Outdoors Unscripted announces grant awards for art exploring outdoor spaces in Douglas County

• Misti Boland and Jeremy Osbern, “Between Seasons: The Kansas Wetlands in Transition” — Boland (pictured) and Osbern plan to present their watercolor, video and sound installation in the place that inspires it: the Baker Wetlands. Attendees will be able to experience the art in the Discovery Center and check out the surrounding wetlands through “guided observation and participatory art-making,” per the release. Both folks on this awardee team are artists, and Boland is Emmy-nominated.

• Shannon Gorres, “Journeys in the Web of Interbeing: Guided Audio Meditative Explorations” — Gorres is a certified nature and forest therapy guide. With the grant, Gorres is going to create 25- to 45-minute guided audio meditations for Prairie Park and Lawrence Nature Park. There will be a new recording each season so people can make repeat visits for new experiences.

• Lisa Gotto, “Ecologies of Fire and Disability: A Seasonal Field Study” — Gotto’s work will draw connections between a fire-adpated prairie ecosystem and lived experiences with a disability. Gotto, an artist, scientist and retired environmental professional, will conduct seasonal fieldwork while using sensory observation, movement practices, creative writing and more to create the project. Folks can see the final product in an exhibition of essays, poetry, audio work and eco-collage.

• Blanca Herrada, “Together, We Ascend” — Herrada, a queer, Mexican-American artist and activist in Lawrence, will create a 12-by-12-foot wooden frame outside and invite community members to paint 500 wooden butterflies with eco-friendly paint. People can write where their ancestors are from and then hang their butterflies on the frame to learn about one another’s histories as well as butterflies and pollinators.

• Sky Maggiore, “Brewing Botanicals: Experimental Toning and Tanning Cyanotype Prints” — Though cyanotypes are known for their distinctive blue and white hues, Sky Maggiore wants to experiment using toners created from native plants, which can “produce a variety of effects on their original Prussian blue,” according to the release. Maggiore, a photography lecturer at the University of Kansas, will include fieldwork, foraging hikes and community workshops in their process.

• Tess Wilson, “Ode to the Outdoors: A Collaborative Zine Exploring Douglas County” — Wilson is a librarian, artist and educator. They will curate digitized archival materials on Kansas history, landscapes and habitats for folks at public workshops to transform into collages about their connection to Kansas landscapes. Those workshops will take place at libraries and community art spaces throughout Douglas County. A print version of the resulting zine will be distributed in the community, and a digital edition will be available online.