On display, West Shore Community College library, 2026. Photos: Eden Unluata.

Feminist Seed Bank Herbarium: A Participatory Studio Book Project is a collaborative project by Melissa H. Potter with two-spirit, trans, and queer Anishinaabe/Korean American artist Jamie John. Feminist Seed Bank (padlet.com/pottermelissa/fsb) is an ongoing project by Potter that documents international, plant-based practices at risk due to climate collapse and the erasure of traditional knowledge.

Developed through multiple in-person site visits and engagements with WSCC students in botany and design, the project culminated in a co-designed artists’ book by John and Potter, featuring student-produced plant prints created using the Gelli plate method. Through research, site visits, foraging walks, and a guided kayak trip along the river led by Professor Paul Bilinski, students explored the layered histories of Michigan’s local flora and their relationship to the Midwest biome.

Jamie John introduced students to non-linear Indigenous narratives and histories specific to Michigan communities and designed the peaks and valleys of the book’s woven accordion structure to amplify Black Ash basketry—an ancient Indigenous craft now at risk due to climate-crisis–driven emerald ash borer infestations that are decimating Black Ash trees.

Potter led two Gelli plate printmaking workshops, one with design students and one with botany students. An interdisciplinary outcome of the project revealed that this printmaking method can capture botanical details with greater accuracy than hand drawing, supporting plant identification through distinct characteristics.

Through traditional craft practices and collaborative research, this book installation presents a non-linear, visual engagement with plants—forming an alternative herbarium that foregrounds species at risk, their potential craft uses, and the visibility and protection of Indigenous plant knowledge in Michigan.