Meet Me in the Forest: Education Resources

Welcome! This resource page provides artist information, themes, discussion prompts, videos, readings, and wall texts related to the exhibition.

Meet Me in the Forest is organized by the Cafesjian Art Trust Museum’s Jill Ahlberg Yohe, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, and Linnea Seidling, Assistant Curator of Glass. The CAT expresses gratitude to the Des Moines Art Center, Farnsworth Art Museum, Walker Art Center, Bockley Gallery, and Gladstone Gallery for generously lending works of art to the exhibition.

Exhibition page
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Docent portal
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CAT library catalogue

Discover more about each artwork. Click on an image below to see exhibition texts and additional resources.

  • A statue of a woman with closed eyes holding a small child, decorated with butterflies and floral patterns. The statue has a soft, translucent appearance.

    Christina Bothwell

  • Delicate pink floral shapes made of glass.

    Kate Clements

  • A vibrant forest scene painted with lush green trees, colorful flowers, and glowing elements. A mystical atmosphere with intertwining vines and illuminated plants creates a magical wilderness setting.

    Inka Essenhigh

  • Lenticular print of a greenery, to the left are red and pink flowers, at the center is a dirt path leading towards trees, on the right, more trees and plants.

    Pao Houa Her

  • A rectangular block with an angled roof made of translucent resin with embedded sunflower heads, resting on a white surface.

    Mayme Kratz

  • Painting of a lush forest scene with large green leaves, bark textures, and an abstract shape with white fur and human limbs.

    Kelly Sinnapah Mary

  • An image of a swampy pond, there is a figure lying partially submerged on the right. In the foreground are cattail plants.

    Lori Nix

  • A mixed media art installation featuring embroidered and fabric artwork of elephants, set against a deep blue floral backdrop in a gallery space.

    Ebony G. Patterson

  • A mixed media art installation featuring found objects such as figures, set against a bright teal floral backdrop in a gallery space.

    Erica Rosenfeld

  • Ceramic artwork by Amanda Michelle Smith with a figure cascading backward inside a colorful forest.

    Amanda Michelle Smith

  • A colorful artwork of a castle with tall towers, surrounded by lush gardens, trees, and flowers, under a black sky.

    Amanda Michelle Smith

  • Round glass paperweight, inside is a blue dragonfly and a variety of flowers.

    Paul Stankard

  • Square paperweight, inside is a mass of roots and plants.

    Paul Stankard

  • Round green paperweight with strawberry blossoms.

    Paul Stankard

  • Rectangular paperweight, inside are flowers and below them is an insect.

    Paul Stankard

  • A dark green landscape of a stream and tunnel of trees surrounding it.

    Hannah Secord Wade

  • Black and white photo of dense trees with leaves and branches, a metal frame with springs and a bag tied to the trees are visible.

    Carrie Mae Weems

  • Green meadow landscape with an array of colorful flowers and greenery. A house is in the background.

    Nancy Wissemann-Widrig

  • Clear pillow shaped glass sculpture with flowers and small plants inside.

    Emma Wood

  • Brown and white tall, cylindrical vase with a single branch, a bird is perched on the branch.

    Hiroshi Yamano

The Library

Did you know the CAT Library is free and open to the public? It offers a focused collection of books and periodicals that support the ideas and practices explored through CAT’s programming.

For each exhibition, we highlight a selection of books that expand on its themes, artists, and contexts. Search by artist name or keywords, and browse the collection in person or online by following the link below.

Library catalogue
  • Red book cover featuring a woman from behind with long dark hair wearing jeans and a white shirt reaching above her head.

    Ana Mendieta: Earth Body

    Olga Viso

  • A yellow book cover with the text: Artists in Exile: Expressions of Loss and Hope and three images.

    Artists in Exile: Expressions of Loss and Hope

    Frauke V. Josenhans

  • Carrie Mae Weems: The Heart of the Matter

    Sarah Hermanson Meister (Editor)

  • Ebony G. Patterson: In Things Come to Thrive…In The Shedding…In The molting…

    Ebony G. Patterson

  • Ebony G. Patterson: …while the dew is still on the roses…

    Tobias Ostrander and Olive Senior

  • Pao Houa Her: The Imaginative Landscape

    Pao Houa Her

  • Pao Houa Her: My grandfather turned into a tiger ... and other illusions

    Pao Houa Her

  • A red book cover with white splatter with the text: Radical Virtuosity: Ana Mendieta and the Black Atlantic.

    Radical Virtuosity: Ana Mendieta and the Black Atlantic

    Genevieve Hyacinthe

  • A book cover with a light blue border and an image of hands painting flowers.

    Re/sisters: A Lens on Gender and Ecology

    Alona Pardo (Editor)

  • A dark blue book cover with the image of a house, red text at top says "Spirit" and below "House".

    Spirit House

    Veronica Roberts (Foreword by), Aleesa Pitchamarn Alexander (Editor), Pao Houa Her (Text by), Tuan Andrew Nguyen (Text by), Maia Cruz Palileo (Text by), Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Text by), Catalina Ouyang (Text by), Kathryn Cua (Text by), Tai Thy (Text by)

Group of people talking and observing artwork inside an art gallery with blue walls.

Docent Portal

Resources are available to support classroom learning before and after your visit, including exhibition guides, discussion prompts, and curriculum connections.

Docent Portal

Featured at top: Amanda Michelle Smith (American). When Trauma Comes to Town, 2025. Glazed ceramic, oil paint. 16 × 21 1/16 × 1 1/4 inches. Cafesjian Art Trust Museum, 2025.044.1. © Amanda Michelle Smith