Invasive Plant Sculpture Garden
A pop-up exhibit in Stowe Park

Opening Reception: Harriet Beecher Stowe House, 5:00-7:00
2950 Gilbert Ave.
Cincinnati, OH 45206

Parking: the Stowe House lot is small, but there’s lot of free parking on Foraker Ave. Please leave spaces in the parking lot for those who need accessible parking.

Project
Rooted in a collaboration between UC's College of Arts & Sciences, the Department of History, and the Harriet Beecher Stowe House, the Stowe Garden Project brings together art, ecology, and local history to transform the historic Stowe House grounds in Walnut Hills. As part of this work, students from DAAP are taking a unique fiber sculpture course taught by faculty member Rachel Linnemann. In the class, students are designing outdoor fiber sculptures that tell the complex story of Cincinnati’s plants — past and present — drawing inspiration from the site’s history, architecture, evolving landscape, and the symbolic nature of the plants once grown there.

Many of the plants historically associated with the Stowe House, including species admired by Harriet Beecher Stowe herself, are now considered invasive and can no longer be grown on-site. Instead of planting them, Linnemann’s students are giving these plants new life in a creative way: by crafting large-scale fiber sculptures that represent the invasive species as well as the history of this property. This body of work explores the intersection of art, history, and environmentalism. We invite viewers to reflect on personal and public histories, as well as the ecological and symbolic nature of the property.

This pop-up “Invasive Plant Sculpture Garden,” set within a landscape that volunteers are in the process of restoring with native species, invites visitors to reflect on how the plants we choose—and remove—shape our shared environment. Developed through a partnership among the Harriet Beecher Stowe House, Cincinnati Parks, and the University of Cincinnati, the Stowe Garden Project is brought together by UC History professor Kate Sorrels, who is working with students, faculty, and community partners to transform the historic grounds into a vibrant neighborhood greenspace and outdoor classroom. Together, they are showing how the arts and the humanities can help us reimagine public spaces for learning, stewardship, and connection.