Land Quilt
Time-lapse photography of Land Quilt Installation in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
The word “quilt” connotes a nurturing relationship with whatever it covers. It also suggests a sense of community spirit and collaboration based on the tradition of quilting bees. The Land Quilt enlarges this community spirit to include the soils, waters, plants, and animals that Aldo Leopold referred to collectively as “the land”.
Each "patch" of the Land Quilt concentrates natural precipitation with a fabric funnel stretched over a wire frame staked into the ground. Below the funnel and hollowed in the soil is a seed ball consisting of native seeds, clay and compost. When the Land Quilt is removed after the monsoon season (15 July – 15 October, 2012), our hope is that patches of native plants, germinated with the help of the concentrated rainfall, will remain.
The Land Quilt intends to restore part of the barren fairways on the UNM North Golf Course. At the conclusion of this inaugural installation, our hope is for the Land Quilt to inspire the citizens of Albuquerque and beyond to reuse the “patches” to blanket other barren landscapes in our community.
Tony Anella and Cara McCulloch, artists
