National Public Lands Day 2024

National Public Lands Day highlights the importance of our public spaces and encourages connections and support for our parkland through events and volunteer opportunities.

Highlighting the event is the début of the site-specific, and site-responsive, environmental art installation Repurpose: a midpoint by sculptor, Reece Camp Carter. Utilizing found natural materials from the conservation area, Carter will translate her visits to the property over the past year and observations of the changes that have taken place, both naturally and by man, into an 150 foot long work of art. Influenced by a previous prescribed burn of the land that now flourishes as a meadow, rolling topography that carries rainwater to the nearby Four Mile Creek, and the brush pile habitats that offer refuse for wildlife and insects, Carter’s work will interpret the resilience and transformation of our natural landscape. While designed as a long-term structure at the property, the work will eventually disappear back into the land, mirroring the fragility and cycle of nature, asking us to ponder, what is art? Repurpose: a midpoint is supported in part by Truetimber.

The public is invited to explore the art installation on National Public Lands Day with an opportunity to meet the artist on Saturday, September 28 and artist talk at 11:00 am. Reece Camp Carter will also host an artist workshop on Sunday, September 29 at 9:00am for those interested in learning more about environmental-based art. This interactive workshop is $15; registration for the workshop is required and space is limited. Materials will be provided. Register here

As a site responsive installation artist, Reece Camp Carter seeks to highlight qualities of the natural world and routinely allows the available materials and surroundings to inform her work. Her site-specific and gallery installations highlight environmental issues that foster relationships between people and their local environments and forge collaborations with land stewards, such as Capital Region Land Conservancy. Carter has exhibited at the San Francisco Modern Art Museum and Utah Museum of Fine Art and her work has been commissioned twice by the City of Richmond and Amtrak. She has worked with renowned artist, Bill Viola, on projects in Qatar and London. Graduating from Virginia Commonwealth University’s Department of Sculpture and earning her MFA in New Genres from the San Francisco Art Institute, Carter currently makes Richmond her home.

CRLC’s National Public Lands Day activities kick off with a birding hike with the Richmond Audubon Society, led by Matt Brooks, Field Trip Chairman. This two-hour, entry-level fall bird walk will introduce attendees to common birds in the area and how to identify them. History enthusiasts can join Capital Region Land Conservancy Executive Director, Parker Agelasto, on a walk commemorating the 160th Anniversary of the Battle of New Market Heights when more than 28,000 Union troops crossed the James River on pontoon bridges and attacked Confederate positions leading to the greatest victor of the U.S. Colored Troops during the American Civil War. Registration for the hikes is not required.

As volunteering is a mainstay of National Public Lands Day, those looking to get their hands dirty are invited to help CRLC’s Land Stewardship Manager, Ashley Moulton, plant native plants grown from seed sustainably collected at the Varina LandLab. Funding for this project is supported by revenues from the sale of Friend of the Chesapeake Bay license plates through the Chesapeake Bay Restoration Fund. Please email Christina@capitalregionland.org to volunteer!

Where:

Varina LandLab Conservation Area; Located off Deep Bottom Road, Richmond, VA 23231 adjacent to Henrico County Park’s Deep Bottom Park and off New Market Road (Route 5) and the Virginia Capital Trail.

11:30am – 12:30pm – History Walk with Parker Agelasto, Trailhead 3