- Trust the Processby MakaylaCarlsonThe Last weeek I found myself attending as many field trips as I could. I thoroughly enjoyed going to Pilot Knob state park with the Aquatic Ecology class. Finding the Sundew once again brought great joy to my heart, but a little bittersweet …
- The Pallid Sturgeon, Reflections on Endangerment, Life, and Looking a little Closer..by MakaylaCarlsonThe third week I found myself diving in a little deeper into ecology and science. I joined the aquatic ecology class when they ventured to Vermillion, SD to the Fishery to visit the Endangered Pallid Sturgeons. It was a very moving experience to …
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- Prairies, Common Threadsby MakaylaCarlsonDuring the second week, I found myself walking the prairie quite a bit. I seen a viceroy butterfly, common buckeye butterflies, bog orchids, and many dragonflies. The diversity of native flowers is absolutely special at Lakeside. I also spent time more time with …
- Awakening into a Dreamby MakaylaCarlsonIt brought great joy to me to be able to return to Lakeside Labs. The evening I arrived I already sat down and did a little sketch of an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, which in the morning I encountered the first one I had …
- Drinking from the Sourceby Alicia MarvanMy project while in residency at Lakeside began with the intention to represent Lake Okoboji. In particular, I was interested in portraying its unique bathymetry (the contours of the lake under water). I was thrilled to find several bathymetric maps of the lake …
- In search of a Sun Eating Creatureby Nicole Banowetz and Devin ReillyWe arrived at Lakeside in search of a microscopic organism to recreate as an inflatable sculpture. We were unsure what lived in Okobogi Lake, but knew there were many amazing micro animals, zooplankton, and phytoplankton. We began our search in the library and …
- Space to Embed Myself into Minds and Curiosityby Miguel NoveloSpace to embed myself into minds and curiosity. I found myself at Iowa Lakeside Laboratory, where I engaged with plenty of brilliant minds from Americorps and faculty from Iowa State and the University of Iowa. I also had great conversations with Zach Poff, the …
- Untetheredby Kristin M RoachLakeside Lab Report Artist-in-Residence July 1 – July 12, 2024 Kristin M Roach 12 days One cannot speak of Iowa Lakeside Lab without mentioning the incredible community housed there. The residency was a wonderful experience in itself—12 days in the studio, untethered …
- Audible Ecosystem: Sonifying the Invisibleby Andrew SheaWhat’s the sound of temperature? How about humidity, radiation, and pressure, among the many ecological forces we experience but don’t hear? I considered questions like these as I collected environmental data using a device called the Arable Mark, which monitors weather, plants, soil, …
- Lakeside Lab Ecotonesby Zach PoffI arrived at Lakeside Lab with a bag of recording equipment and a desire to reflect on the “underheard” sounds of the campus: sonic details that go un-noticed by us but might reveal the lives of our non-human neighbors. The result was this …
- Testing the Watersby Parts Per Million CollectiveWe started Parts Per Million Collective to change our understanding of art and art making. We feel art can and should begin to take a more active role in the climate crisis. To us, this means creating works to directly benefit the environment. …
- Prairie textures, prairie timeby Sara SuarezMy art practice centers on film, video and photography, and in my time at Lakeside Lab I focused on making photo/video work studying the surrounding prairie landscapes and environment. And so I spent a lot of time venturing into expanses of prairie near …
- Johnny DiBlasi’s Transcoded Ecologiesby Johnny DiBlasiI am writing this as a reflection back on my AiR at Lakeside Lab Iowa, Lake Okoboji. As an artist, researcher, and educator, the Lakeside Lab AiR gave me a very rare gift for two weeks – the gift of time. During this …
- Lyndsay Audra Nissen: InterNatural Oddities Museumby Lyndsay A Nissen
- Experiments and surprisesby Mirzam PerezI love experiments and surprises and thrive on these in my artistic practice. I use unframed raw canvas, taffeta, and satin to create large mixed media landscapes. I layer highly-pigmented color “soups” on the fabric and trace cast shadows from my immediate natural …
- My drive to artby Mirzam PerezAs a true Gemini, I’ve had quite a few occupations. I’ve been an ice cream store clerk, business operations manager, entrepreneur, HR specialist, advertising guru, administrative assistant, housekeeper, social worker, post-secondary student, instructor, professor, mother, and life partner. And yes, I’ve been an …
- An Ethic for All Realmsby Isabel BeaversI sat on an old wooden picnic table, framed by the hanging boughs of an oak tree, the glistening blue lake hazy in the heat of summer. Birds sang many songs, harmonized by the chirping of grasshoppers, crickets, buzzing flies, the distant groan …
- The Monday Projectby SharonStewartChapter 1? Here I sit with a plan to write and maybe make space for my brain to work the way I hope it can. It’s been a year since I was at Lakeside Lab Artist Residency. It was a life changing experience. …
- Dissolving – a research projectby JuliaOrqueraBiancoThere’s value in Science. As humans, we are well-practiced in gathering data and putting it into categories, to make sense of a world we are merely getting to know. Science helped us moving “forward” as a species, creating technology that makes my artist …
- Public Art & Ecology Resultsby SpaceSaloonImagine Iowa Great Lakes and the Iowa Lakeside Lab hosted a series of public events produced as a result of the inaugural Public Art and Ecology Residency. For the 2021 Summer, the artist collective Space Saloon spent three months in Northwest Iowa, observing …
- Wonder Practiceby AdrianWoodScientists and artists practice imagining better, more meaningful, more integrated futures. There are many forces that threaten this practice: existentialism; injustice; denial; scarcity. These threatening forces can be investigated in balance with the practice of imagination when the art-science partnership is most effective. …
- Reflections on our time at Lakeside Labby WildPrairieWindsIntroduction By Kim Cassisa Since returning home after living at Lakeside Lab for two weeks this summer, I have struggled to answer the question I get from friends and coworkers – “what was it like?” My experience at Lakeside fell somewhere between summer …
- I have hidden fifteen cassette tapes across Lakeside Lab’s campusby ClayGonzalezIn recent years, I’ve had the pleasure of spending time with field recordings of American folk music. I got a job transcribing songs recorded by musicologists, all over early twentieth century America. The recordings are grainy, noisey, difficult to make out, and often …
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- An Inspiring Experienceby CaleeCecconiThis experience inspired me! I will be forever grateful for the two weeks I spent making and being outdoors at the Iowa Lakeside Laboratory. I wish I was there at a different time since the pandemic made it a little hard to socialize …
- Nature as a Creative Resetby CaleeCecconiHello again, Iowa … … it’s been a minute! Although I now reside in the Twin Cities, I spent most of my life (outdoors!) in Iowa. I grew up in eastern Iowa, spending most summers floating the Maquoketa River, feeding ducks at Iowa …
- Public Art & Ecology Event Dates Announcedby SpaceSaloonImagine Iowa Great Lakes and the Iowa Lakeside Lab invite you to a series of public events produced as a result of the inaugural Public Art and Ecology Residency. Come experience data collected from around the lakes presented in new and interactive ways. …
- non-infallible physicsby Omar de Kok-MercadoThis report was written after the residency period 12-26-2020 -to- 1-15-2021. Photos denoted with an asterisk* are by Robb Klassen an L.A.-based photographer and friend of the artist. After having spent the greater part of three days unfurling bits and pieces of my …
- 2021 Public Art & Ecology Residency Artists Selectedby directorImagine Iowa Great Lakes and the Iowa Lakeside Lab are excited to announce the all-new Public Art & Ecology Artist-in-Residence (AIR) program which invites artists to apply for an eight-twelve week residency. Lakeside Lab is a biological field station and nature preserve located …
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- New Funded Public Art Residency at Iowa Lakeside Labby directorFor Immediate Release Wednesday, October 7, 2020 Iowa Lakeside Lab, Imagine Iowa Great Lakes Launch New Artist in Residence Program Milford, Iowa – Iowa Lakeside Laboratory and Imagine Iowa Great Lakes today launched a new Public Art & Ecology Artist in Residence (AIR) …
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- Thoughts of a landscape – are you still thereby AmbaKlapwijkThoughts of a landscape are you still there Everything about the summer sky is spectacular, showy, theatrical. The starts in the evening, the moons at midnight, the rays of the morning sun – they all shine with special brilliance. In summer, the waters …




