Travis Neel

Travis Neel works at the intersection of socially engaged art and urban ecology. Always collaborative, Travis utilizes art as a framework to understand the keystone role that humans play in our landscapes.

Currently, their work centers the Honey Mesquite—the charismatic, thorny and creative protagonist of the Llano Estacado's ecological theater. In an attempt to understand the Honey Mesquite, they have become enmeshed in a symbiotic association with other artists, landscape architects, neighbors, plant communities of the Chihuahua desert and short grass prairie, ranchers, arborists, insects, bacteria, rainwater, mycorrhiza, the City of Lubbock, predictive climate mapping, and students at Texas Tech University. Together, this community of actors have manifested the Mesquite Mile, a project that works to demonstrate how human communities and culture can be good kin with nature in the urban core of Lubbock, TX.

The Mesquite Mile has been described as many things: an urban afforestation project, a prairie restoration project, and a study in child-friendly urban design. For Travis and his collaborators Erin Charpentier, Kim Karlsrud and Daniel Phillps; the Mesquite Mile models how humans are responsible for the mutual flourishing of our more-than-human family members.

Travis holds a BFA from Massachusetts College of Art and an MFA in Art and Social Practice from Portland State University.

Travis Neel's collaborative work has been supported and recognized by art museums and cultural organizations including the Mid-America Arts Alliance's Interchange Artists Fellowship program, Headlands Center For The Arts, Southwest Contemporary, The British Cultural Council, Stoveworks Artist Residency, The Tallgrass Artist Residency, the Brooklyn Art Museum, the Tacoma Art Museum, the Portland Art Museum, the Atlantic Center for the Arts, Temple Contemporary, the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, the RedLine Contemporary Art Center, and numerous DIY art spaces across the United States and Canada.

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