Land Portal

Land Portal is a walking tour and published resource created by artists Ellie Irons and Aubrie James for deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum. The project shifts attention from the park’s sculptures and buildings to its ecological and geological “background,” encouraging visitors to develop a stronger sense of place across both space and time.

Using an annotated map, visitors are guided to lesser-known features of deCordova’s campus, including distinctive trees, traces of former agricultural activity, and bedrock shaped by glacial movement. Each stop includes activities designed to connect visitors with the sky, the earth, and the surrounding landscape.

When: On view June 5, 2025, through November 30, 2027.

Showtimes: No scheduled showtimes are listed. The project is experienced as a self-guided walking tour.

Venue: deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, 51 Sandy Pond Road, Lincoln, Massachusetts 01773.

Tickets: Price not available.

Format: Walking tour and published resource with an annotated map and activations at multiple landscape stations.

Artists: Ellie Irons and Aubrie James.

Ellie Irons: Irons is an artist and educator based on Mohican land in present-day Troy, New York. Her practice combines socially engaged art, ecological fieldwork, and embodied learning, including foraged watercolor paintings and experiments in “un-lawning.” She co-founded the Next Epoch Seed Library and the Environmental Performance Agency, projects examining human relationships with spontaneous urban plants, commonly called weeds. Her work has appeared in exhibitions including *Seeds: Containers of a World to Come* at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, *Ecological Consciousness: Artist as Instigator* at Wave Hill, and *Unsettled Nature* at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. Her work has been discussed in publications ranging from *Art in America* to the *Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences*. Irons earned a BA from Scripps College, an MFA from Hunter College, and a PhD in arts practice from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, completed in December 2021. Her doctoral work focused on socially engaged environmental art. She is also the author of *Feral Hues: A Guide to Painting with Weeds*, published by PS Hudson in spring 2023, and serves as co-director of The Sanctuary for Independent Media’s NATURE Lab.

Aubrie James: James is an artist and scientist whose work uses ecology to examine scientific, artistic, and other systems of knowledge. Her practice challenges scientific conventions and considers ecology as an interactive process that shapes both inner, psychological landscapes and external, material and organismic ones. She holds a bachelor’s degree in animal ecology from Iowa State University, a PhD in ecology and evolutionary biology from Cornell University, and a Master of Science in Art, Culture, and Technology from MIT. Her artistic work began as scientific experiments covertly structured as land art and has developed to include sculpture, multimedia installation, and walks. Her work has been exhibited at the MIT Museum, MIT.nano, the Weisner Gallery in Cambridge, the Distillery Gallery in Boston, and Espacio Enredo in Madrid. Her continuing scientific research concerns plant biodiversity and has been published in journals including *Ecology Letters*, *Ecological Monographs*, and *Ecology*. She lives and works in Queens, New York.

Ages: No age restriction is listed.

Accessibility: No accessibility information is provided.

Note: Visitors follow the project’s annotated map through the sculpture park and are invited to participate in activities at each station.