November 2026 e-Newsletter for subscribers and non-members is here

Nantesbuch from Above @Stiftung Kunst und Natur

Restoring the Soil Together and Without Compromise: Forum Nantesbuch Kunst+Natur brings idealism to reality to restore natural habitat and create a collaborative network at the base of the German Alps. 

Olivia Ann Carye Hallstein

From Munich, I drive about an hour in the cool October light as the glaciers glistens atop the Alps on the horizon to a backdrop of the idyllic Bavarian landscape and its warm-toned changing foliage. As I roll along a winding road past moss covered spruce forests and bright green fields dotted with cows, immaculate white and wooden buildings appear before me. Nantesbuch Stiftung Kunst-und-Natur (Art and Nature Foundation) exists beyond its building’s boundaries as a diverse network of stakeholders passionate about environmental preservation and collaboration between disciplines. The annual Boden Forum (Soil Summit) is a main event where participants from a wide-range of expertise like law, science, art, finance, urban planning, and more gather together for workshops, lectures, and exhibitions to make new connects and build projects at Nantesbuch and beyond. Though the foundation itself focuses on this particular landscape, the purpose of this decentralized network is dedicated to community, outreach, and changing both narrative and impact surrounding environmental issues generally. By focusing beyond their own spaces, Nantesbuch builds an interconnected root system of stakeholders to support strong, stable growth like a tree reaching for the sun. 

The Nantesbuch location on Karpfsee in southern Bavaria in Germany is a modern open-space style ‘Langeshaus’ building and regenerative farm sitting on about 320 acres of forest, marsh and arable land. This location focuses primarily on regenerative agriculture, marsh preservation, and other related land restoration projects integrating invited artist’s work. Another of the private foundation’s locations is the associated Museum Sinclair-Haus in Bad Homburg outside Frankfurt am Main acting as the main exhibition hall for environmentally focused modern art. Nantesbuch focuses on the environment directly with a specialized mission on circular environmental permaculture design and includes regenerative farming and ranching, environmental restoration, perma-gardening, recycling programming, green gastronomy, a greenhouse and much more. Within this mission the spaces act as initiators and incubators based on trans-disciplinary discussion and collaboration including addressing fluid communication between disciplines. 


Digital Print Photographs on Nantesbuch front lawn, Exhibition Opening for Yann Arthus-Bertrand, 2026, ©Daniela Pfeil

Within this larger mission, art plays an intrinsic role for communicating both literally and emotionally the importance of the lively world beneath our feet and beyond. Though the Boden Forum (Soil Summit) is primarily a scientific one, Nantesbuch understands the broader role that artists can play in influencing planning, politics and other stakeholders as activists and through trans-disciplinary projects. Because of the expansive concept and research-based artistic practice unique to the US, there may be unique opportunities in this space for EcoArtSpace members, whose work transcends traditional roles of art in society. Still, this programming is relatively new and does not host an artist-in-residence at this time (though a writer-in-residence program is in place). Artists are instead asked to reach out to the Nantesbuch organizers with their own relevant projects and may be hosted and exhibited on site as part of one of the annual events (like the Soil Summit). Currently, Yann Arthus-Bertand’s photographs of changing landscapes (Yann Arthus-Bertrand - Official Website) are displayed on the main lawn engaging and reminding visitors of how essential action is in the face of climate-related destruction. 

Like most German landscapes, which were destroyed during the World Wars, Nantesbuch’s (and the Alpine area’s) spruce forests are relatively young and monocultural. Having been prioritized for fast growth and use these areas are especially susceptible to climate-related events and infections, and need flora diversification. Even before the war, this environment experienced other strains and contamination from excessive hunting practices, coal mining, infrastructural projects (like train expansion), agriculture and industry. Agriculture and industry, especially, led to vast marsh depletion via water drainage that has led to top soil depletion and other environmental consequences. The spruce tree forests themselves act to drain these essential marshlands threatening flora, fauna, and soil. 


Wasserbüffel1 ©Olaf Broders

However, for generations prior to industrialization, marshlands and other wetlands have been known for their importance creating arable soil and water storage, as well as for being essential environments for animals such as water buffalo. As a regenerative project, Nantesbuch has reintegrated ponies, water buffalo, and heritage cows in a net-zero rotation system that helps balance growth in these marshlands and forests. Marshlands have often been destroyed because they are difficult to farm despite their ability for CO2 capture, flood prevention, and soil hummus creation. Nantesbuch’s network and restoration project acts as a holistic approach to communicating, developing and enacting environmental sustainability. Though it is generally unknown to most of the public, holding the belief, as Nantesbuch does, that soil needs to be part of all sustainability and environmental conversations goes back beyond Alexander Von Humboldt’s assertions in 1859 about its essentiality to all environmental concerns. 
 

Wasserbueffel ©Manfred Jarisch

Though destroyed landscapes are difficult to restore, Nantesbuch uses best practices enabled by its privately owned foundation to prioritize landscape restoration and its mission independent from pressures from the market. This is a community full of idealists enabled to develop projects that do not need to be compromised. Acting across the EU despite being a German-language based foundation, they have helped develop projects such as a Soil Culture Toolbox (Soil Culture Toolbox Webinar - Alpine Space Programme) which is open to the public and have opened a living laboratory that includes public participation. 

EcoArtSpace members are encouraged to contact the Nantesbuch Kunst + Natur team with their mission-relevant projects. Because currently there is no direct artistic programming, all projects will be assessed individually by the Nantesbuch team for their relevance and realizability. This process would be a collaborative one, where building a relationship with the team and their network is necessary. Please note that this foundation is German-speaking and though it is not essential, some grasp of the German  language is preferred. Also, since all money that is made at Nantesbuch is needed for everyday operations, please assume that funding for a project and related costs will not to be covered directly. There are a range of ways to get involved and many incredible opportunities to be gained from working within this expansive network of passionate individuals in this truly gorgeous location bringing utopian vision into reality. 

For more information, please visit: here

October 2026 e-Newsletter for subscribers and non-members is here

Judith Modrak, Stuyvesant Park 2026

For the last year, a colorful multi-arm sculptural being by Judith Modrak has been sitting atop a large tree stump in Stuyvesant Park, in New York City, where a 300 year old “Mother Elm” was removed. The site has become a place of remembrance to acknowledge the tree’s former life, and an opportunity for artists to site works in the park that speak to nature, what has been and what remains.

More about Nurturing Tree here

Below is an interview with Modrak by a local high school student in New York City, where the artist shares about the work and her arts practice placing sculpture in public spaces.

Interview with Judith Modrak (JM) conducted by Jake Siegel (JS), Summer 2026

JS: What originally inspired you to create Nurturing Tree? Have any artists, writers, or experiences influenced your work?

JM: "Nurturing Tree" was inspired by Stuyvesant Park’s historic Mother Elm who was felled three years ago after a long and impactful life, touching many of those who encountered her.

As I watched this majestic 300 year old tree being cut down, I had a strong visceral reaction. I channeled my sadness into the creation of a new sculpture, which was ultimately to become "Nurturing Tree". The artwork was a way to pay homage to this incredible tree and reimagine its’ essence. At the time, I had no idea that the sculpture would spring to life in the exact location which gave birth to the creative concept — now that was a bit of a magic!

JS: Why did you choose a tree specifically as the central symbol of the artwork?

JM: The larger idea was very much about cycles of life and regeneration in all living organisms.

JS: What emotions or reactions do you hope people experience when they interact with the installation?

JM: I hope they have introspection about the role of trees and green spaces in our lives. Trees and plants quite literally give us life in the form of oxygen and food, it is only fitting that we honor them as well.

Acknowledgement that our behavior as humans toward the Earth must change.

Affection for sculpture and an awareness of how interconnected we are to our environment.

JS: How do you think your art, or public art in general, can influence the way people think about environmental issues?

JM: Many of my public artworks ("Endangered Fossils”, “Nurturing Tree”, and “Fluid Pathways”) engage people in considering the origins of our ecosystem and our symbiotic role and responsibility to that environment. I would hope that my work, and eco-art in general, foster a deeper connection to our beloved planet and a drive to find solutions to protect it and combat the climate crisis while there is still time.

JS: Were there any challenges in creating an outdoor public installation?

JM: A big consideration is the weather—the installation needs to be planned for when it’s not raining or snowing—ideally!

JS: When people see your sculptures, what is the one thing you hope stays with them afterwards?

JM: There are many ideas and feelings that I hope resonate when people view my sculptures. One important thread throughout my body of work is that art can represent a deeper truth about the world and as a result serve as a catalyst for change and reflection.

Jake Siegel is a high school senior from New York City with interests spanning the intersection of art and the environment, media, and global affairs. He is actively involved in technical theatre in school as well as Model UN, where he competes at conferences and co-leads his school’s club. Outside of school, Jake enjoys baking, running, and biking around the city.

For artists who are interested in proposing a work for Stuyvesant Square Park in New York City, the neighborhood association will be accepting proposals through October 25, 2026.

More information here

September 2026 e-Newsletter for subscribers and non-members is here

Hidden in Plain Sight and Brought to Light: Natalia Khorover’s Transformative Waste Practice and Upcoming Salvage Art Summit

By: Olivia Ann Carye Hallstein 

Natalya Khorover’s quilted urban landscapes offer hidden surprises and lessons about waste and climate change. For over two decades, she has seamlessly integrated and transformed plastic and other discarded materials into her work so that it becomes nearly unrecognizable. This upcoming September 24th to 27th, she has organized a Salvage Art Summit that will host 20+ art-activists gathering together about a common passion for creative resilience and sustainability. We hope to see you there! It is free to sign up at this link: https://www.salvageartsummit.com

Natalya, It is very exciting to hear that you are running a Salvage Art Summit later this month (Sept 24 to 27)! Would you tell our members what they can look forward to when participating? 

The Salvage Summit (Sept 24–27) is a free virtual gathering for artivists (artists who are also activists). Participants can expect workshops, thought-provoking sessions, and presentations from 20+ leaders on transforming waste into art, championing sustainability, and fueling creative resilience. The event includes live sessions, a Telegram community for discussions, and a Co-Create Day with interactive activities. Free registration grants 24-hour access to daily presentations, with an option to upgrade to the Reclaim Pass for lifetime access and exclusive content.



What a unique opportunity to hear from 20+ leaders on sustainability art-ivism! Which includes yourself, having worked with salvaged materials for many years. How does combining single use plastics through sewing allow you to reflect on the climate crisis and sustainability? 

It’s my way of taking what would end up choking our planet and giving it new life. And here’s the thing: it makes people stop and look at what they’d usually ignore, and that’s how I get them thinking about sustainability and the climate crisis. In many ways, it’s a meditative process which is also good for my sanity. Sewing single-use plastics together, by hand or with my industrial machine, is how I transform trash into something beautiful and unrecognizable.

(Screenshot from www.artbynatalya.com)

Transforming trash into something beautiful and unrecognizable as a form of artivism and meditation in your depictions of urban landscapes must be a powerful experience. Why is it important to your message and process that they become beautiful and unrecognizable?

I make the plastics blend right into my urban landscapes because trash is already everywhere — we just don’t always see it. We’re blind to it. By making it part of the scene, I force people to notice what’s normally invisible. And that’s the whole point: once you see it, you can’t unsee it, and maybe it’ll push you to do something about the climate crisis.

Thank you so much, Natalya. We are looking forward to seeing you on September 24th and really digging into how art can create change! 

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Visitors learn about MARZ while touring Un-development 2 at Metabolic Studio

Un-development 2

MARZ Soil Remediation

Transforming a Contaminated Industrial Site into a Living Riverbed

Metabolic Studio

Aug 12, 2026

MARZ is a soil remediation experiment within Metabolic Studio’s Un-development 2, a project that aims to transform an industrial warehouse into a living riverbed connected to the Los Angeles River floodplain. The site was formerly associated with Standard Oil and then used as a petrochemical storage facility, and baseline testing confirmed elevated lead and petroleum-range organics beneath the warehouse floor.

From April 2023, to June 2026, artist/chemist Maru García worked with Metabolic Studio’s Farmlab team, developing protocols and testing bioremediation strategies that could be used in situ. The first phase of the project tested surface-applied zeolites, compost, mulch, and phytoremediation, with three different treatment protocols in nine plots. In the second phase, after identifying willow as a strong remediator, we favored willow phytoremediation and added oyster mushrooms in all plots.

The study prioritized methods that reduce exposure, avoid disruptive excavation, support soil as a living ecosystem, and can be replicated at sites without industrial remediation infrastructure. We have included our results and methodology below along with a poster summarizing the results, and a remediation toolkit that explains how you can use these methods yourself.

Click here to download the poster and the soil remediation toolkit.

Continue reading full article on the Metabolic Studio Substack here

Online Course for Members October 24, 2026 - January 2, 2027 Sustain(ability) & the Art Studio: Environmental Justice DEADLINE October 1, 2026 This course will help artists integrate a solidarity-oriented approach to their creative practice, as we address the significance of intersectional thinking within repressive structures. We will cover topics such as environmental justice, decolonial praxis, and food sovereignty, (among others) to understand the impacts of globalization on people and the environment. As we study these topics alongside the function of art in cultural production, participants will be invited to attune to their surroundings through collaboration, advocacy, contribution, or invocation in their own eco-art practice. No prior understanding is required.  As part of our Sustain(ability) & the Art Studio series, participants will also learn how to wildcraft art materials, and think critically about how one’s community and ecosystem are vital allies in a time of socio-ecological destabilization.   The first half of the course includes lectures, guest artist talks, resource offerings, and group discussion, as we explore the implications of a justice-oriented art practice and investigate the function of art today. In the second half of the course, each student will work on their own research project, informed by course content (this may include a project already in progress). They will receive feedback from Anna and the class before a final presentation, open to the public.  All classes will be held on Saturdays from 2-4pm ET. The first three sessions will take place over three consecutive weeks, beginning on October 24th. The final two classes will take place over two months, giving students time to execute a creative project of their own inspired by course content. This online course is taught by Anna Chapman with guest artists Juan William Chávez, and Beverly Naidus.

Course Schedule I - Intro to Solidarity in Creative Practice - Saturday, October 24, 2-4pm EST - Visiting artist from ecoartspace (((Bee (Beverly) Naidus)))  - Function of art in cultural production - Ecological frameworks - Environmental Justice  - Solidarity in creative practice - The local and the global II - Art Processes & Sustainability - Saturday, October 31, 2-4pm EST - Sustainability as a standalone concept - Historical background of art - Sustainable art processes - Paints, inks, & watercolors - Charcoal - Natural dyes  - Papermaking  - Found & recycled materials - Ecological approaches to art education III - Objectives, Relationships & Alliances - Saturday, November 7, 2-4pm EST - Visiting artist from ecoartspace (((Juan William Chavez))) - Interbeing  - Local relationships and alliances - Decolonial frameworks - Settler-colonial + Indigenous Relations - Food sovereignty - Developing ideas around sustainability - Action plan (students develop a project from an action plan) VI - Progress Presentations - Saturday, December 5, 2-4pm EST - Participants share the research and progress of their projects and receive feedback from class and instructor V - Presentations - Saturday, January 2, 2-4pm EST - Participants present and debrief about their projects Anna Chapman is passionate about the intersection of art, education, ecology and healing. Believing that interdisciplinary approaches to art and education are necessary to meaning-making in the context of the Anthropocene, her work is inspired by post-colonial, post-human, early European, and indigenous perspectives. Through her practice, Anna aims to mobilize reconciliatory relationships to place, community, materiality, and voice, to awaken one’s innate capacity for care and creative life force. She received a BFA in Painting at the Rhode Island School of Design in 2012, a Masters of Arts in Art Education at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2022, and is currently pursuing a Masters of Fine Arts at UMass Amherst. Anna currently teaches through the Center for Art Education and Sustainability, the Continuing Education department of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and at Umass Amherst. @owl_and_apple  annachapmaneducation.com Cost is $375 per member, membership fee can be waved if needed. Approximately 12 participants max. Scholarships available.  Email info@ecoartspace.org to participate

August 2026 e-Newsletter for subscribers and non-members is here

Fostering Underlife Gardens Through Image: Cindy Stockton Moore on her work as a naturalist animator and her upcoming workshop @SWALE

Interview with Olivia Ann Carye Hallstein

Cindy Stockton Moore creates research-based animations about underground soil ecosystems. Trained as a naturalist, she has written extensively about art making and has a fully integrated artistic practice making her own natural inks and dyes for her artwork and animations. By integrating foraging practices and informing her work with environmental science, she collaborates with musicians and poets to create animations that are reflective and educate about the natural world. We are very excited to have her give a workshop at ecoartspace @SWALE on Governors Island in New York City, Saturday, August 8th, from 2 to 4pm EDT exploring underground motion through hands-on animation techniques. To sign up for the “Animated Soil Workshop” with Cindy Stockton Moore, please use the following link: ecoartspace - Swale House - Governors Island 2026.

Hi Cindy, your upcoming workshop where you will teach participants to make short animations reflecting underground ecologies sounds super interesting. Would you tell us a bit about what participants can expect from the workshop?

In this workshop, participants will be introduced to some of the underlife creatures found in the rDNA tests of the soil. From there, we’ll be making analog animations – starting with a simple two-frame motion – imagining the ways things may move underground. I’ll bring in some early moving image devices – zoetropes and phenakistoscopes – to build up to multiple frames and play with the optics of moving images.

As well as being an artist, you are also a master naturalist. What does this work look like? And how did your inspiration sprout from this interest?

This is a great question and opportunity to clarify! I don’t have an additional master's degree as a naturalist – I am a PA Master Naturalist, which is more akin to being a Master Gardener. The Master Naturalist program is an extension of my volunteer conservation work and provides a network for collaborations with like-minded people and organizations in the state. I’ve been certified since 2024, and this year, I’ve been working with The Land Health Institute on a series of workshops, experiments and talks around natural color and native species.

It sounds like you will be integrating this work into the animation workshop, which reflects your unique work as a naturalist animator. Does your practice process look like this as well?

My process is a blend of studio and field work. Since I make my own pigments and paints, I am often outdoors gathering, growing, and foraging materials for color. I also gather imagery and visual samples in the field. The work of converting the natural materials to paints and paintings mainly occurs in the studio. The paintings are often animated into experimental videos – and that means time on the computer, layering and editing. For my process (and sanity), it’s important to fluctuate between the two to ground my work and my practice off-screen. Several times a year, I structure a mini-residency to be primarily outdoors and away from the city to reconnect.

I’ve always been inspired by a curiosity about the natural world – and rewarded by observing it deeply. This parallel between the environmental sciences is played out in the studio and during outreach. In this project, animation brings to life some of the wonders and complexity of our more-than-human collaborators.

Thanks, Cindy! We are looking forward to finding out more on August 8th!

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