The Kozmetsky Center of Excellence paired with director David Thomason, Ph.D., and St. Edward’s ecopsychology professor Moira Martin to present the Sacred Springs Kite Exhibit on March 22. In collaboration with Art4Water and the Watershed Association, this exhibit will be available in Munday Library through Dec. 12 and emphasizes the importance of water conservation. 

The Sacred Springs Kite Exhibit was previously displayed at the Austin Public Library, and this is the collection’s first time at a university. It features 50 intricately painted kites hung throughout the library. This collaboration allows viewers and students to understand water conservation and its effects through art. This collection honors the sacred connection every living thing has to water, and the natural springs that can be found throughout the Hill Country. 

This collection was curated and preserved by Dr. Davis Baker and the Watershed Association.  Baker is an artist, conservationist and environmental advocate. His work was previously featured at St. Edward’s in 1998, specifically his painting of Jacob’s Well. When this collaboration began, the Watershed Association and Baker put out an international call for artists to contribute to the exhibit. 

Throughout history, artists have acted as storytellers, visionaries and translators, depicting the human experience through art when words can’t. Featuring 50 local and national artists, these varied kites depict water through multiple lenses, but all emphasize the importance and beauty of natural water. 

“It all stems from my ecopsychology class, which I started last year,” Martin said. “David Baker was one of my guest speakers and he just really brought this up for all of us. I think all the images speak to me. I’m an artist at heart. I think that they really give us this idea of how precious water is.”

As demand for water grows, many springs, pieces of our shared history, in Texas have been lost. Almost 300 hundred springs flow through Texas, but nearly 30% of them have dried up. Jacob’s Well, an iconic and well loved spring near Wimberly, Texas, completely dried up for 222 days, the longest dry spell in its history. Natural springs provide common places for people to swim, play and relax, either free of charge or at an affordable price. Conserving these spaces is essential, not just for the environment, but for the social wellbeing of Texas.

“I live in the Hill Country, and we’ve had this huge problem with water and lack of it,”  Martin said. “So, I think, rather than feel that fear, to be able to look at images that are positive and give you this idea of possibility, that’s what I really wanted for students.”Accompanying the exhibit, the Munday Library Innovation Lab will be hosting weekly workshops, allowing students the opportunity to make their own kites from recycled materials. Workshops  will be held every Wednesday until April 17 from 3:30 to 5 p.m., culminating in SEU’s Earth Day Fair on April 22.

Editor’s Note: The previous version of this article erroneously attributed the projects partnership with the Kozmetsky Foundation. The project is not in collaboration with the Kozmetsky Foundation but rather the Kozmetsky Center of Excellence at St. Edward’s University. Hilltop Views apologizes for this inaccuracy, and an updated version of the article was published April 2 at 12:07 p.m.