{"id":482,"date":"2015-12-12T14:52:29","date_gmt":"2015-12-12T19:52:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/100gardens.org\/?p=482"},"modified":"2024-01-10T07:23:29","modified_gmt":"2024-01-10T02:23:29","slug":"humansynthesis-how-ron-morgan-plans-on-leaving-a-lasting-legacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/100gardens.org\/humansynthesis-how-ron-morgan-plans-on-leaving-a-lasting-legacy\/","title":{"rendered":"Humansynthesis: How Ron Morgan plans on leaving a lasting legacy"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article originally appeared on CLTure<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

100 Gardens founder leaves a lasting legacy<\/strong><\/h3>\n

By Drea Atkins<\/a><\/p>\n

December 12, 2015<\/p>\n

Ron Morgan\u2019s usually homespun living room is abuzz with anticipation about his upcoming art auction at The Elder Gallery on December 17th. The visionary and co-founder behind 100 Gardens is well-known for his career as an architect, you may have enjoyed an afternoon or an evening stroll around your city in the Carolina\u2019s without ever realizing that Morgan\u2019s artistic mind might have made those moments and memories possible. City planning, community practice and cultural preservation have been fierce passions of his for over 40 years.<\/p>\n

Growing up in California, Morgan attended Berkeley for architecture and dabbled in visual art. He studied art but never thought of becoming a full-time artist. Worried about perceptions of narcissism and not being able to make a difference, he focused on helping people through creating buildings rather than paintings. On his honeymoon, he traveled to Mexico to see the ancient pre-Columbian ruins and was astonished. He recalls seeing stone elements, shapes and geometry previously unfamiliar to him as a younger man. After that experience, he was inspired to go home and start sculpting stone. This inspiration would last a good seven years and lead to his sculptures being shown and sold in renowned galleries in San Francisco and beyond.<\/p>\n

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Photo by Drea Atkins<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A gorgeous Carolina day, unusually clear and warm for December, the world slowed down as Morgan placed his very first stone carving in my hands. He\u2019s in his 70\u2019s now. Years of battling cancer has left his once sturdy frame gaunt, his eyesight fuzzy and problematic as the cancer entered his spinal fluid, surrounding nerves that control his sight. Despite diminished eyesight and the devastating news that he has, at most, 21 weeks to live, his vision for his life and legacy has never been clearer.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is gonna be a blast!\u201d Morgan said. \u201c I thought to myself well, this is different, knowing your time is ending. You can only cry so much. I\u2019ve had cancer three times, been through chemo and radiation and that stuff feels like it will kill ya. When my doctor told me, \u2018That\u2019s it. You got 21 weeks.\u2019 we came home and cried and remembered all of our old memories, good times, love and then I thought, I can\u2019t just leave 100 Gardens. I needed to map out a plan and that\u2019s what we\u2019ve done.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

100 Gardens, an innovative benefit corporation that aims to build 100 interconnected aquaponic food growing systems or \u201cgardens\u201d between Charlotte and Port au Prince, Haiti was directly inspired after his trip to the earthquake-ravaged country.<\/strong> Known for his architectural expertise at revitalizing communities and historic sites, Morgan attempted to walk the crumbling streets of Port au Prince to envision a new city. He quickly realized that, with over 240,000 people dead and countless orphans and homeless citizens, the first problem to solve was feeding them all after the aid ran out. He wanted to design a weather-resistant, easily sustainable food production system that could run throughout the city so the people of Haiti would be empowered to feed and care for one another.He dreamed of building hydroponic gardens in shipping containers so they could easily be sent from Charlotte to Port au Prince, but had absolutely no idea of how to garden this way. After struggling with it on his own in his backyard, he turned to Google to find a hydroponics expert nearby to assist him.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Photo by Drea Atkins<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThe odds of me finding Sam (Fleming, co-founder of 100 Gardens) on Google, it\u2019s one in a million,\u201d Morgan says through laughter. \u201cThat guy knows his stuff.<\/strong> Boy! I don\u2019t take advice from many people but when Sam speaks, I listen. I met him at the store where he was working, he came by to take a look at what I was attempting and when I told him why I was wanting to build hydroponic gardens to ship to starving people in Haiti he immediately suggested aquaponics, because people need protein. Then he told me he wanted in and quit his job. Ha! Can you believe that?! I thought, well let\u2019s get started!\u201d<\/p>\n

Recently having opened their 8th garden at Myers Park High School, the dream of connecting Haiti\u2019s and Charlotte\u2019s gardens is picking up steam<\/strong> and to proportions greater than they had initially imagined.<\/p>\n

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Myers Park High School photo by Drea Atkins<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Morgan radiates warmth and confidence, filling the room like the Winter sunlight that streams through the windows. Spending time with someone who consciously knows that they are dying is not unfamiliar to me, but his excitement about every little thing is a testimony to never take anything for granted. His smile is comforting, though he should be the one comforted, and his energy level peaks and pops like firecrackers when he speaks of his latest 100 Gardens vision, the Aqueous 1 Learning Lab, for which the Elder Gallery show will be a fundraiser.<\/strong><\/p>\n

As for the paintings he has been cranking out for his art show, Morgan notes that \u201cThere is a five-step process to making these. I\u2019m using a replacement to lithography with digital elements and manipulations as well as the hand-drawn sketches and then layers of wax and shaving off the wax. And can you imagine that all of these paintings, all of this artwork is going to benefit the Aqueous 1 Learning Lab? \u2026Can you imagine people driving down West Boulevard and seeing this gorgeous glass facility all lit up and children inside learning to use the technology and the fish and plants become the art, the vibrant colors.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Rendering of Aqueous 1 Learning Lab provided by Ron Morgan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He explained that he and Fleming have been working on this for years. \u201cBut now we have the system down, a team of the best people\u2026Sam and I realized once we really got into this that the real story is about educating and empowering communities.<\/strong> These are entirely new systems of providing jobs, food production, and civil services. It\u2019s not about changing society. It is about society welcoming the new economy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Morgan has thrown new excitement into 100 Gardens with this art show, directly inspired by his prognosis. I can\u2019t help but point out the irony of his youthful fears about pursuing a career in art.<\/strong> As the paintings pour out of him and his eyes still twinkle with vibrancy, his spirit is visibly moved by listening to the callings of his heart. Feeding people\u2019s bodies and nourishing their souls for meaningful human connection will be the direct result of his final masterpieces.<\/strong> And in the not so distant future, when you drive down West Boulevard and pass his shining cathedral to the science of humanity, remember that one person\u2019s passion and voice is enough to spark a movement.<\/p>\n

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Photo by Drea Atkins<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For more information on how to take aquaponics workshops, get a small aquaponics garden of your own, and stay in touch with all of the developments, you can like the 100 Gardens facebook page<\/a> and sign up for the mailing list<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Update: Ron Morgan passed away on May 30, 2016.<\/em><\/p>\n

Seeds on 36th Fundraising Campaign<\/a><\/p>\n

Watch Ron Morgan\u2019s inspiring Ignite Charlotte talk on September 16, 2014.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This article originally appeared on CLTure. 100 Gardens founder leaves a lasting legacy By Drea Atkins December 12, 2015 Ron Morgan\u2019s usually homespun living room is abuzz with anticipation about his upcoming art auction at The Elder Gallery on December 17th. The visionary and co-founder behind 100 Gardens is well-known for his career as an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/100gardens.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/100gardens.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/100gardens.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/100gardens.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/100gardens.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=482"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/100gardens.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":636,"href":"https:\/\/100gardens.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482\/revisions\/636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/100gardens.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/100gardens.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/100gardens.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}