Join us for a cross-disciplinary Philadelphia-focused panel discussion that reflects elements of our current exhibition, FLOE: A Climate of Risk | The Fictional Archaeology of Stephen Talasnik. FLOE tells the story of a fictitious shipwreck carried to Philadelphia by the glacier that buried it. As global temperatures warmed brought on by climate change, the glacier melted and surrendered the ship’s remains. We’ll discuss with local professionals ships and shipwrecks, urban archaeology and climate change.
Panelists:
Craig Bruns
Craig Bruns currently serves as the Chief Curator at the Independence Seaport Museum, a position he has held for the last thirteen years. In this role, he oversees the collections and archives, the J. Welles Henderson Research Center, and the preservation and interpretation of the Olympia and the Becuna.
Bruns began his tenure at the Museum as Collections Manager, a position he held for eleven years, and was then promoted to Curator, which role he fulfilled for eight years, before being appointed to his current job as Chief Curator, for a total of twenty-eight years at the institution. During this period, in addition to holding multiple positions, he also was involved with the planning and execution of sixty-two exhibits and a Collections Discovery and Reorganization Project, which allows the public broader access to the Museum’s archival and historical artifacts.
Craig holds a BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute, and an MFA from Temple University, Tyler School of Art.
Jessica Gath
Jessica Gath is a possibilitarian who makes artwork in paint, garments, zines, food, correspondence, community, activism, songs, dirt, plants, videos and whatever else gets the job done. Cycles of life and our connections to Earth and one another are integral to her practice. Jessica is a founding member of Artists Commit, an amorphous collective of artists working to support one another, arts workers, institutions, and businesses built up around art and the art world in bringing environmental justice into mainstream conversation and practices.
Meg Crandal Kassabaum
Meg is co-director of Heritage West, a community archaeology project in West Philadelphia. She serves as Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania and Weingarten Associate Curator for North America at the Penn Museum. She is an anthropological archaeologist with research interests in public and museum archaeology, archaeology of Philadelphia, pre-contact Native American archaeology of the Eastern United States, monument construction and communal ritual, foodways, and ceramic technology.
This event is free to the public. The Museum for Art in Wood interprets, nurtures, and champions creative engagement and expansion of art, craft, and design in wood to enhance the public’s understanding and appreciation of it. A suggested donation of $5 per person enables us to provide programs and exhibitions throughout the year.
Questions? Please contact Katie Sorenson, Director of Outreach and Communications at [email protected].