Michael Lewis

Lecturer

By working at the intersection of art, wayfinding, and urban ecology, Michael Lewis has found inspiration in the navigation of an unknown future. Building upon the historic perspective explored on The Waterlines Project Map, he is currently working with the community to develop a dialogue of future climate change adaptation and resilience through art, design, and activism.

Michael is the founder of Bellwether Design, and co-founder of Finding Our Way, About Nature, and Inkwell Collective. Recently, for Seattle Art Museum’s inaugural Winter at SAM, Michael worked to host a weekend art event on Creative Cartography. Other projects include The Waterlines Project Map, the filaments installation, The Earthworks Tour, the City of Kent Public Art Identity Project, and a number of temporary art installations, focused on the perception of processes. Michael has worked on a number of collaborative landscape design projects with Higbee Design Collaborative, Just Health Action, Urban Systems Design, and Michelle Arab Studio. These projects include Maa nyei lai ndeic P-Patch, a King County Demonstration Youth Raingarden, JW Marriott in Cabo San Lucas, and a series of residences in Taiwan.

As an instructor, Michael has developed and taught courses at Antioch University and the University of Washington, including courses on art and nature, citizen science, urban ecology, environmental research methods, and Pacific Northwest canoe culture. He is currently the Faculty Coordinator for the Humans in the Environment Program at UW. His curriculum overlaps art and science to facilitate critical place-based learning and creativity in community activism. Michael has also taught in CEP and has assisted in courses in the Department of Landscape Architecture. Michael has a Master’s degree in Landscape Architecture and a Bachelor of Science with highest honors in Environmental Studies.