Conservation through an artist’s lens

Most utility demonstration gardens showcase water-wise landscaping.

For Vallecitos Water District in southern California, the demonstration garden also provided the perfect backdrop for a group of local plein air artists — a French term for artists who create art outdoors in natural light.

“It’s really cool when these things fall into your lap,” said Chris Robbins, public information and conservation supervisor, who was at a community event earlier this year when the leader of the plein air artists group approached him. They put together the idea to make the water district’s demonstration garden one of the artists’ stops this summer.

Six artists visited on a day in June, setting up their easels and using various mediums — oil, acrylic, watercolor — to bring to life the utility’s conservation message via canvas.

“When you come and stand and observe for three or four hours at a time, you recognize the importance. It tunes you into what’s going on around you and what’s going on with our earth,” Lorraine Marie Cody, the leader of the artists’ group, said after the experience.

Employees at Vallecitos Water District also enjoyed the action; many popped outside to watch in between meetings.

“All the artists were in different spots, taking different angles and different perspectives,” Robbins said.

The demonstration garden, established in 2010, sits outside of Vallecitos Water District’s main office building. It includes plant species native to the area and other Mediterranean-like climates that experience hot, dry summers and mild winters. Two fountains hydrate birds and bees.

“The garden is our entry point; it’s a real asset,” Robbins said, noting that they host school groups in the garden and start water and wastewater tours there, too. The garden includes a little free library — stocked with books on gardening — and a native seed library that residents can help themselves to.

For Vallecitos, the plein air artists group visit was just another way to engage the community in a space that was created for them.

“As artists, we have an opportunity to showcase our environment, to show everyone the beauty of it and hopefully inspire everybody to want to contribute to keeping it beautiful and keeping it sustainable,” Cody said.

The group plans to include the demonstration garden in their rotation next year.