Escape to Jewel Lake

I know from experience teaching at the university that few new students will venture far from campus. So it seemed like a good idea to post bus directions to the park along with photographs of the wilds that can be found there.

Note that the way to get into Tilden requires traveling on Grizzly Peak Blvd and Wildcat Creek Trail.  Just reading the names of these places transports you to another way of being.  Nature renews our connection to the real. No electronic screens are needed to smell the damp air, hear the birds, and stumble upon a small pond. By placing these images of the wildness of Tilden on a utility box on an urban street, I want to lure you out of the busy city center and back to nature.  Once there I know you’ll be inspired to sustain these untamed places so vital and so wonderfully close to our built environment.

I have done photographic projects focused on cities and wilderness. In this public art piece I was able to sew these two fundamental places together. As we move forward with urban design we need to be continually mindful to integrate not just a symbolic reference but a true infrastructure that blends the needs of the city with the demands and pleasures of nature.

“I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.”  John Muir, 1913