This project involved bringing together three artists’ works (vessel + trellis + mulch) and a selection of plants for each container garden. The two pieces were created during an artist residency at Parts and Labor in San Antonio, Texas in the summer, 2025 and were exhibited at Tracey Morgan Gallery in the fall, 2025. Art has long looked to nature as muse or supplier of materials, but with this project art and nature interact in a slightly different way as artworks act as supportive infrastructure to nurture growing plants.

Container Garden I

Vessel: Diana Hoover

Trellis: Martha Clippinger, 

Mulch: Suzanne Dittenber

Salvia, Chard

Container Garden II

Vessel: Louise Deroualle

Trellis: Sara Hess

Mulch: Suzanne Dittenber

Ornamental pepper, Bronze Fennel, Verbena

My thanks to artists Melanie Wilder and Erin Tapley for their assistance with the dyeing and felting of the wool “mulch,” to research biologist Michelle Baumflek for her involvement in plant selection, and to Matt West for making the plant stands.