Green Studio Director: Mark Cooley (mcooley(at)gmu.edu)
Mark is an interdisciplinary artist and Associate Professor in George Mason University’s School of Art, where he teaches media production and theory, and ecological art. In 2010, Cooley founded The Green Studio, a concept for an outdoor eco-art studio meant to connect art, design, science, and engineering students in a living studio/lab space for the creation of eco-focused creative projects. Land was granted in 2010 on the grounds of GMU’s Art and Design Building, and Mark has since directed the project, which has offered hundreds of students from across disciplinary boundaries a conceptual and physical space to creatively explore the interdependence of cultural and natural systems. Exhibitions and publications featuring the Green Studio include: Green Acres: Artists Farming Fields, Greenhouses, and Abandoned Lots, exhibition and book curated and edited by Sue Spaid and Field to Palette: Dialogues on Soil and Art in the Anthropocene, edited by Alexandra Toland, Jay Stratton Noller, Gerd Wessolek.
Green Studio Manager: Jenn Ashworth (jashwort(at)gmu.edu)
Jenn Ashworth is a hybrid practitioner and maker with a rich history of experience in visual, performing, eco, and culinary arts. After receiving her BFA in Woodworking at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, she spent the following two decades collaborating with artists, architectural designers, educational centers, small businesses, and theater companies up and down the East Coast.
Jenn managed Nature by Design, a native plant nursery in Alexandria, VA. This led her to partnering with local businesses and farms that focus on nutrition, food justice, and efforts to protect and restore the environment. Jenn is very excited to support the Green Studio as a place for collaboration, experimentation, to share ideas, discover solutions, and express artistic vision.