Art and Design Commons^™

Rockhounding, Seafaring, And Other Material Tales For The End Of The World, Noemie Fortin

The Goose

In the face of accelerated environmental degradation and climate instability, the future of the Earth and of all life on earth is difficult to visualize. Therefore, the different mediums through which we consider environmental issues are just as important as the actions we take to address them. Focusing on three projects combining art, science, and activism, this article suggests a compilation of material tales. They tell stories of plastic rocks and aluminum nuggets where the protagonists are partly finely crafted objects, partly waste materials, and sometimes both at once. Artists Kelly Jazvac, Yesenia Thibeault-Picazo, and the collective Studio Swine collaborate …

Metaphorical Cities - Behind The Cover Art, Elana Melissa Hill

The STEAM Journal

This is a reflection on how cities function like organisms. An artist's interpretation of the spaces surrounding them.

Metaphorical Cities, Elana Melissa Hill

The STEAM Journal

This is a reflection on how cities function like organisms. An artist's interpretation of the spaces surrounding them.

Wonder, Walking, And Water, Rachel Mayeri

The STEAM Journal

Art and Science is a seminar and studio course on science-inspired art practices. We will survey and discuss cutting-edge art-science theory, practice, and institutions in seminar. In studio, we examine art-science topics in hands-on experiments, and guided activities leading to art projects.

A New Generation For Art And Science, Alice Marie Perreault

The STEAM Journal

My interest in this cross-over between art and science, specifically, the body and supportive technologies, has lead me to mixed media and installations where I can examine degeneration and a “new” generation using a combination of conventional and unconventional materials. Unlike re-generation, which is a return to an original state, “new” generation gives way to new arrangements.

Jasper Skulls And Memento Mori, Kathleen C. Paul

Wonders of Nature and Artifice

The jasper skulls in this Curiosity Cabinet sit on the scale atop the touch-ables table. Jasper, a type of impure silica usually a reddish color, is commonly carved for small sculptures, as we see in the skulls.

The reddish tones of both skulls match the overall tone of the cabinet nicely, as well as complimenting the rich medium blue of the walls. Thematically, skulls perfectly align with other objects in the cabinet.

A ubiquitous theme of curiosity cabinets in the 16th and 17th century is the inevitability of death. Symbols of this notion in art work are known as …

Wonders Of Nature And Artifice, Schmucker Art Gallery

Schmucker Art Catalogs

A stuffed blowfish, a meticulously-drawn insect, a ravishing lily, and a rhinoceros horn carved with scenes of plants and animals—these were among the wonders of nature and artifice, the marvels that fueled the Renaissance quest for knowledge. This exhibition explores the intellectual and aesthetic motivations of Renaissance naturalists and collectors, whose wonders of nature and artifice were displayed in elaborate gardens, illustrated books, and remarkable cabinets of curiosities. Collectors were driven by curiosity and a sense of wonder about what seemed to be an ever-expanding world. Students from Prof. Felicia Else’s upper-level art history course and Kay Etheridge’s First Year …

Primate Aesthetics, Chelsea L. Sams

Masters Theses

A cultural, historical, and scientific survey of the phenomena of primate pictorial behavior, presented in a series of interconnected vignettes. What do primates find visually appealing? What is their motivation when creating images? What are the implications for art and for science? By drawing explicit and implicit connections between science, art, case studies, research, and personal narrative, I attempt to weave together what we know, and what we may never be able to know about this complex field.

Familial Dialects, Amanda King

MFA in Photography and Integrated Media Theses

Using the framework of scientific investigation, ‘Familial Dialects’ explores the languages – systems of signs and codification of those signs - of individual members of my family, and the metaphors that arise from their interaction with pieces of the natural world. Each of the pieces combine an inherent form and an organizing action as a means of representing an individual’s form of expression. These familial dialects are created and translated using the methodologies of a naturalist - collection, dissection, observation, and classification. The pieces draw meaning from the connotative associations built from familial connections as well as from broader cultural …

Imagining The Unknown, Angelina Kidd

MFA in Photography and Integrated Media Theses

It is true that there is no scientific proof of life after life or of the human soul. However, I believe there is a soul and that it is energy manifested as light. Our lifetime is a mere pulse when measured against the evolution of earth. We are connected to the cosmos through the very calcium in our bones and the iron in our blood, which originated from stars that died billions of years ago. My belief is that the earthly body is separate from the soul and that our light energy returns to the cosmos. Energy will not cease …

The Unstable Ground Of Low Hierarchies, Joshua Dinsmore

The STEAM Journal

Broad Vision is a collaborative project between the Sciences and Arts. It involves students and lecturers from six different departments, across three schools at the University of Westminster, London, UK. In the first year of the project we worked with the microscope as the locus for our interconnections.