Donna Bilak

Donna Bilak is a historian of early modern science specializing in the study of artisanal alchemy and an experimental metalsmith. Donna directs Common Ground Labs, a research collective that addresses environmental issues through solution-driven artisanal projects and cross-professional collaborations. Current projects include Highbridge Hot Gems (an experimental pilot with the New York Restoration Project that transforms invasive plant biomass into bio-jewels), and Groundwork (in development as a circular economy initiative through the conversion of knotweed into biochar and pearl ash for urban soil remediation and artisanal materials).

Past projects include Gold & Mercury (2020–23), which examined physical and cultural transformations caused by these two interrelated metals from a global, transhistorical perspective; and Furnace & Fugue (2013–20), which reconstructed the 17th-century metaphysical view of gold and mercury’s relationship in which material transformation presents the pathway to practical wisdom.