Urban Paradise Guild Launched the Hanging Gardens Project, and opened a new Chapter and a new Partnership with internationally acclaimed Miami Artist Xavier Cortada.

Top Left: Xavier Cortada, Miami Artist and philosopher. Top Right: Xavier Cortada learns and practices UPG Organic Stewardship Techniques. Bottom: Burma Reed, transformed into Raw Materials by UPG Volunteers, with Xavier Cortada (navy blue) and Sam Van Leer (khaki).

Artist Meets Materials & Methods with UPG

Urban Paradise Guild has removed over 70,000 Destructive Exotic Plants and Trees since we took on this mission in October 2008. Xavier Cortada has raised consciousness about environmental issues through a series of projects, and now conceptualized Hanging Gardens as a way to engage the public about the Destructive nature of Exotics.

When Luiz Rodrigues (Executive Director of ECOMB) suggested to me that we should work with Cortada, it was the start of something beautiful. I had been planning to use Invasives as materials in mostly utilitarian ways. The chance to explore their potential as raw materials for Art working with a leader in the Eco-Art movement was too good to pass up.

Cortada and I exchanged ideas for months by phone and e-mail. We agreed to Launch Hanging Gardens at the beginning of 2010. That would give UPG a year to develop functional fabrication techniques, create Art using those techniques, and to help the Artist install the Art at Miami-Dade Public Libraries in 2011.

All Photos: A Super-Team of UPG Volunteers, led by Service-Learning Intern Wataru J. Hoelterman and Team Leader Eliza, tackled Invasives in the South Point Bike Path.

New Methods for Community Empowerment and Friendship

Many of the Volunteers from MDC and Easter Seals had never used the kinds of tools you see in the photos. UPG Team Leaders showed them how to be safe and effective. After the first 30 minutes of supervised work, the Volunteers had their tasks well in hand, and were enjoying “getting physical” with these Destructive Exotics.

For many, this was also their first experience with Volunteerism as a participatory element of creating the American dream. Volunteers spoke with every accent, and most from MDC Hialeah were practicing Service-Learning as part of their English as a Second Language studies. Lots of groups started in the morning as strangers, but were transformed into friends by the experience.

The progress made speaks for itself. This Super-Team nearly wiped out a massive patch of Scaevola, and eliminated two of the last major clusters of Burma Reed. Roughly 6,000 Destructive Invasives were eradicated.

All Photos: Volunteers are the heart of Urban Paradise Guild. What started as strange and unfamiliar for most Volunteers became a fun way to make an impact by the end.
Center: Bettie Bercaw (UPG Director of Apprentices), led a group of kids and parents.

Kids are Great Volunteers too

Many of the Volunteers from MDC and Easter Seals had never used the kinds of tools you see in the photos. UPG Team Leaders showed them how to be safe and effective. After the first 30 minutes of supervised work, the Volunteers had their tasks well in hand, and were enjoying “getting physical” with these Destructive Exotics.

For many, this was also their first experience with Volunteerism as a participatory element of creating the American dream. Volunteers spoke with every accent, and most from MDC Hialeah were practicing Service-Learning as part of their English as a Second Language studies. Lots of groups started in the morning as strangers, but were transformed into friends by the experience.

The progress made speaks for itself. This Super-Team nearly wiped out a massive patch of Scaevola, and eliminated two of the last major clusters of Burma Reed. Roughly 6,000 Destructive Invasives were eradicated.

Clockwise from top left: Organic Stewardship techniques in action against: Burma Reed is dug out with Mattocks (a great workout). Scaevola is snipped, hauled to dry, and roots are dug out or Solarized. Brazilian Pepper is Solarized when too big to dig out, and marked as a habitat project. Teamwork makes big problems smaller and more manageable.

Urban Paradise Guild practices and teaches Organic Stewardship

Many of the Volunteers from MDC and Easter Seals had never used the kinds of tools you see in the photos. UPG Team Leaders showed them how to be safe and effective. After the first 30 minutes of supervised work, the Volunteers had their tasks well in hand, and were enjoying “getting physical” with these Destructive Exotics.

For many, this was also their first experience with Volunteerism as a participatory element of creating the American dream. Volunteers spoke with every accent, and most from MDC Hialeah were practicing Service-Learning as part of their English as a Second Language studies. Lots of groups started in the morning as strangers, but were transformed into friends by the experience.

The progress made speaks for itself. This Super-Team nearly wiped out a massive patch of Scaevola, and eliminated two of the last major clusters of Burma Reed. Roughly 6,000 Destructive Invasives were eradicated.

Hanging Gardens Project Overview

As the project’s coordinator, Sam Van Leer will lead UPG in the implementation of Hanging Gardens. Cortada’s participatory eco-art project is intended to create demand for removal of Invasive Exotic Plants by inspiring their use in artistic installations and as building materials.
During 2010-11, UPG volunteers will remove Invasive Exotic plants and trees to protect and restore Native Habitat, develop techniques that create new building materials from them, and use the materials to create artistic and utilitarian objects.
Cortada, supported by UPG, will install our Art in Miami-Dade Public Libraries in 2011. UPG will coordinate Workshops to demonstrate and teach these techniques to the public at Libraries and other locations.