Looking for ways to save water during this historic drought? Be inspired by artist Mel Chin’s land art project, The TIE that BINDS: MIRROR of the FUTURE, which is part of Los Angeles’s new public art biennial CURRENT: LA Water. Chin’s project begins at the Bowtie, a stretch of land along a beautiful part of the L.A. River, in Atwater Village, where eight sample gardens were created. Visitors can commit to creating a mirror of a sample garden in their own yard and receive a blueprint, a list of plants needed, and instructions on how to plant, establish, and maintain their garden. By the end of the project, 512 mirror gardens will be planted all over the city, reflecting a drought-resistant, collective future landscape for our city.
Last week, a team from Mel Chin’s studio installed a model mirror garden on LACMA’s campus, just north of the Pritzker Parking Garage on Zev Yaroslavsky Plaza, against the backdrop of Michael Heizer’s Levitated Mass. The garden is planted with agave shawii (Shaw’s agave), artemisia californica (California sagebrush), and muhlenbergia rigens (deergrass), all native to this region. According to Chin’s calculations, the 512 gardens planted throughout the city will save approximately 3.5 million gallons of water each year.
In addition to Chin’s ongoing engagement in environmental issues, such as his continuing lead abatement project Operation Paydirt, he is interested in redefining the terms of land art. Chin considers the mirror gardens as modestly scaled pieces of land art that one can own in one’s own living space. In fact, LACMA trustee Suzanne Deal Booth is participating in the project with a mirror garden of her own.
Visit Chin’s Field Office at the Bowtie Project, open Thursday through Sunday from 5:30 pm until sunset, to pick up your own blueprint, which are available on a first-come, first-serve, first-commit basis. This Sunday, Chin will be at LACMA's mirror garden from 3 to 5 pm to talk about The TIE that BINDS. Stop by to meet the artist and learn more!