Date/Time
Date(s) - Feb 23rd, 2023
7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
In this webinar, multi-disciplinary collaborators will discuss their year-long study of the dignity of a living red oak, its network of eco-systemic relationships, and the ubiquity of the material of wood in design and daily life.
The project is led by artist and woodworker Gina Siepel, in collaboration with naturalist Kate Wellspring, and sponsored by Arts Afield at the MacLeish Field Station at Smith College, with the support of the field station manager Paul Wetzel.
Join us for a presentation, panel discussion, and audience Q&A. Zoom-generated closed captioning will be available during the event. A recording of the webinar will be made available for a limited time after the event.
Presenters
Gina Siepel
Arts Afield Artist-In-Residence
Gina Siepel is an interdisciplinary artist, designer, and woodworker. Her artistic practice reflects an engagement with place, history, queer experience, and ecology, and her work integrates conceptual concerns and craftsmanship with a focus on wood as a natural and a cultural material. Gina’s works have been shown in museums and galleries nationally, and she has been a fellow/artist-in-residence at arts organizations around the country, including Skowhegan, the Winterthur Museum, and Mildred’s Lane. Gina holds a BFA from the School of Art + Design at SUNY Purchase and an MFA from the Maine College of Art. Gina has taught at Amherst College, Mount Holyoke College, Mass Art, and the New Hampshire Institute of Art MFA program. Gina is a current Artist-in-Residence at the MacLeish Field Station at Smith College.
Kate Wellspring
Naturalist
Kate Wellspring is a naturalist who lives in western Massachusetts. For thirteen years, she was the Curator of Collections at the Beneski Museum of Natural History at Amherst College. Kate is currently the Seed Bank Technician for Native Plant Trust, the country’s first plant conservation organization and the only one focused on New England’s Native Plants. She has also consulted as a field botanist for The Nature Conservancy and the New England Plant Conservation Program, and taught programs at Mass Audubon and several natural history museums in the northeast.
Paul Wetzel
MacLeish Field Station Manager & HLT Board Member
Paul Wetzel is a plant ecologist with a passion for wetland ecosystems and their restoration. He studied a wide variety of wetlands from small, seasonal prairie potholes to tree islands in the Everglades. Before that he worked as an environmental analyst for a civil engineering firm, delineating wetlands, designing noise barriers, writing environmental impact studies. Now, he works at the Center for the Environment, Ecological Design, and Sustainability (CEEDS) at Smith College where he supports experiential education and manages the College’s Ada & Archibald MacLeish Field Station in Whately. Paul is active in local Williamsburg government serving on a variety of Committees, including Finance and the Safety Complex. Paul also serves on the board of Hilltown Land Trust. In his spare time Paul enjoys history, gardening, hiking, and canoeing.
