I am displaying a two-dimensional sewn tapestry at the Old Stone House, pertaining to the movement to further “Green” our urban spaces. It provides a vision of how our sprawling urban landscape could be transformed to reclaim more surface area for vegetative growth, thus beautifying, enriching and cleansing our environment.

This piece for the Old Stone House mimics a map with a 3 dimensional depth of a Brooklyn neighborhood; the line work in a single color, and the rooftops superimposed with “living green roofs” in another color.

This work responds to current movements in Brooklyn to utilize an increasing amount of urban area for planting useful foliage, both in the form of community and private gardens and green space, as well as in the conversion to green “living” roofs. New York City Green Roof and Landscape and Future Green Studio are two companies based in Brooklyn committed to changing the urban landscape with creative ideas regarding construction and our living spaces. The organization PlaNYC’s initiative to plant one million trees with support by public and private groups proves these ideas have moved from small grassroots campaigns to the mainstream collective conscious. An increase in the amount of flora useful to the human population as well as to endemic wildlife is vital to the health of the “Utopia” that Brooklyn can become.

- Nathaniel Kassel