eco-conspiracies

CON: with
SPIRE: to Breathe

The idea of eco-conspiracies grows from the idea that we breathe together with plants. As the foundation of ecological webs, native and bioregional appropriate plants serve to restore habitats, especially through the tight urban spaces where most of us dwell. Opening space for contemplative practice, we invite visitors to slow down and breathe with surrounding plants in our spheres, practice creative acts of sci/art conservation, and share seeds and their stories with neighbors to pass regenerative acts forward.

Using Art to Bring Wildlife Conservation Closer to Home
Broadening perceptions of ‘home’ to include outdoors spheres around our lived-in structures, we encourage deepened relationships with non-human species who dwell with us in the urban corridors we call home, thinking of ways we may increase connectivity across Denver’s communities.

EXHIBITION
DATES: March 1 – April 30, 2026
An immersive installation sharing stories of creative restoration work by practitioners within the Creature Conserve community interspersed with local artists’ multi-disciplinary approaches of re-inhabiting conservation.

Spring 2026 engagements

Sunday, March 29: 10a – 12p
Native Seed Packaging Work Party

Hang out and help us package up seed for the upcoming Colorado Native Plant Society‘s Annual Conference and local seed shares. Participants can take seed with them after the event. The Galleries are a lovely, light-filled space perfect for this kind of slow, relaxing work. Come pack seeds and chill. We will provide seed, envelopes, packing instructions, and a place to make new friends. Feeling creative? Lee Lee will offer hints on how to approach washes & resists to create art for seed packaging.
GALLERIES on DOWNING: 420 North Downing, Denver CO 80218

Saturday, April 18: 1-4p
Volunteer Day & Plant Exchange in the Stiles African American Heritage Gardens

Join us for spring spruce-up of the Stiles Gardens! We will be giving away pollinator powerhouses that were installed with the People & Pollinators Action Network as we thin the garden to open space for more diverse plantings. Seeds will be sown & are available to take home. Bring your own garden thinnings to share with the community. Kala Greene, director of the Stiles Center will be on hand from 2-4p to give tours of the Heritage Center founded by her mother, Grace in the early 1990s.
Stiles African American Heritage Center 2607 Glenarm Place, Denver, CO 80205

Thursday, April 30: 6:30 – 8:30p
Goodbye Grass! Workshop with Faith Williams Dyrsten

Faith’s mixed-media illustrations are observations on the phases of new growth, ongoing
decay, and insect life. After removing the turf grass from her front yard using the “cardboard composting” method, Faith took pieces of cardboard back into these changed garden spaces and created live drawings of the plants. This series questions our needs for the traditional suburban grass lawns and considers what can happen when we create more pollinator-friendly spaces. Workshop will be paired with a demonstration of the cardboard method in the gardens at the GALLERIES and a presentation on grass replacement methods.
GALLERIES on DOWNING: 420 North Downing, Denver CO 80218

Sunday, May 17: 10a-noon
Nature’s Notebook mural walk with Catie Michel

Join the Colorado Native Plant Society and Denver artist, Catie Michel as we establish a phenology trail & hear about the creative process behind Catie’s Nature’s Notebook mural. Commissioned by the Sand Creek Regional Greenway Partnership for their 25th Anniversary, this ~3,915 sq ft mural features five large, trompe l’oeil-style field notebooks detailing some of the beings found along the Sand Creek Regional Greenway: Plants and Pollinators, Aquatic Habitats, Reptiles and Amphibians, Mammals, and Birds. Various tools of observation accompany the organisms: hand loupe, pencil, magnifying glass, species checklist, binoculars. Notes, diagrams, and labels in both Spanish and English fill the pages. Here is a short reflection about the project.

Thursday, May 21: 7pm
Artist – peer critique with Faith Williams Dyrsten

A free group for all artists and creators seeking to improve their work through thoughtful, peer feedback. Meeting every Third Thursday in Denver since 2013.
GALLERIES on DOWNING: 420 North Downing, Denver CO 80218

Saturday, June 6: 10a – 1p
Slow Food Denver’s Great Bake-sale

Highlighting Colorado’s robust ‘grain chain’ we will be gathering in one of Denver’s most prominent private gardens to celebrate our local producers. This event will highlight Slow Food Denver’s mission to bring good, clean & fair food to Front Range communities, with a focus on seed to plate education for Denver’s youth. Lee Lee will lead creative activities integrating Colorado grains for participants to take home.

Friday, June 19th: 11a – 3p
Juneteenth at the Stiles African American Heritage Center

Every year on “Freedom Day” the SAAHC hosts a partner event with the larger community celebration. We serve the traditional red drinks and watermelon to all who pass by! Join us in the gardens surrounding the Stiles Center where we will disburse the first round of plant ID signs that carry stories of African American plant relationships. This project is supported by the Regional Arts Organization’s Walking Together: Investing in Folklife in Communities of Color. Learn more about the Stiles Gardens
Stiles African American Heritage Center 2607 Glenarm Place, Denver, CO 80205

RSVP to any of these engagements by e’mailing leelee@creatureconserve.com

REVIEW: New Art Space Galleries on Downing Cultivates Community
Habitat Library has also found a temporary home in the space.
Come see it at an October 5 open house. By Kristen Fiore – WESTWORD

TAOS distillery

– Restorative Retreats – Community Workshops – Sci/Art Residencies –

Acequia
El Agua es la Vida – Water is Life

TAOS | New Mexico
The TAOS Distillery sits on Los Lovatos ditch, the oldest of 75 active Acequias in the Taos Valley. Today it is used as a platform that bridges art & science to engage discourse around water issues in arid steppe ecologies.

Tetouan | Morocco
Tracing origins of Acequias: the Rif
Residency at Green Olive Arts

Blanca | Spain
Investigations of Acequias installed in this valley by Andalusian settlers who arrived on the Iberian Peninsula in the 9th century. The ‘huerta’ was their last stronghold before being pushed back into Morocco.
Residency at AADK

 

FIELDWORKS

SEED :: den
Stiles African American Heritage Gardens

Mulatamicuwon | MAINE

SEED | Haiti