Ana Flores is an award winning sculptor, ecologist, and community arts advocate. Her artistic practice explores both the natural and human history in selected geographies and also how as we migrate, we transform and carry those geographies with us. Flores’ projects over the past three decades have taken many forms: sculptural installations in galleries and museums, installations along refuge trails, park designs, public art projects, public humanities programs, and private commissions. These have been shown and presented nationally in the United States and internationally in Italy, Canada and New Zealand. Her work is included in private, corporate, and institutional collections throughout the United States.

Flores is also an innovative educator, creating courses and community arts and ecology programming that are by nature interdisciplinary. She was an early pioneer of the importance of community engagement. At the Rhode Island School of Design, she co-created “Art as a Source of Healing”, one of the earliest courses in community engagement and the field of arts and healing. The course made connections between ancient healing traditions and the land as well as addressing the contemporary health care industry. Since 2004, she has taught Ecological Art and Design at Bryant University, in Smithfield, RI. In addition to university teaching she has been invited to many diverse institutions in the US, Great Britian, Canada, and New Zealand to do artist talks and residencies. She was the first artist in residence for the U.S Fish and Wildlife agency from 2006-09, winning many awards for her dynamic community programming and art installations, including being the first artist/conservationist honored with a Togethergreen Fellowship and an award from the National Audubon Society in alliance with the Toyota Corporation.

One of Flores’ longest running public environmental art projects is Poetry of the Wild which invites the public out for a walk to see their world anew through the keenly felt perspectives of poets and artists. The project has traveled to many communities across the country since 2003. Using a unique presentation of “poetry boxes” that combine art and poetry, the project serves as a catalyst for exploring our towns and considering how place informs mindfulness.

Read more about Ana Flores and her work here: http://www.earthinform.com

Reception at 5. Lecture at 6. | $15
Limited Seating. Reservations Required.