Abstract

Sand peel sculptures created from Hurricane Harvey deposits in Buffalo Bayou are an artistic and scientific collaboration to capture the natural narrative of the storm in relation to Buffalo Bayou’s water levels, the sediment deposits and human impact.

Buffalo Bayou Park provides an environment to examine the archives of a major flow event from an artistic and scientific perspective and discuss how we prepare for the next major flow event. The compact area contains a hydrologic, human impact, and geologic archive of the Hurricane Harvey flood of 2017. This collaborative art/science journey down Buffalo Bayou will visit sites that demonstrate the parallels in flow of the water, sediments, and impact on the people of Houston. In the context of the entire source to sink of the Buffalo Bayou system we will consider the intrinsic appeal of GeoArt, similarities and differences between science and art, and the concept of time as we examine what Harvey left behind and what we need to be cognizant of for the next major flow event.