Artist Toolbox Talk: Art, Design & Regeneration
Sunday, June 28 | 10:00 am–11:30 am
Free and open to all | Attendance capped at 20 guests | First come, first served

Artist and designer Megan Valanidas will share her experience with creative practice as a tool to influence larger, complex systems. Creative practice has a unique capacity to ask questions before answers are needed and to metabolize complexity before it becomes policy, product, or infrastructure. As artists we know that experimentation is not preliminary (something you do before the “real work”), but a core methodology—especially when working with living systems, emergent materials, and uncertain futures. Megan invites the audience to consider the role of the artist/designer when the living world is considered a direct audience. What possibilities exist for your work when conceived from this lens?

Presentation and Q&A will lead into time for informal discussion and self-directed art making with bioplastics. Participants are encouraged to bring favorite materials and works in progress to experiment with bioplastic integration.

About Megan Valanidas/MULCH:

Megan Valanidas is an industrial designer and studio artist working at the intersection of biobased materials, regenerative product design, and material literacy. She creates research-driven prototypes and tactile labeling systems that help products perform in use and safely return to soil, collaborating with scientists, composters, and agricultural practitioners.

MULCH

Mulch is a pioneering design firm specializing in Regenerative Product Design; utilizing biobased materials that address both environmental and human needs. Mulch tackles the critical need for clear waste stream practices in compostable goods. By doing so, Mulch positions itself to set industry standards for circularity, ensuring products enhance ecosystems at the end of their lifecycle. Our firm spans consumer material understanding, waste streams, behavior change, and cultural dynamics, establishing industry leadership for success in circular design standards.