Nature Fiesta to feature research collaborations with CSUMB

By Mark Muckenfuss

Elkhorn Slough Reserve’s upcoming Nature Fiesta will include a multilingual exhibit titled “Water Stories,” which features oral histories, photos, textile arts, and documentary material depicting ongoing research on the protected estuary and regional waterways conducted by students from Cal State Monterey Bay.

The work was done in collaboration with a team of artists and researchers from across California, including researcher Vivian Underhill, CSUMB professor Victoria Derr, CSUMB alumnus Juan Ramirez from the Elkhorn Slough Foundation and Michelle Glass, a community-based artist. The fiesta, Saturday, Sept. 12, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the visitor center, 1700 Elkhorn Road, will also feature activities and food. The exhibit will be on display during regular center hours, Wednesday through Sunday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., through October. 

Derr said the exhibit represents the culmination of a multi-year grant from the California Coastal Commission. Even though the grant ends in December, the research projects will continue through local collaborations and support, she said. 

The fundamental idea of the work is to provide an uplifting viewpoint while deepening connections between people and the water in their communities. 

“It shows how important water is as a connector and how important water stories are,” Derr said. “It’s been interesting to see the range of stories people have told. I hope people will feel a little more connected to water, to the region, to Elkhorn Slough.”

The multi-pronged exhibit came out of two separate programs, she said. The first was a collaborative study with researchers and community artists already investigating water quality in the city of Arvin, in Kern County. They included Underhill, Glass, and the Adelanta Art Collective. The line of investigation was a pond restoration project with elementary school children in the Pajaro Valley Unified School District. 

With the Arvin group, Derr said, “We were so inspired by the work in Arvin, we coordinated a collaborative water stories event in Los Lomas.” 

The work involved using native plants and materials to dye pieces of fabric and determining whether differences in water quality were observable in the results. Several of the capstone projects address this project. There is also a tapestry depicting the Salinas River and dyed cloth samples from various locations along the river. Oral histories were also collected as part of the project, which Derr finds quite compelling. 

“One that was significant to me was a water justice advocate from East Salinas,” she said. “He is on the board of Monterey Water Keepers and has done a lot. They had severe water contamination, and they had to close the wells and bring in water. They were getting sick just from bathing.”

The area, she said, saw an elevated number of children with blue baby syndrome and birth defects, and there were reports of higher cancer rates. 

“It’s kind of like a Flint story,” she said, referring to the Michigan city that drew national attention for its contaminated water in 2014. “I had no idea the extent of the contamination. That was a big impact to me and to the students.”

That and other oral histories will be part of the exhibit, along with shorter written stories that people have created in response to the project. An interactive element with the exhibit will allow visitors to leave their own stories.

“We have between 20 and 30 oral histories,” Derr said. “The water stories, which are little memories people have left, I think we have more than 100.”

Hiroki Hibbard was involved with the pond restoration work. A senior majoring in environmental studies, Hibbard plans to graduate in December. He did his capstone project on the pond restoration, which incorporated the help of school children. 

“We were serving as educators for the kids,” Hibbard said, “teaching them basic ecology.”

He and others helped the students pull weeds and invasive plants from the pond area. They reintroduced native plants and created a welcoming environment for local animals. They also got to play in the mud. Some of the children discovered some local clay deposits near the pond and began sculpting with it. Hibbard and others used the material to tie into the artistic culture of local Oaxacan families.

“We gathered clay so the kids could go back to their roots and use the natural resource,” Hibbard said. “They took a dry leaf and wrote a wish for the next pond and wrapped it in a ball of clay. For a lot of the kids, the messages were,  ‘I’m very excited for the pond,’ or ‘I’m excited for the animals.’”

Hibbard is hoping his work and that of others won’t be limited to the exhibit. 

“Outdoor education being incorporated into the curriculum is not that common right now,” he said. “I’m hoping this will inspire more schools to do this kind of work. I think this is a great example of how it can be done in a very organic way.”

Derr said there are plans for the exhibit to travel, but no dates or locations have yet been confirmed.