Using the Djerassi clay, I began to test out an idea that I had been thinking about for the last year. As part of my project Total Archive, I had conceptualized interspecies ghost creatures which would be amalgamated forms algorithmically generated from the IUCN Red List. I wanted to make negative impressions of these hybrid creatures as future fossils—remnants of our current endangered species for a speculative future. I made a few prototypes from the Djerassi clay for the Djerassi land.

As promised, here is an update on our wild clay ventures. Over the past weeks leading up to our Open Studios with Leonardo@Djerassi, a group of us processed the collected materials from the riverside cliffs. This was an exercise in patience. The raw clay material had a significant amount of redwood tree detritus mixed into it, so we added water to bring everything to a slurry. This took several days and many buckets! We then filtered all of the material through a 60 mesh screen. We then let the clay settle to the bottom and poured off excess water.

Rob Jackson, Sanna Fogelvik, Anthony Acciavatti and I went on a little hunting expedition this past week. We went hunting for wild clay at Djerassi. Rob, Sanna and I were interested in doing some personal experiments and artworks with the clay while Anthony was interested in exploring the creek where we would be searching. We set off to the nearby Harrington Creek where we had been advised clay was most likely to be found. A first spot was a bit sandy and dry. A second spot was located that looked more promising. Rob then rounded a corner of the river bend and found a clay-rich area for harvesting under a redwood tree!

Yesterday was our first full day at Djerassi. Danny Goldberg took us on a hike in the mid-afternoon. We departed from the Artist's Barn and walked a loop trail.

Along the way, we stopped at the many different artworks made by previous residents and Danny explained the botanicals along the pathway. The poison oak was especially evocative, with its many forms, shape-changing along the trail—from light green matte semi-translucent leaves in wispy singular growths to thick dark green oily leaves in tall dense bushes to bright red leafy lines.

Observation Maze, references Mel Henderson's Observation Shelter on the Djerassi grounds.

Thoughts on using open un-used spaces to benefit the proliferation of other speices.

"When the world ended, in April 1784, the shrapnel spread far and wide. I shouldn’t have been surprised to find a piece, a BIG piece, had landed on the Djerassi property, but I was." Art in the Anthropocene Era

Even the gophers struggle

Tunnelling in dense caked dirt.

Fissures grow deeper

Widening the space between the plaques of dry brittle grass 

The matter straining, stiffening,

As each molecule of water evaporates.

Paralysis holds the nutrients in place, 

Greedily restraining what tries to grow.

Dig, plant, nourish,

Listen, prune then flourish. 

Remember. 

We need some flux 

For anything to thrive.