TREE MUSEUM
TREE MUSEUM
TREE MUSEUM
TREE MUSEUM
NEAR DWELLERS
AS INDWELLERS
GUEST SPEAKER SERIES &
ARTIST-LED WORKSHOPS
TREE MUSEUM
NOVEMBER 22: ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION
a conversation with Near Dweller's researchers, Convening Bodies Artists' Residency participants, and Earth Science practitioners.
ONLINE & FACE-2-FACE
11:00 - 3:00 PM PST
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Join Zoom Meeting
https://emilycarru.zoom.us/j/62710330633?pwd=b0u2JHFhilEHabfR4RaDkgBJDcFMYs.1
Meeting ID: 627 1033 0633
Passcode: 351797
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Join us for a Roundtable Discussion that explores the role of creative research and how artists contribute to conservation efforts and connective knowledge. The conversation will also focus on collaboration as a creative practice, and the Convening Bodies reflections on their relationships with water during their residency.
PREVIOUS EVENTS
OCTOBER 14: GUEST SPEAKERS
ROADKILL
a conversation with Jane Desmond
Lou Florence & Roelof Bakker
Tuesday, Oct 14, 2025
This was an online event
Recording available on request
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Guest speaker Jane Desmond was joined by artists Lou Florence and Roelof Bakker to discuss the role that art plays in contending with feelings of loss and mourning for more-than-human beings that are subjected to the harms of our roadways. This panel heard from Lou Florence and Roelof Bakker who spoke about how they address this complicated subject matter through their art. Jane Desmond shared her insights about what this implies for an ethics of co-habitation, and the value of art in forging pathways for thinking anew about our relationships with other-than-human beings.
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Members of the public were invited (but not required) to read Desmond's recent book ‘Displaying Death and Animating Life: Human-Animal Relations in Art, Science and Everyday Life.’
Jane Desmond is a Professor in Anthropology and Gender and Women's Studies, and Co-founder and current Director of the International Forum for U.S. Studies, a center for the Transnational Study of the United States. She also holds appointments in the Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory, the Center for Global Studies, and in the College of Veterinary Medicine. Her primary areas of interest focus on issues of embodiment, display, and social identity, as well as the transnational dimensions of U.S. Studies. Her areas of expertise include performance studies, critical theory, visual culture (including museum studies and tourism studies), the critical analysis of the U.S. in global perspectives, and, most recently, the political economy of human/animal relations. She has previously worked as a professional modern dancer and choreographer, and in film, video, and the academy. She is the Founding Resident director of the international Summer Institute in Animal Studies at UIUC, and of the Animal Lives Book Series at the University of Chicago Press. In addition to academic publications, she has written for a number of public publications such as CNN.com, The Washington Post.com, and the Huffington Post, and her creative work has appeared on PBS and at numerous film festivals. For more information, please visit: https://anthro.illinois.edu/directory/profile/desmondj
OCTOBER 18: ARTIST-LED WORKSHOP
Saturday, October 18
This event took place at
@ Bothkinds Project Space
602 E. Hastings Street
Vancouver BC
V6A 1R1
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Urban settings influence how coyotes navigate, adapt, and co-habit, and this workshop explored how coyotes “story” the places that we co-create. Scientific research shows how these canids skillfully adjust their behavior to coexist alongside human communities, revealing complex social structures and remarkable resilience in urban settings [1]. During the workshop, Adriana and Dezirae offered an in-depth presentation and discussion about more-than-human realities along with an interpreted walk through a nearby park where coyotes and humans co-story the landscape. They created a reciprocal space of dialogue with our participants to deepen understandings of the embodied realities of urban coyotes, inviting participants to contribute their coyote stories to the project's growing repository of narratives of the more-than-human community. Together, participants considered what coexistence means, and how cultivating empathy, compassion and responsibility can help us share our metropolitan areas more harmoniously with these wild neighbors. Recognizing coyotes as individual, sentient, beings broadened understandings of coyotes' distinctive personalities. The workshop invited participants to foster mutual respect, compassionate coexistence and appreciation of coyote’s unique perspectives. As a part of the Coyote Portraits project, Adriana and Dezirae's goal is to develop and refine future educational frameworks that encourage a shift in perspective, valuing both human and more-than-human well-being through reciprocity and interconnectedness.
[1] Alexander, Shelley M., and Victoria M. Lukasik. 2016. “Re-Placing Coyote.” Lo Squaderno 11 (42): 37–41. See also Stanley D. Gehrt and Kerry Luft, Coyotes among Us: Secrets of the City’s Top Predator, 1st ed. (Seattle: Flashpoint, 2024). See also Rewilding Magazine. 2022. “Living Peacefully with Coyotes Means Respecting Their Boundaries.” June 2. https://www.rewildingmag.com/living-peacefully-with-coyotes/.
Adriana Jaroszewicz
Adriana was born and raised in Mexico and has worked in animation for over 25 years. She received her MFA degree from the Division of Animation and Digital Arts, School of Cinematic Arts (SCA) at the University of Southern California (USC), and her BFA degree in Graphic Design from the University of the Pacific (UOP). She is currently Assistant Dean in Animation and Professor of the 3D Computer Animation program at Emily Carr University of Art and Design. Throughout her career, she has worked as a senior digital trainer for teams of animators at Sony Pictures Imageworks and has collaborated with several independent directors creating visual effects for their award-winning projects. Her current research focuses on decentering the human to re-story narratives from multispecies perspectives, with a focus on urban coyotes. For more information, see https://jhughesinstitute.org/adriana-jaroszewicz
Dezirae Gautier
Dezi’s passion for wildlife welfare began during her childhood living in British Columbia’s northwest, where she enjoyed coexisting safely and responsibly with grizzly bears. Through experiences with the University of British Columbia and Stanley Park Ecology Society, Dezi gained experience in coyote monitoring work and coexistence education. Her experiences during this time transformed her perspectives on coyotes and on urban ecologies. She holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Certificate of Ethics: Theory and Application from Simon Fraser University. Additionally, she is pursuing further education in ecology and human-wildlife coexistence. She has a diverse working history in the public sector, particularly in the areas of outreach, policy, data analysis, and public communication.
OCTOBER 21: GUEST SPEAKER
THE REAL BAMBI STORY
& other writing on ecology and society
a conversation with Shauna Laurel Jones
​Tuesday, October 21, 2025
This was an online event
Recording available upon request
Shauna Laurel Jones talked about her writings on the tensions and conflicts that arise when human and more-than-human communities come into contact. Specifically, she spoke to her essays on the complex status of swans and puffins in Iceland as well as her literary guide to Felix Salten’s Bambi, A Life in the Woods (1923) — the original story behind Disney’s animated classic. Considered one of the first ecological novels, this coming-of-age story can be simultaneously read as a parable of antisemitism and fascism in the early 20th century. What connects Jones’s work on Bambi to her research on human relationships with birds in Iceland is a concern for the ethics and practices of superimposing animal narratives that emerge in cosmopolitan settings onto living animals elsewhere.
Members of the public were invited (but not required) to read Jones’s essays “Of Birds and Barley” and “Up, Up, on Implausible Wings” prior to the event. Jones’s guide to Felix Salten’s Bambi is available alongside purchase of the audiobook through the app Audrey.
OCTOBER 24: ARTIST-LED WORKSHOP
Friday, October 24, 2025
​This was a hybrid event
Recording available upon request
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@ Bothkinds Project Space
602 E. Hastings Street
Vancouver BC
V6A 1R1
​​​
This second workshop explored the same issues as workshop 1, such as how coyotes navigate, adapt, and co-habit within urban settings. Scientific research shows how these canids skillfully adjust their behavior to coexist alongside human communities, revealing complex social structures and remarkable resilience in urban settings [1]. During the workshop, Jaroszewics and Gautier offered an in-depth presentation and discussion about more-than-human realities both in person and online, and an interpreted walk through a nearby park where coyotes and humans co-story the landscape. They created a reciprocal space of dialogue with our participants and deepened understandings of the embodied realities of urban coyotes, and invited participants to contribute their coyote stories to the discussion and their growing repository of narratives of the more-than-human community. The purpose was to consider what coexistence means, and how cultivating empathy, compassion and responsibility can help us share our metropolitan areas more harmoniously with these wild neighbors. Recognizing coyotes as individual, sentient beings broadens our understanding of their distinctive personalities. This workshop therefore invited participants to foster mutual respect, compassionate coexistence and appreciation of coyote’s unique perspectives. As a part of the Coyote Portraits project, their goal is to develop and refine future educational frameworks that encourage a shift in perspective, valuing both human and more-than-human well-being through reciprocity and interconnectedness.
[1] Alexander, Shelley M., and Victoria M. Lukasik. 2016. “Re-Placing Coyote.” Lo Squaderno 11 (42): 37–41. See also Stanley D. Gehrt and Kerry Luft, Coyotes among Us: Secrets of the City’s Top Predator, 1st ed. (Seattle: Flashpoint, 2024). See also Rewilding Magazine. 2022. “Living Peacefully with Coyotes Means Respecting Their Boundaries.” June 2. https://www.rewildingmag.com/living-peacefully-with-coyotes/.
Adriana Jaroszewicz
Adriana was born and raised in Mexico and has worked in animation for over 25 years. She received her MFA degree from the Division of Animation and Digital Arts, School of Cinematic Arts (SCA) at the University of Southern California (USC), and her BFA degree in Graphic Design from the University of the Pacific (UOP). She is currently Assistant Dean in Animation and Professor of the 3D Computer Animation program at Emily Carr University of Art and Design. Throughout her career, she has worked as a senior digital trainer for teams of animators at Sony Pictures Imageworks and has collaborated with several independent directors creating visual effects for their award-winning projects. Her current research focuses on decentering the human to re-story narratives from multispecies perspectives, with a focus on urban coyotes. For more information, see https://jhughesinstitute.org/adriana-jaroszewicz
Dezirae Gautier
Dezi’s passion for wildlife welfare began during her childhood living in British Columbia’s northwest, where she enjoyed coexisting safely and responsibly with grizzly bears. Through experiences with the University of British Columbia and Stanley Park Ecology Society, Dezi gained experience in coyote monitoring work and coexistence education. Her experiences during this time transformed her perspectives on coyotes and on urban ecologies. She holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Certificate of Ethics: Theory and Application from Simon Fraser University. Additionally, she is pursuing further education in ecology and human-wildlife coexistence. She has a diverse working history in the public sector, particularly in the areas of outreach, policy, data analysis, and public communication.
For more information on the Coyote Portraits project visit coyoteportraits.ca
OCTOBER 28: GUEST SPEAKER
URBANIZATION
& the degradation of wild lives
a conversation with Shelley Alexander
Adriana Jaroszewicz & Dezirae Gautier
​Tuesday, October 28, 2025
This was an online event
Recording available upon request
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Guest speaker Shelley Alexander was joined by artist Adriana Jaroszewicz and Dezirae Gautier to discuss the various public perceptions of coyotes (as a pest, nuisance, or biosecurity threat etc.) and the challenges this presents for living in a multispecies nexus. Alexander‘s research investigates human-coyote conflict and the effects of urbanization on coyotes, landowner experiences and media portrayals of coyotes, spatial epidemiology, and the intersection of colonial ideology, ethics, and coyote killing. She discussed the details of one of her case studies of a family of coyotes who live in the neighbourhood of the University of Calgary, describing how they return to their ancestral den during a specific time of the year, and the challenges they face along this journey. Her discussion made palpable the gap between coyote lives and human ignorance and prejudice. Jaroszewicz and Gautier talked about their art and research project called Coyote Portraits, offering fascinating back stories of their respective experiences of coyotes, and their plans to develop a project with interactive media (augmented reality) to address human fears and misunderstandings.
Members of the public were invited (but not required) to read Shelley Alexander’s co-authored article 'Coyote Killing: Where Species and Identities Collide.'
Dr. Shelley Alexander is a Professor in the Department of Geography at the University of Calgary, Canada. She has over 30 years of experience studying wild canids, specializing in wolves and coyotes. Her research (Canid Conservation Science Lab) spans from coyote ecology, ethology, and coexistence to ethics, landscape ecology, human dimensions, and geospatial analysis. She engages non-invasive methods and the principles of Compassionate Conservation in research. Shelley has provided expert review and testimony for international communities and developed policy/protocols for human-coyote coexistence. For more information, see https://profiles.ucalgary.ca/shelley-alexander
NOVEMBER 8: LIVE PERFORMANCE
CROW STONE TONE POEM
a multispecies performance by Julie Andreyev
+ artists talk: in conversation with Daphne Plessner
+ interactive session
Saturday, November 8, 2025
@ Bothkinds Project Space
602 E. Hastings Street
Vancouver BC
V6A 1R1
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'Crow Stone Tone Poem' is a sound art performance that was performed live at Bothkinds Project Space. It is based on an experience with a free-living crow who lives in the territory that includes Andreyev's home. The crow initiated the project by gifting Andreyev a pebble for water she left for the crow's family. That instance started a dialogue between them, using stones. The ten stone arrangements made by the crow and Andreyev were adapted into a score and solo performance for land-based and electronic instruments. This session will include the artist's introduction to the project in conversation with Daphne Plessner, a performance of Crow Stone Tone Poem, and an invitation to audience members to interact with the work's bespoke instruments. The limited-edition score for Crow Stone Tone Poem is on display in the gallery, along with other gifts from the crows.
Julie Andreyev is an interdisciplinary artist, researcher and educator in so-called Vancouver, on the unceded territories of the xÊ·mÉ™θkÊ·É™yÌ“É™m (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and sÉ™lÌ“ilwÌ“É™taʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. Her multispecies studio explores more-than-human creativity to develop kinships with local lifeforms and ecologies. Andreyev has a PhD from Simon Fraser University. She is Associate Professor and co-director of the Basically Good Media Lab, at Emily Carr University of Art & Design. Her current practice includes creative co-productions with birds (Bird Park Survival Station), and sound art experiences with forest ecologies (Branching Songs). Her book is Lessons from a Multispecies Studio: Uncovering Ecological Understanding & Biophilia through Creative Reciprocity. Intellect Books, 2021. Website: www.julieandreyev.com; instagram: @multispecies.studio
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NOVEMBER 11: GUEST SPEAKERS
SALMON IN THE CITY
a conversation with Doug LaFortune & Misty MacDuffee
Tuesday, November 11
This was an online event
Recording available upon request
Guest speaker Misty MacDuffee discussed the importance of salmon as a keystone species, and the state of salmon and their migrational waterways that are impacted by urbanization, such as within the city of Vancouver. Misty MacDuffee is a salmon biologist and her research charts the condition of salmon and their wellbeing in the Fraser Delta region, and salmon-bearing watersheds of the BC coast. Doug LaFortune shared his personal experiences and insights on the importance of salmon as essential to human and more-than-human life within WSANEC tradition and culture and within his own artwork.
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Members of the public were invited (but not required) to read:
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M. MacDuffee, Kehoe, L.J., J.Lund, L. Chalifour, et al., 2021. Conservation in heavily urbanized biodiverse regions requires urgent management action and attention to governance. Conservation Science and Practice 3, no. 2 (2021): e310 https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.310
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MacDuffee, M., Chalifour, L., Holt, C., Camaclang, et al., 2022. Identifying a pathway towards recovery for depleted wild Pacific salmon populations in a large watershed under multiple stressors. Journal of Applied Ecology, 59(9), pp.2212-2226. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.14239
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Misty MacDuffee works for Raincoast Conservation Foundation. She is a salmon biologist with a focus on fisheries ecology in salmon ecosystems. For the past 15 years, she has undertaken various types of field, laboratory, technical and conservation assessments in the salmon-bearing watersheds of the BC coast. She has a particular interest in the role of salmon as critical food sources for wildlife and incorporating their needs into salmon management decisions. The application of her work is to implement ecosystem considerations in fisheries management. This often requires engagement with management, dialogue and stakeholder forums that affect fisheries and wildlife policy.
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Doug LaFortune is an esteemed Coast Salish artist, Elder, and member of the W̱SÁNEĆ First Nation. He lives on the reserve lands of Tsawout First Nation, located on the Southern tip of what is currently called Vancouver Island, BC, Canada. LaFortune studied art in Victoria, BC, and more formatively, he studied carving with the world-renowned Coast Salish carver, Simon Charlie. LaFortune’s accomplishments span several decades and artistic mediums, such as screen printing and drawing, and numerous carvings (poles) have been installed at public sites across Canada and the United States, Japan and Europe. His welcome figures flank the entrance of First Peoples House at the University of Victoria. A retrospective of his work can be seen at the Legacy Gallery, University of Victoria, BC until December 6th.