Jeff Schmuki, an artist who uses growing plants as his medium of choice, presented his lecture, Armegarrden, Thursday, Feb. 11, in Biggin Hall.
Wearing a bright red jumpsuit, Schmuki said Hurricane Katrina had destroyed his house in Mississippi, changed his life and became a major inspiration for his work.
"Your life can change in one day," Schmuki said. "Some of my neighbors stayed and didn't make it. I helped recover them."
Schmuki said the biggest help in Mississippi after the hurricane wasn't insurance companies or the government, but regular people that drove themselves.
"I think those wounds are fresh for him, and that was a lot to stand in front of a bunch of people, but it was really interesting," said Candice Mccollough, sophomore in graphic design.
Schmuki began doing work with plants after Katrina, and the first slide of his presentation was a picture of a garden built from necessity, not art.
"One guy's garden to grow his food, because he lost everything, he didn't have a dime in his pocket," Schmuki said. "And that was what he made out of recycled materials, that's all he had."
His works use a variety of plants, including wheat, collards and radishes, but his main medium is chia, the same plant that grows in the Chia Pet, which is also a healthy food source.
"It could provide the nutrients you need to survive on, and there are plenty of things that are manmade that taste like crap," said Zach Taylor, senior in fine arts.
Schmuki's chia growing is not solely for aesthetics with the name Armegardden referring to a garden for the end of time.
"Armageddon is the end of time, the second coming, the end of days," Schmuki said. "Armegardden is a garden in preparation for that possibility. It's super-artificial; what if we had to grow our food this way, because everything else is poisoned?"
In his works, Schmuki grows plants on a hydroponic system, without the use of soil, which allows him to grow plants virtually anywhere.
"If you wanted to make a painting using just plants, you could do that," Taylor said.
Schmuki has grown plants on ropes, walls, sponges and hanging strips of fabric.
His exhibition, Agritecture, uses hanging fabric that has chia and wheat growing in spots on the cloth, with rain gutters to catch the runoff water.
The exhibition is part of a larger series by the College of Liberal Arts, the Department of Art and the College of Agriculture focusing on sustainability.
"I've been following the series they've been doing," said Mike Shorter, sophomore in fine arts. "It's really neat to see it from start to finish."
Schmuki's work focuses on sustainability and ecology,= together with a grow-it-yourself philosophy.
"It inspired me, and I've got three greenhouse gardens growing with the same things he's growing: radishes, wheat, broccoli," Shorter said.
Doug Foshee, junior in art, attended the lecture for credit in his sculpture class.
"I'll be attending all of them now," Foshee said. "They're very interesting. He's taking it to the next step."
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