During the 2026 garden season, local artist and ecologist Lisa Matthias will be George Pegg Botanic Garden’s inaugural Artist-in-Residence! Lisa will undertake an interdisciplinary project combining botanical research, experimental printmaking, and public engagement. Working directly with the living garden collections and historic herbarium specimens associated with George Pegg, she will create new artworks like woodcuts and etchings that examine Alberta plant life from individual leaves and herbarium notes to whole garden landscapes shaped by climate and cultivation. Visitors will be invited into the process through on-site artist-in-residence days, including demonstrations and hands-on activities that connect botanical science with contemporary art. The residency will culminate in an on-site exhibition of new work created at the garden, offering audiences a unique and layered experience of local plant history, ecology, and creative practice.
Artist Biography
Lisa Matthias is an interdisciplinary artist and trained ecologist based in Parkland County, Alberta. She holds an MFA in Printmaking and an MSc in Botany, and her practice integrates rigorous ecological research with experimental printmaking techniques including woodcut, etching, and animation. Her work often engages with living plant communities, herbarium collections, and environmental change, translating scientific observation into visually rich, conceptually driven artworks. Matthias has exhibited widely in Canada and the United States and has held artist residencies at home and abroad, with schools, parks, and research institutions. She is known for research-based projects that combine art-making, public engagement, and environmental education.
Website: lisamatthias.com