Ecology by Design

A good friend and former co-worker of mine recently started his own business right here in Ann Arbor.  William "Billy" Kirst started his business "Ecology by Design" in order to make sustainable, edible, biologically diverse, and environmentally friendly landscapes available to everyone in the area.  He specializes in planning and installing native and edible plants for homeowners.

He asked me to work with him on some concept art that he can show to homeowners after they've made some preliminary decisions regarding their landscape.  Billy and I went on-site and I took some pictures of a house in town owned by some of his new clients:

Use your imagination

Clearly, they are going to want some landscaping done to compliment their new renovations...so why not go about it in a way that maximizes the benefits for them AND the local environment?  Billy had some rough plans drawn up and explained his vision for this particular installation: 

Looks Pretty Legit!

So, I had a couple visual points-of-reference, a list of native plants to be used in the installation, a laptop to research said plants, and a newly acquired drawing desk.  Time to get drrty.

After much sketching (I've never been very good with spatial or architectural elements), I was finally confident enough to work on the piece Billy had asked for.  And here it is:

From moonscape to landscape.

It's awesome to be able to combine my interests (ecological restoration/biodiversity) with my passion (art).  If you find yourself curious about the work Billy is doing or why it is so important, please "Like" his page on the Facebooks (Ecology by Design).