Exploring the RISD Nature Lab

Photography by Wolf Matthewson

Edna Lawrence was an artist ahead of her time. A Rhode Island School of Design professor through much of the twentieth century, she traveled extensively with her housemate Bessie Stone and embraced a world where science and art could coexist in the classroom. In 1937, she founded the Nature Lab — now the Edna W. Lawrence Nature Lab at RISD — to expose students to the beauty of nature and house treasures collected on her travels. Today, the lab is home to roughly 100,000 specimens, from seed pods and fossils to a narwhal tusk and a living axolotl named Gulliver. “There’s this huge stereotype that artists are only interested in the artistic aspect of things and scientists are only interested in data,” says Staff Biologist and Collections Manager Benedict Gagliardi. “Natural history specimens have so much potential for storytelling.” In addition to drawing the residents, students have hands-on access to a reference library of critters that can inform their interactions with the outdoors. There’s also a microscopy lab for studying the wonders of nature up-close and a biodesign makerspace to experiment with nature-inspired design. “It’s all in the spirit of encouraging people to look closer and gain inspiration from the natural world,” Gagliardi says. “It hopefully engenders a level of concern in everyone who creates things around here.”