Jen de los Reyes is an artist, educator, writer, and community arts organizer. With roots in the Riot Grrrl and DIY music scene, her practice incorporates pedagogical, ecological, and organizational methodologies. She founded and directed Open Engagement, an international conference on socially engaged art that was active from 2007–19.
Fellows come from all over the university, bringing their particular passions and living out the public purpose of their discipline through teaching and researching in, with and for community.
See Details
Groundwork: Artists, Permaculture, and the Practice of Regeneration
Jen de los Reyes
Groundwork is a long-term project exploring how artists use permaculture principles to make and sustain art and culture. Permaculture is a design philosophy rooted in observation, integration and regeneration. Groundwork argues that artists are not observers of the ecological crisis but active participants in responding to it. The project will eventually take the form of three things:
- a large-format newsprint catalog and online archive, inspired by The Whole Earth Catalog
- a hybrid convening of featured artists, timed to the catalog’s release
- Groundwork Quarterly, a mail-based zine
This fellowship year focuses on research and forming the network of artists. I will identify and write about artists whose practices apply permaculture principles.
By the end of the fellowship year, I aim to have a researched roster of artists with first written profiles, a framework for the catalog organized around permaculture design principles, and a core group of artists committed to shaping the project.