Field to Palette Dialogues on Soil and Art in the Anthropocene

Field to Palette: Dialogues on Soil and Art in the Anthropocene is an investigation of the cultural meanings, representations, and values of soil in a time of planetary change. The book offers critical reflections on some of the most challenging environmental problems of our time, including land take, groundwater pollution, desertification, and biodiversity loss. At the same time, the book celebrates diverse forms of resilience in the face of such challenges, beginning with its title as a way of honoring locally controlled food production methods championed by "field to plate" movements worldwide. By focusing on concepts of soil functionality, the book weaves together different disciplinary perspectives in a collection of dialogue texts between artists and scientists, interviews by the editors and invited curators, essays and poems by earth scientists and humanities scholars, soil recipes, maps, and DIY experiments. With contributions from over 100 internationally renowned researchers and practitioners, Field to Palette presents a set of visual methodologies and worldviews that expand our understanding of soil and encourage readers to develop their own interpretations of the ground beneath our feet.

I. SUSTENANCE 1. Urban Farming: The New Green Revolution? Agnes Denes and Rattan Lal in conversation with Alexandra Toland 2. Taste of Place: Terroir as Experience Laura Parker in conversation with Tom Willey, Lou Preston and Scott Burns 3. A Root Stew from the Kitchen of Sarah Wiener Sarah Wiener 4. Artisanal Soil Sue Spaid 5. Black Gold Tattfoo Tan 6. Temple of Holy Shit: On Human-Soil Nutrient Cycles and the Future of Sustainable SanitationValentina Karga, Ayumi Matsuzaka and Stephen Nortcliff in conversation with Alexandra Toland 7. S.Oil Maria Michails and Ronald Amundson in conversation with Alexandra Toland 8. Murray River Punch: A Conversation on Changes Along the River Richard MacEwan and Bonita Ely 9. Yield Matthew Moore and Brent Clothier in conversation with Alexandra Toland 10. On Corn Mothers and Meal Culture: Ecofeminist Alternatives to Food Politics and Soil SecurityRoxanne Swentzell and Parto Teherani-Krönner in conversation with Alexandra Toland II. REPOSITORY 11. Soil Genesis: A Dialogue for Creation Veronique Maria and Olafur Arnalds 12. A Kind of Soil Genesis on Canvas Ulrike Arnold in dialogue with Thomas Scholten, Facilitation and text: Bettina Dornberg 13. Painting with Earth: Earth Pigments in North Devon a Guide for Teachers and Artists Peter Ward 14. Pedometrics, Pictures, and Poetry Elvira Wersche and Alex McBratney 15. From Earth Herman de Vries in conversation with Nico van Breemen 16. Correlation Drawing/Drawing Correlations Margaret Boozer and Richard K. Shaw in conversation with Claire Huschle 17. Mineral Traces: The Aesthetic and Environmental Transcendence of Soil Mineral Properties Sarah Hirneisen, Jason Stuckey and Don Sparks 18. A Snapshot in Time: The Dynamic and Ephemeral Structure of Peatland Soils Laura Harrington and Jeff Warburton 19. Carbon Taru Sandén in dialogue with Alexandra Toland, postscript and images by Terike Haapoja 20. Deep-Time Moles: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Geological Archiving Dave Griffiths, Sam Illingworth, Matt Girling III. INTERFACE 21. Honoring Soil Hydrology in Pictures Gerd Wessolek 22. Waterviz at Hubbard Brook: The Confluence of Science, Art and Music at Long Term Ecological Research Sites Lindsey Rustad, Xavier Cortada, Marty Quinn, Torrin Hallett 23. Aesthetic Engineering: Giving Visual Credence to Restoration Processes Bruce James, Daniel McCormick and Mary O’Brien 24. Rocks, Radishes, and Restoration: On the Relationships Between Clean Water and Healthy Soil Aviva Rahmani and Ray Weil 25. Dirt Dialogue A conversation with Jackie Brookner, compiled and completed by Maxine Levin 26. WATERWASH for a Swimmable Bronx River Lillian Ball and Edward R. Landa 27. Backyard Portals: A Solutions-Oriented Approach to Valuing Soil Stacy Levy in dialogue with Patrick Drohan 28. Don’t Worry, It’s Only Mud Patricia Watts and Amy Lipton in conversation with Mel Chin 29. The Art of Decay: Soil Decomposition Explored Through the Visual Arts Farrah Fatemi and Laura Fatemi IV. HOME 30. Exploring the Invisible: The Exemplary Life of Soil Simon F. Park 31. SOILED. Reflecting A Natural Body Through Socio-Aesthetical and Bio-Political Viewpoints An Interview with Suzanne Anker by Regine Rapp & Christian de Lutz 32. Nematode State of Mind Daro Montag in dialogue with Diana Wall 33. On Colour Hunting Natsai Audrey Chieza and John Ward 34. A Public Chemistry of the Detritusphere Georg Dietzler and Ellen Kandeler 35. Soil Macrocosms: Microbes, People, and Our Cumulative Effects Alejandro Meitin, Claire Pentecost, and Brian Holmes in conversation with Ela Spalding 36. A Soil Procession and Seed Journey to Preserve Genetic Diversity Régine Debatty in conversation with Amy Franceschini 37. Future Worlds Wanuri Kahiu and Peter Haff in conversation with Carlina Rossée V. HERITAGE 38. Reframing Heritage: Cultural Soilscapes and Soil Memory E. Christian Wells and Marlena Antonucci 39. The Weapon is Sharing Cannupa Hanska Luger in conversation with Alexandra Toland 40. Stories from the Hills: Tales of the Lowland Ruttikorn Vuttikorn, Myriel Milicevic and Prasert Trakansuphakon 41. Sketches in the Sands of Time Mandy Martin and Libby Robin with responses from Guy Fitzhardinge and Mike Smith 42. A Visual Ethnography of Soils in Space and Time Ekkeland Götze and Winfried Blum in conversation with Alexandra Toland 43. Lessons from Emma Lake: A Metamorphosis of Science and Art in Landscape and Local Colour Ken Van Rees and Symeon van Donkelaar 44. Soil Connoisseurship Linda Weintraub 45. Underground Roots Nance Klehm in conversation with Akilah Martin 46. Soil Lovers Unite! for a Down & Dirty Q & A Beth Stephens & Annie Sprinkle in conversation with farmer philosopher Fred Kirschenmann VI. PLATFORM 47. Seeing the Soil PlatformAmy Green 48. Perpetual Architecture: Uranium Disposal Cells of the Southwest Center for Land Use Interpretation 49. Wastelands Lara Almarcegui in conversation with Gerd Wessolek 50. The Earth Print Archive: A Forensic Documentation of Land Take Betty Beier in conversation with Gerd Wessolek, with input from Frank Glante and Jörg Katerndahl 51. Soil in the City: The Socio-Environmental Substrate Debra Solomon and Caroline Nevejan 52. The Soil Assembly and Dissemination Authority (SADA): A Thought Experiment in Building Tomorrow's Soils Today Ellie Irons, in collaboration with Jean Louis Morel 53. Soil Chemistry and Urban Design in the Hybrid Landscapes of South China Seth Denizen and Qiu Rongliang 54. The City as Forest: Cartographic Reflections on Land Use in Brazil Paulo Tavares and Antonio Guerra in conversation with Alexandra Toland 55. Island Urbanism: Rethinking the Land-Use Technology of the Watershed Sean Connelly in dialogue with Alexandra Toland

Dr. Alexandra R. Toland is a visual artist and environmental planner with research interests in ecosystem services, urban ecology, soil and culture, and the Anthropocene. She is junior professor for arts and research at the Bauhaus University of Weimar and has previously lectured at the Technische Universität Berlin, University of Arts Berlin (UDK), Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, and Leuphana University. She co-chaired the German Soil Science Society’s Commission on Soils in Education and Society from 2011 to 2015 with Gerd Wessolek and continues to write and make artwork about soil. Dr. Jay Stratton Noller is professor of landscape pedology and head of the Department of Crop and Soil Science at Oregon State University. His research focuses on morphologistics and human interactions with soils in modern and ancient agricultural and forest landscapes of the Middle East, Europe, and the Americas. His experience crosses disciplines of soil science, geomorphology, art, and archaeology and his work as an artist at Soilscape Studio LLC is internationally recognized. Dr. Gerd Wessolek is a soil physicist and painter who has pioneered efforts at giving soils and soil science a broader exposure to wider audiences through presentations, exhibitions, and soil art projects. Information on his research on urban soils in the vadose zone and an online gallery can be found at http://www.boden.tu-berlin.de. Since 1999 he has been chair of the Soil Protection Department at the Technische Universität Berlin.