Enviro Barn Quilts

The Enviro Barn Quilts project began as an “unsolicited proposal” by David Buckley Borden to Kevin Shanley, the Board Director at the Friends of Buford Park, in the Spring of 2021. Borden was inspired by a site visit of the farm-turned-public-park and was particularly impressed by the old dairy barn and Shanley’s interest in leveraging the barn as a community-engagement asset to support the non-profit’s stewardship mission.

The initial unsolicited proposal was presented on Borden’s Instagram account as part of his spring 2021 landscape architecture studio at the School of Architecture and Environment, University of Oregon. Borden was publicly demonstrating his creative process to his graduate students; a process that is characterized by his proactive community-appeal for collaboration around environmental education and conservation efforts.

The following summer Borden fabricated a series of large-format barn quilt patterns with support from the Fuller Initiative for Productive Landscapes as part of his Overlook Field School Residency. Local artists Nancy Silvers and Seth Eddy joined Borden to build a series of sixteen barn quilt block patterns. The series was displayed at the Mount Pisgah Arboretum as part of a collective landscape installation event, Recovery, with the Overlook Field School in July of 2021.

Borden and Silvers, with help from William Bonner, reconfigured the series for a pop-up exhibition at the University of Oregon’s Urban Farm in the fall of 2021. The following winter the series was further developed and exhibited at Landscape Makers, an interdisciplinary art and design exhibition at the UO’s LaVerne Krause Gallery as part of Borden’s Design Fellowship with the Fuller Center for Productive Landscapes.

Interested in exhibiting the Enviro Barn Quilt project? Email dborden4@uoregon.edu to start the conversation.

Enviro Barn Quilt collaborators: William Bonner, David Buckley Borden, Seth Eddy, Nancy Silvers, and Ian Escher Vierck.

This work was partially funded by the Fuller Initiative for Productive Landscapes at the University of Oregon as part of Borden’s 2021 artist residency with the Overlook Field School.

Conventional hazardous material signs are reimagined as traditional quilt blocks.

Conventional hazardous material signs are reimagined as traditional quilt blocks.

Concept sketch of unsolicited proposal created by Borden to illustrate the large-format barn quilts installed on the west side of the abandoned dairy barn at Buford Park in Eugene, Oregon.

Concept sketch of unsolicited proposal created by Borden to illustrate the large-format barn quilts installed on the west side of the abandoned dairy barn at Buford Park in Eugene, Oregon.

Enviro Barn Quilts on display at Landscape Makers exhibition , LaVerne Krause Gallery, Lawrence Hall, University of Oregon, Winter 2022. The final series of large-format mixed-media barn quilt designs were inspired by regional Pacific Northwest

Enviro Barn Quilts on display at Landscape Makers exhibition, LaVerne Krause Gallery, Lawrence Hall, University of Oregon, Winter 2022.

The final series of large-format mixed-media barn quilt designs were inspired by regional Pacific Northwest narratives in response to the 2020 wildfire season, which was noted as one of the most extensive seasons on record. The 44-inch square quilt-block patterns were created from recycled hazardous material signs to communicate community memorial, testament, critique, respect, and celebration of wildfires as an ecological phenomenon. While telling the story of the 2020 fire season, the work addresses larger issues of climate change, human impact, industrial practice, personal experience, community activism, and the future of wildfire response in the PNW forests.

Some quilt designs, such as Monkey Wrench and Burnt Bear Paw (left and right) are reinterpreted traditional folk patterns that continue to resonate with contemporary environmental narratives. Other designs were created anew in response to local

Some quilt designs, such as Monkey Wrench and Burnt Bear Paw (left and right) are reinterpreted traditional folk patterns that continue to resonate with contemporary environmental narratives. Other designs were created anew in response to local community chronicles. These neo-folk pieces, with titles such as Wind Event, Back-40 Block Aid, and Chevron Fossus Mortis, push the folk tradition into new narrative territory as humanity reckons with novel ecological challenges brought on by climate change.

Select E nviro Barn Quilts reconfigured as a stand alone cube for a pop-up community event at the University of Oregon’s Urban Farm in the fall of 2021.

Select Enviro Barn Quilts reconfigured as a stand alone cube for a pop-up community event at the University of Oregon’s Urban Farm in the fall of 2021.