Anna Lee Roeder and Erik Vasilauskas are the husband and wife team behind DreamScene Placemaking in Kalamazoo, and our 2022 KBS LTER Artists in Residence. They visited KBS twice during their Residency in 2022. For their first visit in the spring, they stayed with us for a week and toured KBS, visited our long-term experiments, and met with scientists, students, and staff.
In the fall, they presented a brownbag seminar on the development of their artistic styles and how the residency fit into that trajectory.
As a product of their residency, Anna and Erik engaged the KBS summer community in “KBS S.N.A.P.S.” Or Science Nature Art Photo Synthesis. As a community building experience, residents of KBS were asked to capture their experience that summer. Twenty 35 mm cameras were distributed to the KBS community. The resulting images serve as a visual yearbook of Summer 2022 at KBS, and collages of photos are displayed within the halls of KBS and at the Kellogg Bird Sanctuary.
Anna and Erik shared their residency with the local Kalamazoo community through the “Earth Day: Election Edition” event hosted by the Kalamazoo Climate Crisis Coalition. Alongside KBS LTER Education & Outreach Coordinator, Liz Schultheis, they spoke with members of the local community about their experience, and helped share the research and stories of the KBS LTER.
In 2023, Anna and Erik collaborated with KBS to host ESA SEEDS. They met with the students to discuss their interest in art and science, and shared how they came to their current careers in art. The students worked collaboratively to create a paint-by-number mural, which will be displayed at the Kellogg Bird Sanctuary.