Julian H. Scaff

Exhibited at:
Anza Borrego Desert State Park, California
Poppy Circles is an eco art/action sponsored by The EcoFuturist International.

Many places in the California Mojave desert used to bloom prodigiously after winter rains. But years of abuse by off-highway vehicles have destroyed the fragile desert soil and seeds in many places, and dropping water table levels due to human over-pumping of the aquifier means that new seeds have difficulty becoming reestablished. This art/action addresses this issue.

Native California poppy seeds are planted in a circle (the first was 2.5 meters in diameter, subsequent versions will be much larger). The seeds are placed with water-absorbing gel polymers which can hold even the slightest moisture for months, giving the flowers a chance to survive droughts and re-seed the desert.

This could be called land art. This could be called eco art. This could be called eco activism. However, these artworks do not just make a statement, but are also acts of ecoloigcal restoration. Placed by the sides of roads where travelers will see them when the poppies bloom, they will make an aesthetic statement. But even if no one saw them, they would still serve their purpose.

They exist and have relevence beyond human acknowledgment.

"Poppy Circles"