Artists have looked to plants as inspiration for still life and landscape images, but some artists are incorporating plants in more innovative ways. Come make seed bombs with Jeff Quattrone of the Library Seed Bank for your own guerilla gardening, and learn how artists use plants in their artistic projects to reduce contamination in soils, through a process called phytoremediation.

To help us understand how this process works, Stephanie Rukowicz, a Penn State Extension Master Gardener, will talk about phytoremediation, and how the plants do this important work! To round out the experience, we will screen a short documentary from the acclaimed “Art in the Twenty-First Century” on artist Mel Chin, and his artistic practice, in which he uses plants, and even worms to clean up sites!

Speakers
Jeff Quattrone, founder of the Library Seed Bank. The Library Seed Bank works with public libraries and community groups on seed related matters. www.libraryseedbank.info

Stephanie Rukowicz joined the Penn State Extension Master Gardener Program in 2013 and is also a PHS Tree Tender. Her horticultural education has included classes on native plants, botany, plant propagation, plant diseases, basic entomology, soils, composting, vegetable gardening, tree fruit and pruning. Her current projects include establishing a pollinator garden at the Free Library's Donatucci Branch and assisting Penn State Extension 4-H's seed starting program with the Variety Club at South Philadelphia High School.

This program is made possible by ART 21, the Penn State Extension Philadelphia, and the Library Seed Bank