Selected Work
2026
PRESENTATIONS
2026 RI Land & Water Conservation Summit
On Miyawaki Forests & Beavers
March 21, 2026
URI Memorial Union
South Kingstown, Rhode Island
GROUP EXHIBITION
Unearthly Earthy Things
AS220 - Aborn Gallery
Providence, RI
March 7th - March 28th 2026
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GROUP EXHIBITION
Reciprocal Ecology
ShowUp
Boston, MA
March 6 - April 26, 2026
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WEBINAR CURATION & PRESENTATION
I had the wonderful opportunity to curate a webinar on floating wetlands and how life improves water quality with Water Stories.
Watch here.
2025
MIYAWAKI FOREST
Through my work with Biodiversity for a Livable Climate, I coordinated the planning and creation of a 3,000 sq ft Miyawaki forest—1,140 native trees and shrubs—at Belmont High School in Belmont, MA, developed in collaboration with the Miyawaki Forest Action Belmont (MFAB) community group and botanist and ecological advisor Walter Kittredge.
Learn more here.
ADVISORY BOARD
Part of the The Loeb Fellowship Advisory Group
Rhode Island School of Design
for the “Geometry of Uncertainty: Meaning, Exploration & Application of Design Science” Symposium
https://designscience.risd.edu/
EVENT CURATION, ORGANIZATION, FACILITATION
Led the curation and creative direction of the 2025 Northeast Miniforest Summit – Root to Canopy: Growing the Miyawaki Method – and played a supporting role in its coordination.
https://miniforests.bio4climate.org/
PRESENTATIONS
Instant Ecosystems: The Miyawaki Method for
Rapid Forest Growth
Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University
March 2025
Our Looming Water Crisis
with Judith Schwartz & Zuzka Mulkerin
Virtual
April 2025
Miniforest as a Microcosm
Virtual
July 2025
FLOATING WETLAND - MAINTENANCE, CREATIVE DIRECTION: WEBSITE DESIGN & PHOTOGRAPHY
Throughout the spring, summer, and fall of 2025, we repaired and replanted the floating wetland, tending to its seasonal transformations. I documented its unfolding through photography, shared moments of its growth on social media, and shaped the website’s visual language, design and storytelling.
https://belowandabovecollective.life/
2024
NEWS FEATURE
Our second floating wetland structure was featured in Providence Journal, Providence Eye and EcoRI
READ/REFLECT/CREATE CLUB : BEAVERS
Creature Conserve
Every Tuesday in July 2024 (July 2, 9, 16, 23 and 30), running from 6:30 to 8:30 PM EST. Full syllabus here.
WEBINAR CURATION AND FACILITATION
Creature Conserve
Beavers : Restorers of Biodiversity
Virtual on Zoom
June 13th, 4:00 - 5:30 PM EST
Webinar recording here
SITE-SPECIFIC INSTALLATION
Below and Above Collective
Constructed Floating Wetland
Polo Lake, Roger Williams Park
Providence, RI
Installation Launch: June 15th (open to the public)
12:00 PM - 4:00 PM EST
June 2024 - December 2025
*We are honored to be joined by Lorén M. Spears, Executive Director of the Tomaquag Museum and Narragansett Tribal elder, who will deliver a Land Acknowledgement at 12:30 PM.
MIYAWAKI FORESTS
Bio4Climate recently planted two microforests in partnership with the BSC Group and the City of Worcester. Read “From Parking Lot & Lawn to Miyawaki Forests. Transforming Worcester, MA” with photos taken by me and text written by Maya Dutta.
PHOTO + WRITING COMISSION
Orca Living
Leave the Leaves
April 2024
*started working at Biodiversity 4 a Livable Climate (Bio4Climate) in the Miyawaki Forest Program in April 2024
CURATION & EDUCATIONAL FACILITATION
Creature Conserve
Curatorial Fellow
Theme: Beavers-Humans Co-Existence & Ecology
Facilitating a webinar with diverse knowledge holders, a “Read/Reflect/Create” club and creating a curated list of resources.
March - September 2024
2023
GROUP EXHIBITION
Re-Imagining Conservation: From Many Viewpoints
National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson Hole, Wyoming
Animation of “Below and Above, a Floating Wetland Supports Life” in collaboration with Holly Ewald
July 1st - November 13th, 2023
PRESENTATION
Below and Above Collective about our work with floating wetlands.
Stormwater Innovation Expo
October 18th 2023
GROUP EXHIBITION
RISD 2023 Grad Biennial
Interior Atlas: Ways of Research
Sol Koffler Graduate Student Gallery @ RISD
co-curated by Anne West and Holly Gaboriault
September 7th - October 12th 2023
VIRTUAL PANEL
Curated Conservation: A Virtual Panel Conversation with
Re-Imagining Conservation: From Many Viewpoints
Exhibiting Artists
October 8, 2023 @ 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm EST
NEWS FEATURE
EcoRI wrote about our floating wetland structure. Read the article “Award-Winning Floating Wetland Possible Remedy for Blue-Green Algae Blooms.”
AWARD
Below and Above, A Floating Wetland Supports Life was recognized as the winning art installation of the outdoor exhibition “Art on the Trails: Transformation 2023”
SITE-SPECIFIC INSTALLATION
ART ON THE TRAILS: TRANSFORMATION 2023
on Ice Pond at the Elaine and Philip Beals Preserve Southborough, Massachusetts
Constructed floating wetland “Below and Above, a Floating Wetland Supports Life” in collaboration with August Lehrecke, Matthew P. Muller, Holly Ewald, Hope Leeson, Maxwell Fertik
June 10 - September 17th, 2023
PHOTO COMISSION
The Atlantic
Photograph of an earthworm taken in my
community garden plot
May 31st 2023
COLLECTIVE POETRY READING & LIVE PERFORMANCE
Edna Lawrence Nature Lab | Rhode Island School of Design
Readings by poet Eleni Sikelianos from her latest work, "Your Kingdom," along with the writing of other poets and scholars, including myself.
April 19th 2023
VIRTUAL LECTURE
Rhode Island School of Design
Alumni Speaking Series Between a Bookshelf and a Pond
March 20th 2023
2026
PRESENTATIONS
2026 RI Land & Water Conservation Summit
On Miyawaki Forests & Beavers
March 21, 2026
URI Memorial Union
South Kingstown, Rhode Island
GROUP EXHIBITION
Unearthly Earthy Things
AS220 - Aborn Gallery
Providence, RI
March 7th - March 28th 2026
GROUP EXHIBITION
Reciprocal Ecology
ShowUp
Boston, MA
March 6 - April 26, 2026
WEBINAR CURATION & PRESENTATION
I had the wonderful opportunity to curate a webinar on floating wetlands and how life improves water quality with Water Stories.
Watch here.
2025
MIYAWAKI FOREST
Through my work with Biodiversity for a Livable Climate, I coordinated the planning and creation of a 3,000 sq ft Miyawaki forest—1,140 native trees and shrubs—at Belmont High School in Belmont, MA, developed in collaboration with the Miyawaki Forest Action Belmont (MFAB) community group and botanist and ecological advisor Walter Kittredge.
Learn more here.
ADVISORY BOARD
Part of the The Loeb Fellowship Advisory Group
Rhode Island School of Design
for the “Geometry of Uncertainty: Meaning, Exploration & Application of Design Science” Symposium
https://designscience.risd.edu/
EVENT CURATION, ORGANIZATION, FACILITATION
Led the curation and creative direction of the 2025 Northeast Miniforest Summit – Root to Canopy: Growing the Miyawaki Method – and played a supporting role in its coordination.
https://miniforests.bio4climate.org/
PRESENTATIONS
Instant Ecosystems: The Miyawaki Method for
Rapid Forest Growth
Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University
March 2025
Our Looming Water Crisis
with Judith Schwartz & Zuzka Mulkerin
Virtual
April 2025
Miniforest as a Microcosm
Virtual
July 2025
FLOATING WETLAND - MAINTENANCE, CREATIVE DIRECTION: WEBSITE DESIGN & PHOTOGRAPHY
Throughout the spring, summer, and fall of 2025, we repaired and replanted the floating wetland, tending to its seasonal transformations. I documented its unfolding through photography, shared moments of its growth on social media, and shaped the website’s visual language, design and storytelling.
https://belowandabovecollective.life/
2024
NEWS FEATURE
Our second floating wetland structure was featured in Providence Journal, Providence Eye and EcoRI
READ/REFLECT/CREATE CLUB : BEAVERS
Creature Conserve
Every Tuesday in July 2024 (July 2, 9, 16, 23 and 30), running from 6:30 to 8:30 PM EST. Full syllabus here.
WEBINAR CURATION AND FACILITATION
Creature Conserve
Beavers : Restorers of Biodiversity
Virtual on Zoom
June 13th, 4:00 - 5:30 PM EST
Webinar recording here
SITE-SPECIFIC INSTALLATION
Below and Above Collective
Constructed Floating Wetland
Polo Lake, Roger Williams Park
Providence, RI
Installation Launch: June 15th (open to the public)
12:00 PM - 4:00 PM EST
June 2024 - December 2025
*We are honored to be joined by Lorén M. Spears, Executive Director of the Tomaquag Museum and Narragansett Tribal elder, who will deliver a Land Acknowledgement at 12:30 PM.
MIYAWAKI FORESTS
Bio4Climate recently planted two microforests in partnership with the BSC Group and the City of Worcester. Read “From Parking Lot & Lawn to Miyawaki Forests. Transforming Worcester, MA” with photos taken by me and text written by Maya Dutta.
PHOTO + WRITING COMISSION
Orca Living
Leave the Leaves
April 2024
*started working at Biodiversity 4 a Livable Climate (Bio4Climate) in the Miyawaki Forest Program in April 2024
CURATION & EDUCATIONAL FACILITATION
Creature Conserve
Curatorial Fellow
Theme: Beavers-Humans Co-Existence & Ecology
Facilitating a webinar with diverse knowledge holders, a “Read/Reflect/Create” club and creating a curated list of resources.
March - September 2024
2023
GROUP EXHIBITION
Re-Imagining Conservation: From Many Viewpoints
National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson Hole, Wyoming
Animation of “Below and Above, a Floating Wetland Supports Life” in collaboration with Holly Ewald
July 1st - November 13th, 2023
PRESENTATION
Below and Above Collective about our work with floating wetlands.
Stormwater Innovation Expo
October 18th 2023
GROUP EXHIBITION
RISD 2023 Grad Biennial
Interior Atlas: Ways of Research
Sol Koffler Graduate Student Gallery @ RISD
co-curated by Anne West and Holly Gaboriault
September 7th - October 12th 2023
VIRTUAL PANEL
Curated Conservation: A Virtual Panel Conversation with
Re-Imagining Conservation: From Many Viewpoints
Exhibiting Artists
October 8, 2023 @ 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm EST
NEWS FEATURE
EcoRI wrote about our floating wetland structure. Read the article “Award-Winning Floating Wetland Possible Remedy for Blue-Green Algae Blooms.”
AWARD
Below and Above, A Floating Wetland Supports Life was recognized as the winning art installation of the outdoor exhibition “Art on the Trails: Transformation 2023”
SITE-SPECIFIC INSTALLATION
ART ON THE TRAILS: TRANSFORMATION 2023
on Ice Pond at the Elaine and Philip Beals Preserve Southborough, Massachusetts
Constructed floating wetland “Below and Above, a Floating Wetland Supports Life” in collaboration with August Lehrecke, Matthew P. Muller, Holly Ewald, Hope Leeson, Maxwell Fertik
June 10 - September 17th, 2023
PHOTO COMISSION
The Atlantic
Photograph of an earthworm taken in my
community garden plot
May 31st 2023
COLLECTIVE POETRY READING & LIVE PERFORMANCE
Edna Lawrence Nature Lab | Rhode Island School of Design
Readings by poet Eleni Sikelianos from her latest work, "Your Kingdom," along with the writing of other poets and scholars, including myself.
April 19th 2023
VIRTUAL LECTURE
Rhode Island School of Design
Alumni Speaking Series Between a Bookshelf and a Pond
March 20th 2023
Artist Bio
Alexandra Ionescu is an artist-researcher, photographer, and ecological restoration practitioner. Her work unfolds between a bookshelf, a pond, and overlooked urban landscapes—between knowing and unknowing—through constant, direct learning from the web of life.
Guided by curiosity and attunement, and open to nonlinearity and chance, her work invites a metamorphosis of perception, creating space for new meanings to emerge—new ways of seeing, knowing, relating, and caring.
Her practice centers on creating propensities: setting processes in motion and allowing them to unfold over time. Through photography, curated webinars and summits, and collaborative, site-specific projects—such as miniforests, floating wetlands that combine art with ecology, and advocacy around beaver-engineered landscapes—she deepens human participation in dynamic ecological processes while restoring the ecology of place.
You can often find her in the backyard tending native plants grown from seed or, when it rains, watching how water moves across surfaces.
Alongside
Alexandra currently works for the non-profit Biodiversity For a Livable Climate as the Associate Director of Regenerative Projects where she leads the Miyawaki Forest Program and organizes the Northeast Miniforest Summit.
She is also the co-initiator of the Below and Above Collective, an interdisciplinary group that brings together diverse forms of knowledge to design and build natural floating wetlands — an area of ongoing exploration and research.
Education & Background
Rhode Island School of Design — M.A. in Nature–Culture–Sustainability Studies
Arizona State University — M.S. in Biomimicry
Arizona State University & Biomimicry 3.8 —Certified Biomimicry Professional
Water Stories — Core Course in Water Cycle Restoration (in progress)
Originally from Bucharest, Romania, she is a first-generation student and former athlete whose journey began on Romania’s junior national basketball teams and led to a college athletic scholarship in the United States.
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Alexandra Ionescu is an artist-researcher, photographer, and ecological restoration practitioner. Her work unfolds between a bookshelf, a pond, and overlooked urban landscapes—between knowing and unknowing—through constant, direct learning from the web of life.
Guided by curiosity and attunement, and open to nonlinearity and chance, her work invites a metamorphosis of perception, creating space for new meanings to emerge—new ways of seeing, knowing, relating, and caring.
Her practice centers on creating propensities: setting processes in motion and allowing them to unfold over time. Through photography, curated webinars and summits, and collaborative, site-specific projects—such as miniforests, floating wetlands that combine art with ecology, and advocacy around beaver-engineered landscapes—she deepens human participation in dynamic ecological processes while restoring the ecology of place.
You can often find her in the backyard tending native plants grown from seed or, when it rains, watching how water moves across surfaces.
Alongside
Alexandra currently works for the non-profit Biodiversity For a Livable Climate as the Associate Director of Regenerative Projects where she leads the Miyawaki Forest Program and organizes the Northeast Miniforest Summit.
She is also the co-initiator of the Below and Above Collective, an interdisciplinary group that brings together diverse forms of knowledge to design and build natural floating wetlands — an area of ongoing exploration and research.
Education & Background
Rhode Island School of Design — M.A. in Nature–Culture–Sustainability Studies
Arizona State University — M.S. in Biomimicry
Arizona State University & Biomimicry 3.8 —Certified Biomimicry Professional
Water Stories — Core Course in Water Cycle Restoration (in progress)
Originally from Bucharest, Romania, she is a first-generation student and former athlete whose journey began on Romania’s junior national basketball teams and led to a college athletic scholarship in the United States.
Reach out
Email
ai@alexandraionescu.com
Instagram:
@ionescuale
@belowandabovecollective
LinkedIN
CV available upon request
ai@alexandraionescu.com
Instagram:
@ionescuale
@belowandabovecollective
CV available upon request