UMass Amherst Libraries Exhibits Reception

Please join the Libraries for a reception celebrating both spring exhibits in the Science and Engineering Library.

"The Soil Beneath Us"

Malaika Ross, a Caribbean American artist, earned her B.A. with a focus in soil microbiology from Hampshire College. She went on to study painting and drawing at the Rhode Island School of Design, San Francisco Art Institute, and the Marchutz School of Fine Arts. Additionally, she completed intensive coursework in sustainable farming, ecological restoration, and Hawaiian ethnobotany at the University of Hawai’i, Hilo.

The exhibit features Ross's unconventional mixed media drawings and collages exploring ecological concepts based in the rhizosphere. She collages various microscope images of one type of soil microbe, then uses graphite, pencil, and ink to draw the collage and explore the shapes and patterns created as microbes merge, resulting in an abstracted soil landscape.

"Harvesting Color: A Seasonal Journal"

Tony(a) Lemos has worked as a community herbalist/educator in Western MA for over 25 years as director of Blazing Star Herbal School. She helps people connect with plants as allies for healing (physical / mentaland spiritual). 

Additionally she has taught workshops on place based art and book making regionally including at the Arnold Arboretum at Harvard University, The New England Botanical Garden, The Provincetown Art Museum, Books in the Woods, and Shepherd and Maudsley Printmaking. She has shown her art work in several local galleries both solo and in group shows, and has curated several shows locally. She is a studio monitor and on the faculty at Zea Mays Printmaking and is currently in an MFA program through Clark University.