02 . 23

lu kaliksh : february ’23

'Lu kaliksh' is wetland soil from Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge in Grand Chenier, which is in southwest Louisiana on Atakapa-Ishak land. The soil was collected by Ashely Booth, a Louisiana-based soil scientist, and then donated to Bird for her studio practice. Ashley sampled the soil from various depths to research the effectiveness of wetland conservation strategies. Due to a variety of factors, the coast of Louisiana has lost over 1,900 square miles of land (the size of Delaware) in the last 100 years and is still losing a football field of land every hour. 

Jeffery U. Darensbourg collaborated with Heather Bird Harris to name this month’s pigment. Jeffery is a writer, researcher, and artist of many genres. He is a Louisiana Creole and an enrolled member of the Atakapa-Ishak Nation of Indians. His work focuses on Indigenous contributions to Louisiana culture and the experiences of mixed-ethnicity people. One of Jeffery’s areas of focus is language renewal, and as part of a collaboration with Bird, he gave this pigment its name: ‘Lu Kaliksh.’ Lu Kaliksh means both “dirt crushed by hand” and “dirt was worn out” — a fitting name for this pigment, I think, on many levels.

Lu Kaliksh is prized by contributor Heather Bird Harris for its fine particle size and ability to fan out and form rivulets when added to moistened watercolor paper, echoing the patterns made by the water flow in the wetlands where the soil originates. See activity.

contributor: Heather Bird Harris

Heather Bird Harris is an artist, educator, and activist working in Atlanta, GA and New Orleans, LA. Bird's practice includes paintings which engage site-specific earth pigments as connection to historical narratives. Her work was recently featured nationally on NPR and locally in New Orleans and Baton Rouge. www.heatherbirdharris.com   @heatherbirdharris