Join us on May 22nd, from 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM at Blueprint Cafe, 3120 St Paul St, Baltimore, MD 21218, for a special roundtable gathering to reflect on a transformative year of in-person and virtual events exploring the theme REIMAGINING LAND. Over the past year, the Ecological Design Collective has hosted a series of community “Groundings” across Baltimore—immersive events that invited participants to consider land as more than territory or property, but as a living, breathing network of relationships between humans, nonhumans, histories, and futures.

This culminating roundtable, taking place at Blueprint Cafe on May 22nd from 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM, features a dynamic group of thinkers, artists, and organizers who have shaped and inspired this year’s programming: Robin Gunkel, Kristine Roome, Nicole Labruto, Anand Pandian, Bill Harvey, and Kenya Miles. Together, they will reflect on how land—particularly urban land in Baltimore—can be reimagined not as a commodity but as a commons, a site of repair, kinship, and ecological design.

How do land-based practices of storytelling, artmaking, healing, and history help us imagine more just and reciprocal relationships with place? This conversation is both a reflection and a call forward—a chance to share what has been learned, unearthed, and seeded, and to consider what may yet emerge.

Roundtable Participants:

Robin Gunkel: Dr. Gunkel is an artist, educator, and community organizer exploring the intersections of ecology, creativity, and collective transformation. She is the founder of Mushroom City Art Festival, a vibrant, all-ages event in Baltimore that blends mycology, environmental education, and the arts. From mushroom forays and sustainable building workshops to immersive sound installations and storytelling, the festival invites playful, community-rooted learning. With a background in creative writing and a doctorate in Sustainability Education, Robin brings together poetry, science, and activism. Her work centers on building thriving creative ecosystems, where each person contributes unique gifts—like nodes in a living mycelial web. Through teaching, organizing, and experimenting, Robin fosters deeper connections with nature and each other, always guided by the belief that “all flourishing is mutual.”

Bill Harvey: Longtime Baltimore resident and public historian. Harvey is the author of The People Is Grass : A History Of Hampden-Woodberry, 1802-1945. (1988).

Nicole Labruto: Dr. Labruto is an assistant research professor in the Department of Anthropology. She received her BA in Anthropology and Philosophy from Mount Holyoke College, her MA in Cultural Anthropology from the New School for Social Research, and her PhD in History, Anthropology, and Science, Technology, and Society from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, during which she was a Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Completion Fellow. She is also the recipient of fellowships from the Social Science Research Council and the Fulbright Foundation. She was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Johns Hopkins University and an Anthropologist-in-Residence at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA). She is a member of the Curatorial Circle of the Ecological Design Collective.

David Landolfi and Adam Malfa: Landolfi and Malfa are joining from Cambium. Cambium actively seeks out trees with natural ‘flaws’ and works with local artisans to transform them into beautiful, functional products. Their approach includes educating consumers about the sustainability benefits of using this wood, as it often comes from local sources and reduces waste. Cambium also collaborates with designers and architects to incorporate this wood into their projects, showcasing its aesthetic and functional value.

Kenya Miles: Miles is an artist, educator, and natural dyer based in Baltimore City who has been growing natural dye plants and reconnecting her community with this historically and culturally significant practice. Kenya works for The Blue Light Junction, which aims to re-establish craft traditions through the lens of natural dyes.

Anand Pandian: Dr. Pandian is Krieger-Eisenhower Professor of Anthropology at Johns Hopkins University, with a joint appointment in Earth & Planetary Sciences. His books include A Possible Anthropology: Methods for Uneasy Times, and Something Between Us: The Everyday Walls of American Life and How to Take Them Down, now available from Stanford University Press. A former department chair of anthropology, he serves now as President of the Society for Cultural Anthropology. He also serves as a curator of the Ecological Design Collective, a community for radical ecological imagination and collaboration. He lives with his family in Baltimore, where he is currently working on a new book project on decay, waste, and the crafting of ecological futures.

Kristine Roome: Dr. Roome is a cultural anthropologist with expertise in arts and culture, science and education. She has a Ph.D. in applied anthropology from Columbia University and has held senior executive positions and faculty roles at Teachers College, Columbia University, The New School University, Maryland Institute College of Art, Howard County Community College and the University of the Witswatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. Among her many public speaking engagements, she has given talks at the Shanghai Museum of Art, Reykjavik University and the United Nations Headquarters on the role of the arts in society. As the Director of Wright Gallery in New York City she curated exhibitions of African art, and later served as a consultant on contemporary and art historical exhibitions with cultural institutions such as the Johannesburg Bienale, the Museum for African Art, Meridien International, and Columbia University. She currently hosts the EcoArts forum on the Ecological Design Collective based in Baltimore: with an international following, the platform brings attention to art and artists engaged in environmental sustainability. In addition, she is an archivist at the Smithsonian Institute/National Anthropology Archives in Washington D.C. and author of the forthcoming book, The Human Feather: Conversations Beyond Art & Science (Routledge 2025). Dr. Roome currently serves in the Moore/Miller administration as a Trustee on the Board of the State of Maryland Historical Trust and as a voting member of the Preservation awards, Investment, and Monument Relocation subcommittees.

Bruce Willen: Willen is a multidisciplinary designer, artist, musician, and the founder of Public Mechanics — a design studio working in public and cultural spaces. Bruce collaborates with civic, arts, and design innovators on projects that jaywalk through the intersection of experiential design, public art, placemaking, performance, and civic design.