Andrea Reynosa

Artist, Agriculturalist and Activist, Andrea Reynosa, will be taking her most recent Living Earthwork experiment, Overlay, 2018-19, into the Lab environment at Coalesce to explore soil decomposition properties of fungal bioluminescence in hopes of harnessing and applying findings of naturally occurring biological illumination aesthetics to this work. In collaboration with Alessandra Vertrees, Brooklyn based interdisciplinary artist, (CUNY-Hunter 2018, Generative Media) the proposed work will use Overlay’s biodynamic sheet mulching activity as a point of departure.

Overlay is a regenerative permaculture installation included in an ongoing series,  Living Earthworks, 2011-Present, currently on view at Unison Arts Center in New Paltz, New York. Reynosa has taken the existing Unison outdoor installation,  Labyrinth , 1998, a large scale traditional 7-circuit ceramic maze system made by artist Bill Shillalie and chosen to work within its strong, mandala like composition by employing an agricultural component.  Labyrinth has a history of being enveloped annually by thick, weedy pasture grass so Reynosa proposed a sheet mulching application of 12 to 24 inches of hay to remediate the problem and, over the course of the season, enhance  Labyrinth by mulching it’s weeds down to a layer of nutrient dense bare soil. As the materials break down under the hay, worms move in, softening the soil and increasing the activity of beneficial microbial organisms. A generous broadcasting of pollinator and hummingbird wildflower seeds has been scattered over the hay surface to increase the pollinator habitat at the site while the hay mulching process takes place over the course of the growing season. As the site will be quite bare for a good part of the summer, two emerging artists have been invited to interact with the piece, Michael Coney, 28, of Hurleyville, NY, adding a sound component reflecting the natural habitat, and, Alessandra Vertrees, 22, of Brooklyn, NY, experimenting with the soil of Overlay at different stages in the composting process and bioluminescent microorganisms.

http://www.andreareynosa.com/

After co-founding Smack Mellon (Brooklyn, NY), artist, activist and farmer Andrea Reynosa immersed herself into the life of community in the Western Catskills river hamlets of Narrowsburg and Callicoon, New York generating numerous projects and programs that interact with the environment, civic engagement and agriculture. She established SkyDog Farm in 2000, a lifestyle experiment involving sustainable agriculture, permaculture, heirloom gardening, child rearing and forest stewardship. Landscape is a central theme in her work, whether in the form of artistic, social, civic or ecological practice such as the Flow events-artistic gatherings on the Upper Delaware River and Catskill Mountain Park celebrating pure water, the SkyDog Supper Club-a monthly community educational forum centered around issues of Home Rule and Land Use policies or the more formal, stylized rendition of a field of crimson clover emerging out of a parking lot, John Street Pasture, 2014. The earth’s processes and our human interaction with the environment has long been a primary focus. Reynosa is currently involved in various community, environmental and artistic investigations including her Living Earthwork Series exploring pre-contact indigenous agricultural technologies applied to permaculture informed land art compositions, collaborative Approaching Silence sound sculpture and formal sculpture and painting studio applications.