GARDEN 1.0

In Spring 2014 the department created a garden as a way to connect students to the creative process seen in nature. Every process in gardening mirrors the creative development the department seeks to nurture. Tilling the soil is a way to introduce air, and nutrients back into the ground. Nurturing a seedling, is not unlike the nurturing process designers employ everyday as they bring a new concept to life. Pruning vines back mirrors the development cycle of refining concepts, and trimming elements that do not support your design goals. The abundant vegetables the A+D garden produced also teaches us about consumption and sharing. It’s impossible for an individual to eat all the tomatoes at one time. When we buy something, we want to keep it to ourselves. However when you grown something, it’s the most natural thing in the world to share it with people you love.

The garden needed to be harvested every 2 weeks. This factored into the Art.Eat.Film series that Tim Musso and Terrill Thomas created as a way to encourage the students to stay engaged over the summer. Every two weeks alumni, current students and incoming freshman would get together, harvest the garden and cook. This process naturally created connections between all three groups. The garden continued to produce through out the coming year, and served as a catalyst for socials and dinners. By experiencing the wonder of growing food, we begin to get a glimpse into the sacredness of how plants grow and how magical and beautiful this created world really is.