This event will be conducted in-person in the Rose Auditorium and through Zoom. 

For in-person attendance, please register in advance here.
For Zoom attendance, please register here.

Paleoclimate scientist Valerie Trouet and designer Zachary Mollica will present a pair of lectures in conjunction with Zac's Other Wood Pieces exhibition which will be on view in the Third Floor Hallway Gallery from October 1-21.

In her work as a dendrochronologist, Valerie uses the rings in trees to study the climate over the past ~2,000 years and how it has influenced ecosystems and human systems. In her lecture, she will discuss motivations for studying climate history, show detailed views of wood anatomy, and explore case studies of past and ongoing scientific research projects.

In his design practice and teaching, Zac is known for projects that employ tree forks and other uncommon pieces of wood directly in products and buildings. In these, he has worked closely with foresters, engineers, fabricators, artists and many others. Zac’s talk will present highlights from a trajectory of projects that have led up to the exhibition on view before delving into the specific stories, meanings and potential uses of several of the 24 objects that make up his Other Wood Pieces collection.

The talks will be followed by a discussion between Valerie and Zac and a Q&A moderated by Benjamin Aranda. An exhibition reception will take place after the lectures and discussion.

Valerie Trouet is a professor in dendrochronology at the University of Arizona and is currently serving as the scientific director of the Belgian Climate Centre. She is a dendroclimatologist who uses the rings in trees to study climate change over the past ~2,000 years and how it has impacted human systems and ecosystems. She has published more than 100 scientific publications and is the author of Tree Story (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2020), a broad audience book about dendrochronology that has been translated in seven languages. She is a Kavli Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences and received an honorary doctorate (2023) from Wageningen University in The Netherlands. 

Zachary Mollica is an educator, architect, and maker who works with trees.  His work integrates digital methods with craft and material knowledge in pursuit of better ways to build.  Zac recently completed a two-year term as the inaugural Emerging Architect Fellow at the University of Toronto’s Daniels Faculty where he is now a part-time assistant professor.

Until 2021, Zac lived in and led Hooke Park, a 350-acre working forest in Dorset, England, that is a second home for students of the Architectural Association. Surrounded by trees, tools and multi-skilled collaborators, in Hooke Park, Zac contributed to novel projects deploying alternative forest products. These built on earlier contributions by Andy Goldsworthy, Frei Otto, Martin Self, and many others.

This event is free and open to the public. Registration is required.