Reimagining Professional Reasoning: Teaching and Learning with Art and Nature

How do we pay attention and what do we notice? What senses do we use? How do we tolerate the uncertainty of not knowing? Teaching and learning with art and nature sheds light on the tensions inherent in these questions and guides us toward deeper understanding. In this interactive session led by a curator, an artist, an occupational therapy educator, and a student, participants will have the chance to explore these questions and tensions through guided exercises. The session is based on classes done with medicine and occupational therapy students who are developing their clinical/professional reasoning skills.

The interactive activities will take place in and around the Belkin Art Gallery and will be followed by a conversation and reflection at Green College. Please come prepared with clothing that will allow you to be outdoors (warm layers!) and a notebook/pen so you can fully engage in the activities.

Jaci Benson (she/her) is a Cree woman currently enrolled in the Master of Occupational Therapy program at the University of British Columbia. Jaci has an undergraduate degree in motion picture arts from Capilano University and has worked in various creative roles. She enjoys exploring new artistic outlets in her spare time!

In her academic work, Katie Lee Bunting (she/her) is an Associate Professor of Teaching with the Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy. Her research focuses on ungrading, transformative learning, and relational and critical pedagogies in occupational therapy education. She is completing her PhD with the School of Health Professions Education at Maastricht University on love as an educational approach in health professions education under the supervision of Dr. Anja Krumeich and Dr. Laura Nimmon. She also does many things outside of her academic work!

Shelly Rosenblum, PhD is Curator of Academic Programs at the Belkin. Inaugurating this position at the Belkin, Rosenblum’s role is to develop research and pedagogical practices that increase forms of civic and academic engagement.

Holly Schmidt is an artist, curator, and educator that engages methods of embodied research, interdisciplinary collaboration, and informal pedagogy to explore human relations with the natural world. Her work involves the creation of temporary site-specific projects and residencies, along with material-based explorations in the studio. Schmidt holds an MFA from Emily Carr University where she was awarded the Governor General’s award for academic excellence. She taught as an adjunct at Emily Carr University and Simon Fraser University between 2010-2020. In 2024, Schmidt completed a five-year residency with the UBC Outdoor Art Program where she created temporary public art works Fireweed Fields and Forecast. The residency culminated in Weathering, an installation included in the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery group exhibition “What is Welcome?” Forecast, a publication including Schmidt’s series of seasonal texts along with essays by Barbara Cole, Bopha Chhay, and Sheryda Warrener will be launched in the spring of 2025. Schmidt maintains a studio in Vancouver, which is on the unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̍əm (Musqueam),Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and səl̓ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.