Native Plant Pals
Community-Engaged Art Project
In collaboration with the Native American Students Association at UTA
Report prepared by
Paula Currie, MFA student
Cane Coonrod, MFA student
Wesley Goodman, MFA student
Tyler Rosenkrantz, MFA student
Dr. Leah McCurdy, Instructor
Presented to Native American Students Association partners on December 3, 2024
Published online December 4, 2024
Contact Dr. Leah McCurdy with questions or inquires about this project.
leah.mccurdy@uta.edu
PDF version of the report:
https://nativematters.uta.edu/files/2024/12/Native-Plant-Pals-Report.pdf
Introduction
The Native American Student Association (NASA) at the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) is dedicated to representing and advocating for the Indigenous student population, providing a unified voice for issues and events that impact them at the university. In alignment with the university’s Land Acknowledgement Statement, which recognizes the traditional lands and history of the Indigenous peoples on which UTA is built, the group offers cultural events, educational resources, and spreading awareness about traditions and contemporary issues.
Uniquely, UTA’s Land Acknowledgement Statement is physically represented and memorialized in a dedicated, central space on campus, called the Land Acknowledgement Courtyard. The Courtyard features a historic structure known as “the roundhouse” and a landscape of regional native plant species. Native American Student Association officers alongside faculty and staff developed and continue to maintain this space.
This project was undertaken by graduate students in a fall 2024 Masters of Fine Arts (MFA) seminar course focused on community-engaged art and research in the Americas. MFA students applied their learning about this topic to this small project as part of their course requirements. This report describes the need identified in conversations with NASA officers, the proposal process, implementation and outcomes of the project, as well as the outlook for this project moving forward.
NASA partners included Stephen Sliva Brave (Lakota; current NASA president), Sampson Dewey (Paiute; former NASA president), and Carletta Granado (Diné/Navajo; current NASA vice president). Faculty partners included Dr. Leah McCurdy (Art & Art History) and Professor David Hopman (Landscape Architecture). MFA students (referred to below as “the project group”) included Paula Currie, Cane Coonrod, Tyler Rosenkrantz, and Wesley Goodman.
Community Need
The Land Acknowledgement Courtyard remains unknown to and/or unseen by a significant portion of the student and faculty population. NASA seeks to spread awareness about both the statement and courtyard. In conversations, NASA officers identified their priorities to enhance the visual presence and official promotion of the courtyard, and by extension, the statement. NASA officers also expressed the importance of the courtyard’s location being visible on UTA maps. Further, NASA officers requested that outcomes of the project are incorporated into the existing website focused on the statement, Native Matters at UTA (http://nativematters.uta.edu). They feel that both physical and digital outcomes will help students discover the courtyard and statement.
Proposal Process
During conversations with NASA partners, a physical outcome employing stickers with QR codes to engage college-age and younger audiences was suggested. All NASA partners agreed that the native plants in the courtyard could be the content focus of the project. Due to the constrained timeline, all NASA partners indicated that the project should not focus on sensitive topics such as the MMIW crisis or the history of boarding schools.
The project group agreed to focus on the sticker and native plants suggestions. With the focus on the courtyard, the project group developed a project outcome of character designs of 4 to 6 native plant species present in the courtyard as the main focus of the stickers. A QR code on the stickers would link to updated and new pages on the Native Matters website, importantly including modified campus maps clearly identifying the location of the courtyard and directions for finding it. Stickers would be printed at the UTA Libraries’ FabLab facility, which allows campus members to only pay for vinyl sticker material and ink at cost. Sticker distribution would focus on students, campus employees, and some groups outside the university.
To ensure information and designs were accurate, the group contacted Professor David Hopman, Landscape Architect and overseer of the native plants in the Land Acknowledgement Courtyard. The project group obtained an unpublished document from Professor Hopman that included a description of the courtyard, plants, and a section by Annette Anderson (Chickasaw and Cherokee), a member of the local Native community who is an expert on native plants and seeds and a member of the board of the Indigenous Institute of the Americas. Mockup plant characters and QR code designs were developed according to the information obtained (Fig. 1).
Feedback received and incorporation of feedback
The project group presented their proposal to NASA officers for feedback (refer to the timeline below). The project group received feedback and incorporated it into the project implementation in the following ways:
- Approval of the plant character’s “cute” design and style. The project group discussed the project title, with the intent to align it with the cute style, and decided upon “Native Plant Pals.”
- Request to share proposal with Professor Hopman and Annette Anderson for their input, especially on the selection of plants. Professor Hopman advised that Prairie Wildrye was not currently in the courtyard due to university crew maintenance issues. He suggested replacing that plant with the Rattlesnake Master plant that is currently present. The project group also determined that the Prairie/Rock Rose and Yucca mock-ups would need significant redesign to be accurate to the plant. As a result of this consultation, the project group identified Rattlesnake Master, American Beautyberry, Eastern Red Cedar, and Inland Sea Oats as the final plant pal selections (Fig. 2). All stickers were edited to make the mockups more closely resemble the plants they represent and to appeal to modern young audiences (see Fig. 2).
- Approval of incorporating the QR code to link to the updated website. The Native Matters website was updated with text from the unpublished document prepared by Professor Hopman and Annette Anderson (see above). A set of new pages was added to the site, entitled “Native Plant Pals,” with pages for each individual plant.
- Consideration of commissioning Native artists to create the plant designs. Ultimately, the project group and partners determined that there was not enough time to recruit artists given the limited timeline, but this may be implemented in the future (see below).
- Request to exclude information about the ceremonial uses of plants from the website to ensure privacy of that information. All information was included on the site except the ceremonial uses of each plant.
- Consideration of whether the plant pals should be presented with human names, to ensure appropriateness and respect to plant nations. Instead of human names (e.g., “Sally Sea Oats” as included in the mock-up), the project group created characterized names to make them more relatable than the formal plant name (e.g., “Big Cedar,” “Miss Beauty Berry”, and “Sunny Sea Oat”). The project partners agreed that the formal plant name would also be included on the sticker.
- Suggestion to include names of each plant from the Caddo and Wichita languages by reaching out to local members of those Tribal Nations for support. The project group attempted to contact tribal members but was unable to implement Caddo and Wichita names due to time restraints and print deadlines. This may be implemented in the future (see below).
- Suggestion to increase the size of the QR code on the stickers since accessing the website with the land acknowledgment courtyard and statement is the priority. The QR code was enlarged on all stickers (see Fig. 1 compared to Fig. 2).
Project Challenges
- Small class size (4 MFA students)
- Time constraints (6-7 weeks)
- Schedule conflicts with end-of-semester commitments to graduate program
- Communication among project members
- Experimentation, uncertainty, and ambiguity
- Individual variation in opinion about project direction
Project Timeline
September – early October 2024: Students in the MFA seminar learned about community-engaged art and research through readings and discussion. This prepared these students to apply their learning to a real-world project described herein.
October 22, 2024: The class convened with NASA officers to discuss needs that could be addressed through a small project. Key topics included ensuring accurate representation of content, determining which information to share or avoid, and considering the perspectives of Native DFW community members.
October 29, 2024: The class reconvened to review the outcomes of the previous meeting.
- Mind mapping was used to identify issues, anticipated outcomes, and factors to consider when raising awareness.
- A consensus was reached to combine NASA officers’ sticker suggestion with focus on the Land Acknowledgement Courtyard and native plants.
- The groups developed a series of guiding questions regarding the content to include about the plants, such as their original names, humanizing characteristics, and creating a collectible aspect.
- Group discussion emphasized the importance of engaging employees to encourage mindful use of the Land Acknowledgement Statement and led the discussion on distribution strategies both within and outside of UTA.
- The group reviewed the existing Native Matters website, identifying updates needed and establishing a plan to include a map to the Courtyard on the landing page.
- The group established a plan for mock-up designs and distribution to be presented to NASA officers.
November 5, 2024: The class met with NASA officers to present the proposed project: a sticker campaign aimed at educating students and employees about the Land Acknowledgement Courtyard.
- The proposal received positive feedback, and specific details regarding the plant information and design approval were discussed.
- It was agreed that the website required updates.
- Due to the tight project timeline, it was decided that the first batch of stickers would serve as a prototype, with plans for further iterations later (see below).
November 12, 2024: The class gathered to assign roles and a timeline for implementation:
- Cane was tasked with writing plant character profiles.
- Paula continued with the sticker design work.
- Tyler finalized the distribution plan focusing on campus offices
- Wesley took responsibility for creating the map and drafting the introductory web content.
- A timeline was established to ensure the project’s timely completion.
November 15, 2024: Sticker designs were finalized and distributed to the group for feedback and approval.
November 16, 2024: Stickers were printed at the FabLab.
November 19-26, 2024: Character profiles, on-campus distribution plan, map, and walking directions drafts sent to the group and reviewed. Upon approval, map and walking directions were added to the website’s landing page, alongside the character profiles to the individual plant pal pages.
November 18 – December 2, 2024: Distribution of the stickers was undertaken by members of the project group.
Final Outcomes
All edited files were shared prior to printing with NASA officers for approval. Upon approval, the files were prepared for printing on the Roland vinyl printer in the UTA Libraries FabLab (Fig. 3)
A total of 588 individual stickers were printed. The total cost amounted to $124.50, resulting in a cost of approximately $0.22 per sticker. Stickers were cut from sheets as shown in Figure 4.
Screenshots below (Figs. 5 – 8) reflect the updates and new additions to the Native Matters website, including a subtitle addition of “UTA Land Acknowledgement & Courtyard Hub.” Additional sections on the Courtyard page include “Honoring Native Plant Nations,” “Introduction to the Landscape & Plants,” and “Plants of the Courtyard”. The “Plants of the Courtyard” section includes descriptions of all plants in the courtyard and links to the “Native Plant Pals” landing page. From there, users can find individual pages for each plant pal: Miss Beauty Berry, Sunny Sea Oat, Rattlesnake Master, Big Cedar.
Distribution of the stickers was completed in two stages. In the first stage, approximately 160, or 30% of the stickers, were distributed at Native American Heritage Month (NAHM) events to members of the Native community on campus and visitors as well as in one art history course that coincided with NAHM events. In the second stage, approximately 420, or 70% of the stickers, were distributed to courses and employees on campus, including:
- ART 1317 – Arts of Africa, Asia, Oceania, and the Indigenous Americas (~70)
- ART 1300 – Art Essentials (~110)
- ART 2248 – Cinema Production II (~50)
- Employees of the following on-campus offices:
- Department of Art & Art History (~10)
- Department of Music (~5)
- Department of Theatre Arts & Dance (~5)
- Department of Communication (~5)
- UTA Library (~ 100)
- Department of History (~5)
- Department of Political Science (~2)
- College of Liberal Arts (~10)
- Department of Anthropology & Sociology (~5)
- Department of English (~10)
- Department of Philosophy and Humanities (~10)
- College of Engineering (~10)
- Financial Aid and Student Accounts (~30)
- High school art students at a local school (~50).
A set of stickers was printed specifically for UTA President Crowley to be delivered to her office. Any remaining stickers will be distributed at the UTA employee pre-sale of the bi-annual Glass Sale at the Studio Arts Center on December 6.
During distribution, a variety of reactions were seen, including (in order of frequency):
- Interest in the cute character style
- Interest in collecting the whole set of four
- Immediate scanning of the QR codes
- Questions about where the courtyard is located
- Apathy about the topic and/or free item
The following visitation metrics were gathered from the Native Matters website analytics on December 3, 2024. These metrics offer insight into the impact of the stickers, in encouraging those who received a sticker to visit the website and learn about the information provided there. These metrics demonstrate the impact of the project as a whole and to what extent it meets the goals of building awareness of the Land Acknowledgement Courtyard and Land Acknowledgement Statement.
During the distribution period of November 18 – December 3, 2024, the website was visited in 283 total sessions. This compares to only 12 sessions in the previous month (October 17 – November 17, 2024). Figure 9 illustrates visitation over that week with additional metrics. Additional metrics include:
- Visitation by 197 unique users
- 549 individual page views
- Visitation of 1.94 pages per session on average
- Average length of 2:19 minutes per session
- 0.45% bounce rate (the percentage of visitors who leave without interacting)
Furthermore, analytics offer insights about ways in which visitors find the site and most visited pages:
- Most users reached the site through direct link (e.g., QR code on the stickers) – 257 direct link; 23 organic search; 1 organic social; 1 referral; 1 unassigned.
- The Native Plant Pals page is the most visited (182 sessions).
- Miss Beauty Berry is the individual plant pal page visited most (60 sessions). Other metrics of the individual plant pages include Sunny Sea Oat (58 sessions), Rattlesnake Master (50 sessions), and Big Cedar (39 sessions). This difference may indicate that the Miss Beauty Berry design was the most attractive to the audience.
- The Land Acknowledgement statement page was visited in 25 sessions.
- The Indigenous Peoples’ Day page was visited in 9 sessions.
- The courtyard page was visited in 7 sessions.
Most of these most visited pages include a map to the courtyard and so encourage in-person visitation to the courtyard. Analytics will continue to be monitored as the remaining stickers are distributed and the stickers receive more visibility over time.
Future Outlook
Conversations with NASA officers indicated that this project has future potential to expand, improve, and develop beyond campus. The project group has identified the following potentials for future expansions and improvements:
- Collaborate with Caddo and Wichita partners to identify indigenous names for plant species included in the project and clearly incorporate those names in outcomes, both physical and digital.
- Request that the Land Acknowledgement Courtyard be added officially to all campus maps.
- Undertake the steps to have the Land Acknowledgement Courtyard added to public GPS maps such as Google Maps.
- Incorporate methods such as a virtual “check-in” to determine when people physically visit the Land Acknowledgement Courtyard.
- Implement activities during annual powwow and other large community-focused events to engage the public about the Land Acknowledgement Courtyard. Ideas include:
- Selfie Contest
- Sticker Design Contest
- Add new Native Plant Pals to reflect other native plant species in the courtyard.
- Expand and/or redesign plant characters through commissions of local Native artists.
- Replicate and localize Native Plant Pals project in locations across the United States that reflect the local flora.