The Nature Conservancy Announces 2025 Andy Warhol Visual Arts Program Artists
Four artists will each lead a free workshop this fall, inspired by nature at the Andy Warhol Preserve in Montauk, New York
Media Contacts
-
Hannah Freedman
Media Relation Manager
Email: Hannah.freedman@tnc.org
Register for workshops at nature.org/nyevents
The Nature Conservancy in New York is pleased to announce the 2025 Andy Warhol Visual Arts Program artists. Selected from a record pool of applicants, Art Werger, Jessamyn Go, Alia Knowlan and Eleanor Kagan will each lead art-making workshops this fall at the Andy Warhol Preserve in Montauk, New York. Free and open to the public, these hands-on workshops steer participants to nature for contemplation, inspiration and creation. The Andy Warhol Preserve is an oceanfront nature preserve that was donated in 1992 to The Nature Conservancy by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.
“We’re excited to continue this vibrant tradition of art and nature on Long Island’s East End,” said Bill Ulfelder, executive director of The Nature Conservancy in New York. “The artist workshops on the Andy Warhol Preserve not only celebrate the beauty of nature and the ever-changing ocean and coastline, they offer a creative platform to explore and raise awareness about Montauk’s vulnerability and potential resilience in the face of escalating climate pressures like sea-level rise and more intense storms. Art can connect us to nature and to each other. We deeply appreciate the support of The Andy Warhol Foundation in making this experience possible.”
"The Andy Warhol Foundation is pleased to support The Nature Conservancy in presenting the Andy Warhol Visual Arts Program. This program provides artists with an opportunity to connect art and nature and combines two significant aspects of Warhol’s legacy; preserving and caring for the land in Montauk, which he valued and shared, and nurturing the creativity of artists," says Joel Wachs, President of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.
A total of four workshops will be offered on October 4, October 11, November 1 and November 8.
All workshops are free to the public. Space is limited, and pre-registration is required. Most programs welcome all ages. Participants under 16 must be accompanied by a guardian. To register and learn more, visit nature.org/nyevents. For images, contact hannah.freedman@tnc.org.
Want to attend a free workshop?
Attend on of the free workshops this fall, lead by these four artists and inspired by nature at the Andy Warhol Preserve in Montauk, New York
About the 2025 Andy Warhol Visual Arts Program Workshops
Art Werger, Plein-Air Drawing on Black Paper
11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m., Saturday, October 4, 2025
Using colored pencils and watercolor, Art Werger will guide students in responding to the often-overwhelming natural landscape. By focusing on shape, form, and color relationships, participants will learn to see and feel the environment in new ways.
Werger is Professor Emeritus at Ohio University, where he served as Chair of both Foundations and Printmaking and was named a Presidential Research Scholar. He earned a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design (1978) and an MFA from the University of Wisconsin (1982), and also taught at Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia. Since retiring in 2020, he has concentrated on plein-air drawing around his Montauk, New York home.
His etchings and mezzotints have been exhibited internationally for more than thirty years. Notable honors include the International Printmaking Prize at the Guanlan International Printmaking Biennial and the Grand Prize at the International Mezzotint Festival in Ekaterinburg (both 2015). His work is held in major collections such as the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Brooklyn Museum, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Ekaterinburg Museum and the Guanlan International Printmaking Museum.
Jessamyn Go, Shaping the Shoreline
11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m., Saturday, October 11, 2025
Under Jessamyn Go’s instruction, participants will have the opportunity to craft ornamental ceramic pieces such as pendants, wind chimes and hanging forms, incorporating natural materials gathered from the shoreline.
Go is an Asian American, ceramic artist, educator and environmental conservationist, renowned for her textural biomorphic sculptures and community contributions. She is the founder of Femme Sole, creating unique functional design and sculptural art. Her studio is based in Mastic Beach on the East End of Long Island, New York. She will lead an immersive, land-based workshop focused on creating ornamental ceramic sound devices such as percussive pendants, wind chimes and hanging forms.
Alia Knowlan, Colors of the Living World
12:00 – 3:00 p.m., Saturday, November 1, 2025
Alia Knowlan will guide participants through the process of mixing plant matter with water and a sap-based binder to make watercolor paintings and gain a deeper understanding of the plants around them.
Knowlan is an artist, educator and designer exploring the interconnections found within our living world. Her work weaves together art, ecology and research into earth-based practices such as natural color-making, collage, printmaking, painting, regenerative planting, and multispecies community-building. In her research on natural color, Alia ethically forages and cultivates plants and earth pigments to create an array of colors and artistic tools through low-waste, non-chemical, and regenerative processes.
Her work has been shown across the United States and Europe in spaces such as The Arnolfini Museum, The Paris Collage Collective and The Centre for Print Research. She facilitates art and ecology gatherings globally and has designed for a wide range of organizations, such as Brightside Health and Frog Design. She has a B.F.A in Graphic Design, a Master’s in Multidisciplinary Printmaking, and is a lifelong student of the earth and her stewards.
Eleanor Kagan, Threads of Nature: Observing Birds Through Art
11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m., Saturday, November 8, 2025
Following a gentle bird walk around the preserve, participants will be invited to observe and record what they see—through blind contour drawings, quick sketches, notes, lists or simple attention. Artist Eleanor Kagan will then guide the group in translating these observations onto fabric, teaching techniques for embroidering birds or creating fabric collages using glue sticks and scraps.
Kagan is a fiber artist and audio-maker whose work explores concepts of self, place, history, identity and power. Her work lies at the intersection of storytelling, tactile craft and our relationship to the natural world. As a quiltmaker and multidisciplinary artist, she often works with archival materials to create pieces that reflect personal and collective memory. Nature is a central force in her creative practice—not just as subject matter, but as a method of slowing down, paying attention and building care into her work. Her fifteen years spent making audio documentaries, producing radio interviews and doing deep archival research laid a foundation to inform a practice that values deep listening, interconnection and ecological stewardship. With textiles, she expands that practice and seeks to make the intangible tangible through narrative quilt-making using found and repurposed materials.
The Nature Conservancy is a global conservation organization dedicated to conserving the lands and waters on which all life depends. Guided by science, we create innovative, on-the-ground solutions to our world’s toughest challenges so that nature and people can thrive together. We are tackling climate change, conserving lands, waters and oceans at an unprecedented scale, providing food and water sustainably and helping make cities more resilient. The Nature Conservancy is working to make a lasting difference around the world in 83 countries and territories (39 by direct conservation impact and 44 through partners) through a collaborative approach that engages local communities, governments, the private sector, and other partners. To learn more, visit nature.org or follow @nature_press on X.