Nature Journaling as a Path to Connection and Discovery

Dotty Widmann will explore how nature journaling, through the intersection of art, writing, and nature, can enhance our experience and deepen our connection with the natural world. Using mushrooms as a focus, she will share techniques that encourage closer observation, heightened perception, and a deeper way of seeing, learning, and engaging with the living world around us.

Dotty Bio:

Dotty Widmann is an artist, educator, and longtime Cordova, Alaska business owner who has spent more than 40 years creating opportunities for people to connect through art and handcraft. As the founder of The Net Loft, she has taught and encouraged creativity in her community and throughout Alaska. Inspired by the extraordinary landscape and wildlife of coastal Alaska, Dotty is especially drawn to nature journaling as a way of slowing down, paying attention, and discovering the beauty and stories found in the natural world. She believes that you don’t have to be an expert artist or naturalist to begin—you simply have to look closely and be curious.

Dave is an amateur fungal enthusiast who has been picking and identifying mushrooms in Southeast Alaska for 35 years. He regularly leads mushroom walks and gives presentations in Juneau and surrounding communities. He has been working in biology in various capacities in Alaska for about the same amount of time, and is currently with the ADFG Division of Wildlife Conservation. He has always been outdoor oriented, and is an avid sea kayaker.

Aviva Kinoko, born in Israel, is an eco-world traveler passionate about mushrooms working and volunteering in mushroom farms around the world. She is a phenomenal painter, artist and yoga-instructor. She teaches Hebrew as well as speaks Spanish and is learning Arabic. She loves to cook and eat mushrooms and spends a lot of her time in nature with her beloved dog Amadou! Her vivacious attitude towards life brings out the best in others around her.

Micah developed his encyclopedic beer knowledge over the two decades he spent homebrewing and beardgrowing before fully self-actualizing as Cordova’s brewmaster. Harmony was raised in rural Hawai’i by kombucha-drinking hippies and the early Internet before appointing herself Micah’s protege. Was there ever a better pair to opine on the magic of fermentation?