Program

Document Spring Project Manager
OACC's Artistic Director

Environmental advocacy and its importance in OACC's artistic mission.

Executive Director, Duluth Art Institute

Christina is the Executive Director of the Duluth Art Institute, Vice-Chair of the State of Minnesota Capitol Arts Exhibition Committee, Consultant with expertise in diversity, equity and inclusion disrupting bias in systems and organizations - 2019 AARP 50 over 50 awardee as a bias buster. She spent ten years as the WDSE “Native Report” field producer and worked as an Adjunct Professor of Communication and Theater Arts at the College of St. Scholastica.

Author, visual storyteller
Document Spring 2020 Lead Photographer

Vernon Northrup (Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa), author of “Akinomaage Teaching from the Earth”. Vern uses photography as a tool to educate both himself and the viewer about the rhythm of nature, the preservation of tradition, and the relationship between resilience and sustainability. He recognizes the ability of the land to act as a narrator and uses photography to reveal the story in landscapes.

iNaturalist is a joint initiative by the California Academy of Sciences and the National Geographic Society.

iNaturalist helps you identify the plants and animals around you and connects you with a community of over 750,000 scientists and naturalists.

By recording and sharing your observations, you’ll create research quality data for scientists working to better understand and protect nature.

Tom Howes - Natural Resources Program Manager, Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa
Kyle Gill - Forest Manager, University of Minnesota Cloquet Forestry Center
Lisa Angelos - Manager, Jay Cooke State Park
Ryan Hueffmeier - Director, Boulder Lake ELC
Randy Kolka - Project Leader, Marcell Experimental Forest

Managers and directors from our five areas of expedition focus during this 2020 season will describe briefly the environment and wildlife present as spring emerges. They will highlight key points of interest and the research that is currently occurring within their region.

Managers and directors from our five areas of expedition focus during this 2020 season will describe briefly the environment and wildlife present as spring emerges. They will highlight key points of interest and the research that is currently occurring within their region.

Executive Director of Duluth Sister Cities International

Ben spent a decade running a nature photography program for at-risk youth. The program impacted the lives of over 1100 kids who got to experience some of the most beautiful places around North and Central America. Through these experiences, they learned to rewrite their internal narrative through a lense of strength, they served as a voice of the deep potential of our most marginalized young people, and they projected a sharp narrative of the transformative power of nature and its value as a source of healing.

Poet, author and College of St. Scholastica professor emeritus Gary Boelhower, 2018-’20 Duluth Poet Laureate.

Gary Boelhower has published 3 poetry collections, his most recent is Naming Rites, published by Holy Cow Press in 2017. His poetry has also appeared in 9 anthologies and many journals and magazines. He is presently serving as the Duluth Poet Laureate. He was awarded the Foley Poetry Prize from America magazine and the Midwest Book Award for his poetry collection Marrow, Muscle, Flight. He is also the author of Choose Wisely: Practical Insights from Spiritual Traditions, and co-author of Mountain 10: Climbing the Labyrinth Within. Gary is semi-retired but continues to teach as an adjunct at The College of St. Scholastica where he is professor emeritus.

plein air painter

Matt Kania is an oil painter, plein air artist, and fine art printmaker living in Duluth. An endless desire for being outdoors and a profound love for the art of painting has made plein air painting a natural fit for Matt. Most important to Matt is the idea that a painting should reflect what it felt like to be 'in this place, at this time'. Painting pretty pictures of nature is not the goal for Matt -- instead, it is the creation of a painting to serve as a vehicle for the experience of being in a place.

School Liason Coordinator - Document Spring 2020

An Earth Day 50th Anniversary gathering of Fond Du Lac Reservation and Carlton County students, educators, artists, researchers, environmentalists, and community members.