For Mediation

Cranbrook, 2025

Grass Labyrinth for the Summer Solstice

Years ago, I worked for a farmer who didn't mow his field until the summer solstice so that he could let the bob-o-links hatch out a nest of offspring.

This labyrinth I mowed prevented the lawn outside the Cranbrook Museum of Art from being mown or sprayed with herbicide until the solstice at end of June. The labyrinth similarly preserved habitat and created a nesting cite for wildlife. As proof that it was real and not just a dream, we found a rabbit nest in the tall grass.

Unlike traditional designs, this labyrinth does not end in the center. Instead, the design continues winding on to the end after a pause at the center. It is an anesthetized metaphor for how sustainability is an ongoing labor of love without a defined endpoint.

This project was a tangible act of ecological preservation and a demonstration of how we might foster greater biodiversity in our communities. But it is also a meditation on how the work is never done, an embodied somatic opportunity for reflection.