Vickie Jo Sowell
Tanglefoot bee hotel, Emeryville, 2021
Cistern project with Christina Bertea, Emeryville, 2020
Big Daddy's Complete Rejuvenating Community Garden, Emeryville CA, 2002
African Daisy sculpture, 2007
Delf Vase, Emeryville CA, 2008
African Daisy, Delf Vase, & Peace Towers, located in Big Daddy's Garden, Emeryville CA
Hyashi Deer Fence, 2002
O'Connor & King fences, 2005
Heliotrope, Stockton CA, 2004
Oakland Totems, 2006
Wall of Whoa, 2011
Thistle & The Thorn, 2011
It’s an honor and an obligation to contribute to my urban environment through my sculpture and environmentally conscious gardening activities. For much more than a decade now I have been creating and installing significant artworks for the community throughout the Bay Area.
The community garden that I founded and coordinate in my home City of Emeryville, ‘Big Daddy’s Complete Rejuvenating Community Garden,’ is aptly named as an inspirational force for an urban resurgence.
Communities seek a sense of their own identity, rooted in time and space. My work often keys on this need, dynamically uniting the sense of the place with its regional role, a metaphor that fuses the vision of past history with our vision of where we’re going. I’m extremely proud of the seven narrative historic themes I designed for the over 600 feet of fence panels at the Richmond Transit Village near the Richmond BART station. This vibrant cultural ribbon has been a real contribution to community revitalization.
Smithsonian directory of gardens for Big Daddy’s: Big Daddy’s Complete Rejuvenating Community Garden | Community of Gardens (si.edu)
https://communityofgardens.si.edu/items/show/12132