Fritz Haeg
2010 Fellow
Artist Fritz Haeg’s work has included edible gardens, public dances, educational environments, animal archtecture, domestic gatherings, urban parades, temporary encampments, documentary videos, publications, exhibitions, websites and buildings. His work includes the urban ecology initiatives of Edible Estates and Animal Estates; the domestic social activities of Sundown Salon and Sundown Schoolhouse; and the designs and scores of Fritz Haeg Studio.
Edible Estates is an ongoing initiative to create a series of regional prototype gardens that replace domestic front lawns and other unused spaces in front of homes with places for families to grow their own food. The eight gardens have been established in cities across the United States and England. Adventurous residents in each town have offered their front lawns as working prototypes for their regions. Each of these highly productive gardens is very different, designed to respond to the unique characteristics of the site, the needs and desires of the owner, the community and its history, and, especially, the local climate and geography.
With the modest gesture of reconsidering the use of our small, individual, private front yards, the Edible Estates project invites us to reconsider our relationships with our neighbors, the sources of our food, and our connections to the natural environment immediately outside our front doors.