We are a working group of the Humanities Institute at The Ohio State University.
Emma Kline
Emma is the current Lab Specialist for the Living Art and Ecology Lab. Her vision for LAEL is to create a space that invites students to engage with their local ecosystems through their artistic practices. She contends that there is much to learn from the network of life with which we are directly entangled if we take the time to look and listen. Previous to this position, Emma worked as a field technician on wildlife monitoring and ecosystem restoration projects across the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic. Her current research interests are in natural pigments, textiles, and community ecology topics such as how plant-animal interactions influence ecosystem states.
Amy Youngs
Amy creates eco art, interactive sculptures, and digital media works that explore interdependencies between technology, plants and animals. Her research involves entanglements with the non-human, constructed ecosystems, and seeing through the eyes of machines. She has created installations that amplify the sounds of living worms, indoor ecosystems powered by a rocking chair, an interactive museum for live insects, and an augmented reality tour of real nature.
Laura Lisbon
Laura is a professor in the Painting and Drawing program of the Department of Art. She received her BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and an MFA at Syracuse University. Her paintings have been exhibited in New York City, England, Holland and France; and she is on the Editorial Board of the new Journal of Contemporary Painting.
Doo-Sung Yoo
Doo-Sung is a lecturer in the area of Art & Technology. He works with interdisciplinary media in art, science, and technology, exploring interactions between human and technological nature and trans-species communication between human and non-human animals. His current focuses are on surpassing the human body and organic forms with technological augmentations.
Dani ReStack
Dani is an Associate Professor of Art at The Ohio State University. She received an MFA in film/video from Bard College in 2009, and an MFA in Studio Arts from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2003. Her single channel videos and experimental films have received international acclaim, and her drawings are included in the permanent collection at MoMA.
Dionne Lee
Dionne is a visual artist working in photography, collage, sculpture, and video to explore power and personal history in relation to the American landscape, interrogating the historical narratives that exist within photographic representations of land and place. She received her MFA from California College of the Arts.
Lori Esposito
Lori is a PhD student and Graduate Teaching Associate in Arts Administration, Education, and Policy, having earned her MA in 2004 and her MFA in 2008. Her work spans social practice, exhibition design, disability studies, and experimental pedagogy. As a lover of plants, she has worked in hothouses, on farms and with seed banks.
Susan Melsop
Susan is an Associate Professor in the Department of Design, the Area Coordinator for the BSD in Interior Design, and Co-Director of the DESIS Lab at The Ohio State University. Though her formal training is in architecture, Susan’s work mediates between the scale of building, installations, furniture, and sculpture. Her research focuses on community engaged design-build, sustainable building practices, design pedagogy and reflective practices.
Dominique Flaksberg
Dominique is an Earth Centered designer working within the realms of education, design strategy and intuitive entrepreneurship. She is currently pursuing an MFA at the Ohio State University Design Department, focusing on decolonizing design thinking through the integration of indigenous and Earth centered wisdom.
Zoey November
Zoey is an MFA student at OSU studying disability-centered pedagogy in dance. She is the former Lab Coordinator for the Living Art & Ecology Lab, and is happy to be able to join the working group while pursuing her education. She holds a B.S. in Natural Resources and a B.A. in Dance from the University of Vermont.
Jenifer Owens-Morrison
Jenifer is the Academic Program Coordinator for the Department of Art at OSU. She is an avid organic gardener and budding herbalist who joins the living arts lab to help facilitate spaces in the Art Department that combine sustainable and plant-based practices. She enjoys exploring how combination planting benefits plants and wildlife and looks for ways to incorporate sustainable pollinator habitats in her gardens.
Joshua Gagliardi
Joshua is the Digital Fabrication Specialist for the Studios for Art and Design Research at OSU. He has a background in mold making and casting that utilizes material history to generate narrative. He is interested in the conversations produced by The Living Art Ecology Lab that discuss where materials come from, how we collect them, process, and repurpose them, along with what it means to decontextualize actions like wind or light. He’s excited about the intersection of art and science and looks forward to being a part of the growing community produced by this lab!