BETSY DAMON - Director, Keepers of the Waters, a project of The Institute for Releasing Initiative a not-for-profit organization
www.keepersofthewaters.org
Elizabeth.Damon@gmail.com
917-977-1411

Keepers of the Waters - Projects and Works
2010 Eco Art Treasure Coast, Stuart, FL Pilot project for the South Florida Environmental Art Project in coordination with Martin County Arts to develop projects and collaborations with the Florida Oceanographic Society, Audubon Society and various departments of water management of the county and city.
2010 Buckminster Fuller Challenge Semi-finalist for Keepers project "Resources: Saving Living Systems".
2008 West Palm Beach, California Lecture, meeting and workshop to initiate collaborations to restore and preserve the Everglades.
2006 Ballona Creek, Los Angeles, California Damon led a one day workshop to develop a plan and motivate citizen activism for the Ballona Network.
2002-present Chengdu Urban River Association, Sichuan, China Keepers served as consultant to CURA and provided training sessions, lectures, mentored for interns and fundraised. CURA’s intention is to restore and preserve the rivers in the watershed of Chengdu.
2004 Strawberry Creek, Berkeley, California Keepers of the Waters funded the Friends of Strawberry Creek.
2001-2003 Beijing Bureau of Hydraulic Research and Engineering, Beijing, ChinaOn the recommendation of Yu Yuan, Damon worked in the Beijing Bureau of Hydraulic Research and Engineering. There she trained an office of four, taught ecological design and concepts of sustainable water systems, lectured to most departments in the Planning Bureau, and wrote the city guidelines for sustainable water systems and stream bank restoration. She led the first departmental meetings for ecological planning. She also led multiple workshops for eco-activists and provided teacher training for those doing environmental projects.
1999-present Duluth, Minnesota Damon assisted Jill Jacoby to initiate a living water system to process run off as part of Bay Front Park on Lake Superior.
1999-present Urban Water Works, Portland, Oregon Numerous community meetings, a public lecture and workshop with city departments, started a project to develop living places in Portland to process non point pollution through a series of parks to protect the Willamette River. The first project was the DaVinci School, art and science project to create a water garden, recycling run-off through a garden, and this spawned twenty more such school projects and now the city funds schools to capture and recycle their run-off.
1997 The Green SOS Handbook, Sichuan, China Keepers of the Waters funded the first activist and only activist handbook developed by the graduate students in Environmental Studies at Sichuan University, GreenSOS. www.greensos.org
1996 Keepers of the Waters, Lhasa, Tibet Evolving from the Chengdu event with an invitation from Tibetan artists, Damon spent a month organizing and developing public art about water under the watchful eye of the Chinese.
1995 Keepers of the Waters, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China Damon gathered 25 artists who worked together to create fifteen events and installations on the Fu and Nan Rivers and was the first such public event in China. Many of the artists continued with numerous other public events about water in Chinese cities including Beijing. The relations built to execute this project opened the door to further work in China and the invitation to design the Living Water Garden. It was widely publicized on TV and print media in China. Illustrations in support material.
1995 Swede Hollow Park, St. Paul, Minnesota A community project to map the water shed and celebrate the park’s water and history. The park is a slice of history, an urban wild place that the community wished to preserve as an historic forest. The system, Phalen Creek to the Mississippi River, has now been restored and Swede Hollow is part of the restoration. Artist and educator, Chris Baeumler, continued the project when Damon went to China.
1993 Keepers of the Waters, Duluth, Minnesota In collaboration with the Pollution Control Agency and the Hubert Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs on the St. Louis River and Lake Superior, citizens, artists and scientists participated in a workshop led by Damon and developed art works addressing the water issues in the area.
1993-2003 Keepers of the Waters, San Antonio, Texas In a month as an eco-activist artist teaching at Trinity University, Damon focused her students and the community on the Edwards Aquifer and on the San Antonio River. The citizens action group that formed succeeded in protecting the thousands of acres and the water source. In 2003, after they created the largest aquifer preservation park in the USA, they invited Damon to return to lead a four-day charrette to design the human interaction inside the park.
1991-2004 Keepers of the Waters, Citizens Rights and Responsibilities, University of Minnesota Keepers of the Waters, Citizens Rights and Responsibilities, a two year project on water in the State of Minnesota in collaboration with the Hubert Humphrey Institute for Public Affairs, Minnesota Extension Service and the Water Resource Research Center. The pilot program in Anoka, a small suburb of St. Paul, MN, was completed in 1992 as a collaboration between art, science and citizens around the issues of a community’s water quality.

SEMINAL MODEL ECO-ART PROJECTS DESIGNED AND DIRECTED BY DAMON
2007-2009 Carnation, Washington Damon was awarded a public art project in the Chinook Bend Natural area where she is designing artistic elements for the outflow of Wastewater Treatment Plant, parking area and information kiosks. This is a natural area where, for the first time, effluent will be discharged into a park. She is designing the visible interface between the effluent and the park and works to educate the public about the site (which is beside a pristine salmon spawning river).
2006-07 Spirals of Life, Memphis, Tennessee Stone sculpture fountain for the Hope and Healing Center.
2002-04 Turtle Bay Arboretum, Redding, California Designed by Damon, this sculptural water feature tells the story of water. In the fountain, water from a spring is distributed in three directions. The volume distributed is approximately the percentage calculated to be used internationally (70% is used by agriculture, 23% by industrial and 7% is domestic). Using visual metaphor and text, this 200’ long richly textured stone, ceramic and concrete sculpture combines recreation, aesthetics and education.
1996-98 Living Water Garden, Chengdu, Sichuan, China: Betsy Damon, Design Director, Living Water Garden. A six acre park that cleans water from the river through a seven stage cleaning system that includes a settling pond, aeration, constructed wetlands, and filtering ponds to clean water to contact quality. It contains an environmental education center and sculptural/educational elements throughout the park. This park was opposed by the central government of Beijing. However, when they came to see it, it was declared the best model of environmental education in the country. It is included on tourist maps, visited by most mayors of China and has spread the use of eco-solutions throughout China and much of the world. The principals of the Living Water Garden are taught as examples of an innovative system solution to urban water run-off and it opened the door for a dialogue to challenge the national policy of develop first, clean up later, and engineering will solve all our problems. Millions of people have been exposed to this solution via many media outlets such as the BBC radio, newspaper and magazines in China and the U.S. Illustrations in support material.
1990 “A Homage to Rivers”, Aspen Art Museum Biennial, Aspen, Colorado As part of the International Sculpture Biennial, Damon cleaned and reclaimed a creek with the citizens and placed sculpture that moved with the water, and water quality information along the bank of the creek.
1985 “Memory of Clean Water”, Danforth Museum, Framingham, Massachusetts The Danforth Museum of Art commissioned Damon with a New Works Grant funded by the Massachusetts Council of the Arts to cast 250 feet of a dry river bed. The work was installed in over twelve museums and galleries in the USA, including PS1 in New York City, Blue Star Gallery in San Antonio, TX, Houston, TX, Santa Fe, NM and in the “Revered Earth” traveling exhibition.

ECOLOGICAL/SUSTAINBLE DESIGN
Since the completion of the Living Water Garden, Chengdu, China in 1998, Damon has been a consultant to cities in the USA: Duluth, MN, 1998, Portland, OR, 1998, St Louis, MO, 2000, Dallas, TX., 2004. And in China: Nanning, and Baihei, Guanxi Province, Suzhou, Hong Zhou, Shenzhen.
2007 Trinity Lakes Project, Dallas, Texas Design team member, Ch3MHill and WRT.
2005 Tong Zhou District Ecological Design Plan, Beijing China The Beijing Planning Bureau invited Damon to create an ecological design team for Tong Zhou District, a suburb of Beijing. She created the plan with the Tsing Hua Landscape Design Bureau. Ton Zhou is a town of less than a million with a planned population of more than 3 million, whose water supply is already too little per capita. In Damon’s plan, all the water is recycled and cleaned through biological systems which includes solar aquatics and wetland aeration.
2004 Wen Yu He River, Beijing, China Damon, Design Director of award winning design team. The design team included Environmental Design and Management, Halifax, Canada and Andropogon, Philadelphia, PA, and the China Research Planning, Landscape Design and Management Company. This team created the only sustainable presentation. The design area was 45 square kilometers with 23 kilometers on the Wen Yu He River. Water is in great shortage in the Beijing area. Therefore, all water used was recycled through numerous systems from solar aquatics to agricultural production and reinfiltration of forests, just to name a few.
2003-2005 Olympic Forest Park, Beijing, China Damon proposed a design team for the Olympic Forest Park project. This design team was chosen by the Olympic Committee and the Beijing Planning Bureau to be one of eight to enter an international competition. Her collaborating partner was Turen Landscape Design Company, Beijing, and Environmental Design Management, Canada. It has since been awarded Third Place by an international jury on the basis of the ecological plan and is now the foundation of the park’s sustainable water system. This was the only design submitted that included a comprehensive sustainable solution for the Olympic Park and Axis. This park, as part of the 2008 Olympics could become the model for sustainable cities. It is a 21st century solution for water management. It will clean the water to a level suitable for significant human contact. The conceptual plan for the water treatment system and circulation of the water was created by Betsy Damon, Keepers of the Waters, and Margo Young Cantwell, CEO of Environmental Design and Management, Halifax, CA.
2001-2003 Beijing, China Consultant to the Beijing Hydraulic Bureau Research and Design Institute. Directed ecological master plan for Wen Yu He River, and wrote the sustainable/ecological guidelines for Beijing Planning Bureau. Diagramed for the Planning Bureau cross-departmental collaborations for ecological planning.
2000 St Louis, Missouri Consultant: Railways, Lewis and Clark Project.
2000 Seattle, Washington Salmon Friendly Design, Five-day charrette.
1999 Beihai Estuary Park, South China Sea, Guanzi Province, China Conceptual plans for the restoration and reclamation of a mangrove estuary: not built.

GRANTS AND AWARDS
Has achieved over 30 awards of excellence and merit, fellowships and grants including:
2006    American Association of Landscape Architects Tong Zhou Project
2005    American Association of Landscape Architects Fuzhou University design
2004    Chinese Planning Bureau (international jury), Second Place for Wen Yu He River
2003    Chinese Planning Bureau (international jury), Third Place for Olympic Forest Park design
2000    Marion Weber National Award of Merit
1999    Places Award given by the Environmental Research and Design Association.
1999    Nancy Gray Foundation to write book ‘Living Water Concepts’. (In process)
1998    Waterfront Center, Top Honor Award, Living Water Garden, Chengdu, China
1997    Jerome Fellowship for the Living Water Garden, Chengdu, China
1996    Bush Fellowship: Individual Artists Fellowship
1996    Jerome Travel Grant to design park in Chengdu, China
1994    Flow Fund to begin a Keepers project in China
1994    Jerome Foundation grant for Duluth "Keepers of the Waters"
1993    Jerome Foundation travel grant to China
1992    Arts Midwest for "Keepers of the Waters" project
1991    3M for "Keepers of the Waters" project
1991    Jerome Foundation for Workshops for Artists and Scientists
1990    National Endowment for the Arts, Aspen Museum, to make "A Homage to Rivers"
1989    Mid-life Career Award, Women's Caucus for Art, San Francisco, CA
1998    New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship
1998    Ruth Chenven Foundation Grant
1987    Threshold Foundation Grant for "Only One River", a video about aquifers
1987    Artist Space/Artist Grant for “A Memory of Clean Water” installation at PS1, New York, NY. New Works Program of the Massachusetts Council on the Arts and Humanities through the Danforth Museum.
1979    New York Foundation, for a Women's Troupe Street Event
1973    New York State Council for the Arts for the Feminist Studio, Ithaca, NY
1973    America the Beautiful Foundation for the Feminist Studio
1973    Poetry without Walls for collaboration with poet Polly Joan
1973    Cornell Council for the Creative and Performing Arts
1972    CAST (Creative, Arts, Science and Technology)
1971    CAST for the Moving Parallelogram Wall

SELECTED BOOK AND ARTICLES about Keepers of the Waters and Betsy Damon
“Sacred Land: Intuitive Gardening for Personal, Political and Environmental Change”, 2007, by Clea Danaan
“In the Making: Creative Options for Contemporary Art”,  2003, by Linda Weintraub
“Radical Landscapes: Reinvention Outdoor Space” 2001, by Jane Amidon
Earth Light, Fall 2001, Issue 43, “The Living Water Garden of Chengdu, China” by Betsy Dam
Whole  Earth Catalogue, March 2000, The Living Water Garden – Chengdu, Sichuan, China
Sculpture, March 2000, Vol. 19 No. 2, A publication of the International Sculpture Center, Article by Terri Cohn, “Betsy Damon: Living Water Garden”
Places, January 2000, Environmental Design & Research Association Awards
YES, Winter Issue, 2000, China; “China’s Living Water Garden” by Anne Mavor
Waterfront World Spotlight, Winter 1999, Vol. 17, No. 1, “Living Water Garden, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China”
Expanding Circles, 1996, “Art and Community” by Betty Brown
“Sculpting with the Environment”, 1995, edited by Baile Oakes
“Art on the Edge and Over: Searching for Art’s Meaning in Contemporary Society”, 1995, by Linda Weintraub
“Mapping the Terrain”, 1994, Suzanne Lacy, New Bay Press
Anoka County Union, October, 1992, "Fall Water Festival"
Anoka County Union, August, 1992, "Keepers of the Waters Project"
“Coming into Our Fullness: Women in their 40's”, 1991, Cathleen Rountree, Crossing Press
San Antonio News, June 1991
“Heroine’s Journey”, 1990, Maureen Murdock, Shambala
The Public Art Review, Summer 1990, “Conversations with the Earth: Profiles of Lee Deffebach, Betsy Damon, and Dominique Mazeaud” by Margret Carde
“Revered Earth”, 1990, Center for Contemporary Arts of Santa Fe, NM
“A Natural Order”, 1990, Hudson River Museum, NY
"The Once and Future Goddess: A Symbol for Our Time” 1989, by Elinor Gadon, Harper & Rowe
Arts June 1987, A Memory of Clean Water, Elinor Gadon
The New Art Examiner, May 1986, "In Homage to Ana Mendieta"
Daily Sentinel, November 6, 1985, "Paper River"
The New York Times, March 1984, Review by Grace Glueck
Art Forum, March 1983, Review of Extended Sensibilities
The New York Times, October 1982, Review of Extended Sensibilities
Art in America, November 1981, "Gardens, Metaphors for Personal and Public Art", Lucy Lippard
Arts, October 1980, "First International Festival for Women in the Arts," Elinor Tufts
High Performance, " Summer 1980, The Battle of New Orleans," Suzanne Lacy
LIVE, 1980, Performance Art #3, Lenora Champagne

WORKSHOPS AND LECTURES
Betsy Damon has directed over 100 workshops on art and ecology / bringing together the players in a community to brainstorm their water concerns and strategize projects. Prior to that, for twenty years she founded and led a national organization, No Limits for Women Artists.
Betsy Damon lectures widely, most recently she was a presenter at the Xeriscape Conference in Albuquerque, NM, and the Bioneers Conference in Marin, CA, major universities in the US and China.

SELECTED ORGANIZATIONAL EXPERIENCE
1991-present    Director, Keepers of the Waters
2004   Design Director, Wen Yu He River
2003-present   Board Member, Jane Goodall Institute, Beijing, China
1996-98   Design Director, Living Water Garden, Chengdu, China
April 1996   Curator/Organizer of "Confluences", Minnesota Museum of American Art
1994-95   Coordinator and Leader of Town Meetings for Artists at the Minnesota Museum of American Art
1985-2005   Founder of "No Limits Workshops for Women Artists"
1992   Steering Committee, Common Vision Global Forum
1990   Co-Chair, Shifting Power, Women's Caucus for Art National Conference
1986-92   Board Member, Women's Caucus for Art
1986-88   President, Women's Caucus for Art, New York City Chapter
1986-89   Vice-President, Women's Caucus for Art, Northeast Region
1986   Juror National Exhibition, WARM Gallery, Minneapolis, Minnesota
1986   Curator, Public Visions, Public Monuments, Soho 20 Gallery, New York, NY
1985-86   Program Chairman, National Conference, Women's Caucus for Art
1985   Juror, Betty Brazil Sculpture Competition, Bronx, NY
June 1984   Let MOMA Know, WAVE event
July 1980   First International Festival of Women in the Arts, Copenhagen, Denmark
January 1978   112 Greene Street, New York. Organized evening programs
March 1977   The Whitney Counterweight, NYC, Jury member
Sept 1977   Heresies Magazine, member of editorial staff, Issue #3
March 1975   Performance Conference, Women's Building, Los Angeles, CA, Organizer
April 1972   Women and the Arts Festival, Three weeks of events, Cornell University, Chair
1973   Feminist Art Studio, Organizer/Leader, Cornell University

TEACHING EXPERIENCE
2005   Dan Evans Distinguished visiting Professor, Evergreen State College, Olympia, WA, two seminars
2005   Dan Evans Distinguished visiting Professor, Evergreen State College, Olympia, WA, two seminars
2005   Visiting Professor, Knoxville, TN
1993   CSU Summer Arts, Humbolt State University, Arcata, CA
1993   Stering Distinguished Guest Artist, Trinity University, San Antonio, TX
1992   Water Information Forum, Humphrey Institute
1992   Keepers of the Waters Workshop for Citizens, Anoka, MN
1991   "Art, Activism and the Community Workshop," Hubert Humphrey Institute, June
1991   "Art and Ecology," San Antonio, TX
1991   Visiting Artist, University of Minnesota
1990   Visiting Artist, Minneapolis College of Art & Design, MN
1989   Visiting Artist, Performance, Minneapolis College of Art & Design, MN
1979-88   Private instruction in drawing, performance and sculpture. Individuals and groups, NY
1988   University of Arizona, Distinguished Visiting Artist for Multi-Media Seminar, Tucson, AZ
1988   Franklin & Marshall College, Advanced Students, Lecturer/Consultant, Lancaster, PA
1987   Franklin & Marshall College, Drawing, Lancaster, PA
1978-92   Re-evaluation Counseling Instructor. Fundamentals and advanced classes, work especially with artists, young people and parents, NYC
1985   Felician College, Lodi, NY Guest Artist

SELECTED ONE PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2006-07   “Spirals of Life”, 14’ in diameter, private commission granite fountain for the Hope and Healing Center, Memphis, TN
2001   Shanghai children’s Palace; environmental education murals
1993   Trinity University Gallery, San Antonio, drawings and two-dimensional work
1991   "A Memory of Clean Water", Blue Star Gallery, San Antonio, TX
1989   "A Memory of Clean Water", Artemesia Gallery, Chicago, IL
1988   "A Memory of Clean Water", Wooster College, Wooster, OH; Cambridge Financial Group, NY
1987   "A Memory of Clean Water", PS 1, NYC; Everhart Museum, Scranton, PA; University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI
1986   "A Memory of Clean Water", Danforth Museum, Framingham, MA Stones & Stars, works on paper, Soho 20 Gallery, NYC
1986   “Stones & Stars”, works on paper, Soho 20 Gallery, New York, NY 1985   A Shrine For Every Woman (¤), International Women's Conference, Nairobi, Kenya
1984   Stone Maps & Dreams, Works on paper, Soho 20 Gallery, NYC
1980   "A Shrine For Every Woman", Glyptotek Museum, Copenhagen, Denmark
1978   "Female Mysteries", St. John The Divine, NYC
1977   "Ritual Images: Masks & Maypoles", Drawings and sculpture, 14 Sculptors Gallery, NYC
1976   "Changes", St. Catherine College, St. Paul, MN
1975   In Memory, Drawings, The Women's Building, Los Angeles, CA
1975   CA Drawings - a diary, TC3, Dryden, NY
1975   New York Collective Images, 14 Sculptures Gallery, NYC, NY