Lucy Swenson Reflects on Internship

Lucy Swenson Reflects on JSP Conservation & Outreach Internship Experience

By Lucy Swenson

Over the last two months, Josephine Sculpture Park has shown me that environmental education is a cyclical process that desperately needs every observation of the natural world we can get. Even momentary observations here have drawn me closer to each living thing around me, intensifying my awareness of life itself. Working this summer with program director, Jeri Howell, has taught me the art of taking a heartfelt pause in conversation or labor to indulge this curiosity. I’ve learned to work hard, sweating through ongoing invasive species management, but my work is now always tempered with curiosity, observation, and creativity. 


My ecology professor at Centre College once challenged my class to consider the real fragility of ecosystems - are they in delicate balance derailed by one shift, or do they constantly and successfully adapt to changes? The profound forest succession at JSP suggests the latter. We can (and should) cut wild teasel and invasive thistles where we can to make room for native wildflowers, grasses, and trees, but nature will do its own work with or without our help. And it is endlessly more rewarding to jump upon the opportunities in nature before us and get to enjoy the beauty that will then unfold. Respecting this natural balance of resilient function and lovely intricacy sets a Black-eyed Susan-gold standard. Human connection to nature must mirror nature itself to be a hearty balance between work and play; stamina and creativity.


As I watch friends begin to enter the workforce after undergrad and anticipate my own departure from the safety of college in two years, I’ve made my own natural observation that no work can be accomplished without joy for its purpose. Integrating creativity into manual labor or analytic work sparks a fire of joy in me that can sometimes seem to push the walk-behind tractor for me. This heartfelt creativity is a combination of awe for the powerful natural systems that I get to support and wonder about everything that I do not yet know. My current curiosity includes, but is not limited to: my future beyond college, the vivid lavender of bergamot, the future of my relationships, and a hummingbird moth’s intricacy.

Thankfully, I’ve learned that I do not need to have a clear and uncluttered mind to initiate curious observations of nature or my own life - I only must have a willing mind that can bend to the breeze on my face and the shadows of leaves in the sun. 


Environmental work and education is immersion, experience, observation, and exploration. Sculpture and all creative processes require the same, making JSP such an incredible place to practice balancing my work with creativity. Leading especially with empathy for everything around me is a crucial part of finding my own balance while interacting with the JSP staff and visitors, expanding the JSP community in Frankfort and beyond, and connecting to nature. It can be hard to hear the lessons that nature whispers amid pandemic worries, technological presence, and anxieties of all kinds, but that is why every experience in nature is educational, cyclical, and requires an empathetic ear. At JSP I have been both challenged and empowered to pause, observe, and open my heart to the artistic forms all around, be they carved stone, welded metal, or fibrous cellulose. This summer, each movement of my body in conversation about the Frankfort community, in leading youth to explore the park, and triggering my camera’s shutter has simultaneously opened my heart to work harder and wonder more. Thank you to the wonderful people and natural life at JSP for teaching me to pause and relish my own life-cycle however it comes!

Share by: