opening February 21, 2025).
“Decolonize the Garden: From Seeds to Bees” is a workshop designed for middle and high school educators. It explores how the social practice art and gardening can support Indigenous issues through self-expression, environmental stewardship, and community building.
The workshop included two presentations. The first presentation, led by Rico Rose (Diné), covered the history of horticulture in the American colonies and the history of the American lawn, focusing on the potential for fostering ecological resilience through an Indigenous lens. Juan William Chavez led the second presentation and discussed how to support native bees and native plants through self-expression, environmental stewardship, and community building.
Both presentations included hands-on activities. Rico led a plant identification walk, and Kiersten Torrez conducted an upcycled garden apron project and led a native planting session with the educators using a take-home grow bag. Special guest Saundi McClain-Kloeckener led a welcome song and a planting in the medicine garden. She shared her knowledge of plants and seeds with educators during a tour of Northside Workshop’s chemical-free teaching garden and native bee sanctuary. Participants also received a zine copy of Decolonize the Garden: The Impacts of Colonialism, Class Hierarchy, and The Industrial Revolution on American Land Management By Rico Rose and was co-created with Northside Workshop
The install soundtrack has been Kenny Loggins, don't know why, but it feels right.
BEGIN AGAIN: JUAN WILLIAM CHAVEZ & KIERSTEN TORREZ, WAK’A GARDEN
Join us on Saturday, April 18 for the debut of Wak'a Garden
South Lawn 11-2pm.
Performance at Noon-12:30pm
Exhibition opening at 11 a.m., followed by an introduction by Curator Dana Turkovic and a special artist-led performance with artists Juan William Chávez and Kiersten Torrez at Noon.
As part of Art & Nature Day, get creative at the art activities area curated by Torrez from 11 a.m.–2 p.m. and learn about native gardening and pollinators. Hands-on activities include making seeding soil blocks, planting grow bags and no-sew aprons.
Spent the day @northside_workshop learning from @jwchavez and @kiertor . It was an amazing shared leaning experience for our high school’s leadership team. What an awesome space to learn and grow in head and heart! 🌱
