Art Insights: Unnatural Habitats

Lori Larusso is an American visual artist whose practice encompasses painting and installation, examining themes of class, gender, and anthropocentrism–and how these systems both mirror and shape culture. Her work has been exhibited widely across the United States and is included in public collections such as KMAC Contemporary Art Museum and 21c Museum, as well as numerous private collections.

Larusso has been awarded prestigious residencies and fellowships at institutions including the Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, McColl Center for Art + Innovation, Sam & Adele Golden Foundation, and MacDowell, where she received the Milton and Sally Avery Fellowship. Her honors include the Kentucky Arts Council’s Al Smith Fellowship and Individual Artist Fellowship, a South Arts Fellowship, and multiple grants from both the Great Meadows Foundation and the Kentucky Foundation for Women.

Larusso earned an MFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) and a BFA from the University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (DAAP). Recent solo exhibitions include P-22 Pool Party at Rubine Red Gallery (Palm Springs, CA), Gaze & Garnish at Tinney Contemporary (Nashville, TN), Precarious Panoply at the Alice F. and Harris K. Weston Art Gallery (Cincinnati, OH).

Her work is represented by Galleri Urbane (Dallas, TX). She lives and works in Louisville, Kentucky.

Dr. Laura Bernstein-Kurtycz is the Conservation and Research Coordinator at the Little Rock Zoo.

In her role, she manages the Zoo’s local and international conservation partnerships and advances the Zoo’s sustainability initiatives, including Gorillas on the Line mobile device recycling, Lights for Lions holiday light recycling, and quarterly recycling events for residents in collaboration with the Little Rock Sustainability Office and Keep Little Rock Beautiful. In addition, she facilitates external research projects and trains interns in animal behavior and welfare research. She is the vice program leader of the AZA Saving Animals From Extinction (SAFE) Sloth Bear program that works to support sloth bear conservation in the wild.

Dr. Laura received her bachelor’s degree in biological anthropology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a master’s degree in social science from the University of Chicago, and a PhD in biology from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland Ohio. Her doctoral thesis focused on bear behavior and welfare at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo.

Leslie Cooper is the Monarch and Pollinator Coordinator with Quail Forever in Arkansas. This partnership position is made possible through an agreement with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). She is the coordinator for the Arkansas Monarch Conservation Partnership and helps facilitate progress toward the strategic goals outlined in the Arkansas Monarch and Pollinator Conservation Plan. Part of this statewide plan is to deliver acres of habitat critical to the survival and population growth of monarch butterflies, pollinators, and upland wildlife.

Leslie is based at the NRCS state office in Little Rock, Arkansas, where she lives with her husband, Adam, their two children, their bird dog Dot, and as many plants as she can smuggle into the house.