MSU's Kellogg Biological Station

It never hurts to ask. That's what I told myself as I was writing the letter to KBS asking if I could do an Artist Residency. I'm so very grateful to Katherine Gross and Kara Haas for allowing me to do so! And many thanks to Steve Hamilton, Tyler Bassett, and Dustin Kincaid for helping me locate both invasive and endangered/threatened plant species to use for my project. I can't even begin to imagine this project without all the wonderful people who have helped in so many ways.

Grad student Dustin Kincaid took me out in the canoe to find threatened wild rice.

You can see wild rice in the foreground, then invasive purple loosestrife and invasive phragmites behind that.

Susan Houseman lent me her row boat to get out to horsetail spike rush (special concern).

 

Steve Hamilton and Joe Simmons arranged for the collection of the invasive aquatic plant Eurasian watermilfoil which I hope to make into paper. 

And I had the honor of giving a workshop on making paper from invasive plants to a wonderful group of K-12 science teachers at the KBS Summer Institute! I hope you'll send me pictures of your projects so I know how they turned out. :)

THANK YOU KBS!!!

Plant and Paper Update

The results are in! After much experimentation, I was able to make the different types of paper pictured below. I'll be able to print on all of them with the exception of Japanese knotweed and the green garlic mustard. I also processed purple loosestrife and oriental bittersweet, but I could tell by the color of water during boiling that they'd be too dark, so I stopped there. I might make a few sheets this winter to see how they turn out, but right now I'm busy preparing for my exhibit at the Matthaei Botanical Gardens which opens September 17th. So back to work I go!