Poetics of Plants & Paper: incorporating living landscapes into art-making and creative practices
This workshop immerses students in the world of environmental and bio-based art. First, students learn an alternative printmaking practice called eco-printing, a technique used to "print" botanical designs and colors onto paper with leaves, flowers, lichens, and other natural dye materials. We will use these designs alongside poetry, text, and print to make final pieces. Students further explore incorporating our surroundings in art by collaborating with non-human organisms to make music through a process called biosonification.
We will attach electrodes to plants, fungi, and one another to learn the basics of recording biodata to a laptop and play digital instruments. Students will leave with an introduction to eco-printing and biosonification, 1-3 finished works, and inspiration for incorporating environmental storytelling into their own creative practices. Most importantly, workshop participants gain a better understanding of how art and technology act as a portal to connecting with the ecosystems around us, and reciprocally, the landscape can nourish and inspire our art-making.
While this workshop is aimed at individuals who have a pre-existing artistic or creative practice, no prior experience in techniques discussed is necessary.