My First Ever Artist Residency!

Y'all, I'm celebrating today because just got word that I have been selected as a 2022 recipient of the Deep Ecology Fellowship. 

This is an artist residency through United Plant Savers (UPS), a medicinal plant conservency in the Appalachian bioregion of south-eastern Ohio. I've never spent any time in this part of the country, so it will be a wonderful new adventure.  

I'll be spending two weeks in an onsite cabin in one of the most biodiverse landscapes in the United States. I'll use some of that time walking alongside biologists, botanists, and land stewards at the conservancy (masked and socially distanced of course) to learn about tree root systems and mycelial networks. Then I'll use the rest of my time in a private studio creating the sketches and line drawings that will eventually become my next painting series. At the end of the year, they'll publish my work in the 2022 Journal of Medicinal Plant Conservation.

The tree paintings will premier in Eastern Oregon at the Crossroads Carnegie Art Center for a solo gallery show during October 2022. 

Another exciting part of this fellowship is that two of my heroes in the food sovereignty movement, Linda Black Elk and Rosemary Gladstar, are deeply connected to this botanical sanctuary. Linda Black Elk is an ethnobotanist and Standing Rock organizer and activist. She is also a UPS Botanical Sanctuary steward. Rosemary Gladstar is an internationally known herbalist and also the founder of UPS. To visit this sacred place and record part of its story, knowing it has been stewarded and maintained by these women, will be a profound honor for me personally.

Below is a trail map of the botanical sanctuary (on Cherokee land). I'm so excited to embark on this process! And I am so grateful to my Patreon community for helping me to dream this dream and make it real. Thank you, all.

Below is a photo of the Heart Pond at the sanctuary.

Below is a map of Appalachia. I'll be located near Rutland, Ohio (in red).