Amy M. Youngs is an Associate Professor of Art at the Ohio State University, where she collaborates on interdisciplinary projects and teaches courses in digital media, art & science, and eco art. Her artwork explores entanglements between technology, plants, and animals. She has created installations that amplify the sounds of living worms, indoor ecosystems powered by a rocking chair, an interactive museum for live insects, an augmented reality tour of real nature. Her works have been exhibited widely in the United States as well as internationally, including Norway, New Zealand, Australia, Germany, Spain, Portugal, China, Croatia, and Mexico. Youngs earned an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a BA from San Francisco State University.
Website: hypernatural.com
Lichen Learning
The symbiotic, interdependent lifestyles of lichen have inspired me to become more collaborative in my approach art making. My journey began as a part of an interdisciplinary research group called “Culture, Healing Art, Nature, Technology” (CHANT). Living in different cities, group members met online to read and discuss “The Lichen Museum” by Laurie Palmer, which helped us articulate our shared motivations and gave us permission to pay close attention to something seemingly insignificant. The closer we looked, the more we found that gave us hope – cooperation as a way of life, resilience, persistence, “time-fullness”, and a realization that lichens can be found in our cities. Lichens are shaped by the conditions of their specific places so, like lichens, I wanted to focus on my location. I sought lichen and lichen-curious people at the Ohio State University. Artist Doo-sung Yoo and I spent time together meeting many lichens on campus and around Columbus. We visited the OSU Biological Sciences Herbarium, befriended Bob Klips, author of “Common Mosses, Liverworts and Lichens of Ohio”, and we invited undergraduate students to join us in a “Lichen Art Research Group”. Like lichens, we would be shaped by our location and by the specialties of the collaborators who showed up. Meeting together each week has been a generative experience of co-learning and co-creation. The normal hierarchies of the university are blurred, as we work together like lichens; recognizing that learning, living, and making relies upon the work of many.