Creative Residency 2023 Jurors:
Research & Design 

How can I, as an environmentalist, justify the consumption implicit to art making? My answer to this question is twofold: I make work that advocates for the local environment, and work in the most sustainable way possible. I work primarily with found objects, and gather my materials from specific locations that relate to the environmental issues that I speak to. As a result, much of my work is sculptural. The role of labor is also a key element of my practice; by collecting and displaying material with limited intervention, the authorship of the work shifts. Rather than the environment acting as a cornucopia from which I can pluck materials, I become a laborer or mediator for the material. I compliment the abstract, poetic gestures made by my sculptures with more pointed multi-media work that contextualizes and displays data, which together act as a quiet protest against environmental degradation. ayla-gizlice.com/

Peter R. Marting, Ph.D. is a behavioral ecologist, photographer, and artist who studies collective behavior and environmental interactions of social insect societies. He expresses the findings of his research through art with creative data visualizations, mixed media, and public exhibits. He is currently a postdoctoral fellow at Auburn University’s Department of Biology.

Dorota holds a Diploma in Botanical Illustration from Society of Botanical Artists in UK, degrees in Art and International Studies with a focus on indigenous cultures, and a master’s degree in teaching. Born in Poland, Dorota’s love for nature began when as a child she accompanied her grandparents on mushroom hunting forays, spent hours in her parents and grandparents gardens, hiked summers in Tatra mountains and foraged for wild herbs and fruit. In her art she explores the idea of interconnectedness and fragility of our ecosystems, ecological diversity and species codependence. Dorota loves portraying garden and forest plants, medicinal and Pacific Northwest native plants, their ecology and interactions with insects or pollinators. Dorota exhibits and teaches drawing regionally. In 2022, she was an artist in residence at Bloedel Reserve on Bainbridge Island. Her recent commission was an installation of 25 illustrations of native plants of the Pacific Northwest at the Columbia Memorial Hospital in Seaside, Oregon. She is a member of Oregon Botanical Artists, Pacific Northwest Botanical Artists and American Society of Botanical Artists. Dorota has self-published 5 coloring books including a coloring book for Lan Su Chinese Garden in Portland Oregon.