Vickie Jo Sowell

Artist Statement / Bio

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