Dave Loewenstein

SEEDS

Lawrence, Kansas 1996

Assisted by Sandy Broughton and many community volunteers

Created in 1996 for what was then the Community Mercantile co-op grocery store, where I worked as produce manager from 1993-95, Seeds weaves together images of sustainable agriculture and community placekeeping framed by the quote, “We cannot sow seeds with clenched fists. To sow we must open our fists” from artist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Adolfo Pérez Esquivel. The seven panels alternate between two interconnected themes – the cultivation of healthy food and the four natural elements of air, earth, water, and fire - creating a rhythmic visual poem that celebrates the spirit of Lawrence's local food movement. In 2001, the fate of the mural became front–page news when the building’s new tenants, Cork & Barrel, began removing it from the wall. Friends and artists intervened successfully to stop them, prompting the headline, “Beloved Merc mural saved from oblivion!”   In 2013, the mural was completely restored by Ashley Laird.