Art and Design Commons^™

Jaguar Sun, Anya Nadal

The STEAM Journal

Cymatics, is derived from a Greek word, meaning "wave", is a subset of modal vibrational phenomena. The term was coined by Hans Jenny, a Swiss follower of the philosophical school known as anthroposophy. This is a visual representation of the frequency field. I created this piece from acrylic on canvas based on the subtle energies I can see and feel.

The Art And Science Of Light Painting, Reid Godshaw

The STEAM Journal

A short overview of the making of light painting portraits explained by the artist.

Museum 4.0 As The Future Of Steam In Museums, Mark Walhimer

The STEAM Journal

Informal STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) activities (programs) and exhibits are common in science centers, children’s museums and natural history museums. As museums change to Museum 4.0 models (1), the STEAM exhibits and programs in museums also change. Museums 4.0 is the transformation of museums from a monolithic fixed location institution to a nimble community driven event driven organization. The Museum 4.0 becomes personalized to the visitor without fixed outcomes and without the physical restrictions of a single fixed location. As museums evolve to a Museum 4.0 model with visitor lead activities, STEAM activities within museums also change …

Cold Hard Facts, Paul Kelley

The STEAM Journal

COLD HARD FACTS is an ephemeral installation composed of a projector, digital images and ice. The work continues my interest in having the viewer slow down to have a more thoughtful and absorptive experience with the work and surrounding space. With a short-lived duration, the piece considers the transitory nature of things and how truths can be misconstrued as facts, whereas truths are malleable and facts are not. They are cold, hard and indifferent.

Inner Beauty, Kayla Darbyshire

The STEAM Journal

The artist references images captured by electron microscope photography of Dopamine, DNA, and the process of Mitosis (specifically occurring in the human body). Through the use of photoshop the artist was able to manipulate the images of Dopamine, DNA, and Mitosis to create low polygonal artwork. The artist created 15,000-30,000 individual triangles, piecing them together using photoshop to create the images that they were referencing. The body is an amazing spectacle rarely looked at from within by artists. Many find beauty on the surface of the body, but when explored further, the body has much more to offer. The artist …

Maker Education: The Steam Playground, Amanda Opperman

The STEAM Journal

Educators who are committed to teaching STEAM in their classes and programs will be inspired and encouraged by the capabilities for multidisciplinary instruction and project based learning offered by an emerging pedagogy known as Maker Education. While making was previously thought of as STEM-focused, it can easily be integrated across all subjects. Maker Ed's Resource Library has a section on Projects and Learning Approaches, which includes many cross-curricular project ideas that expand this model of education from STEM to STEAM and beyond.

Pineapple, 022, Conversation – Behind The Cover Art, Jesse W. Standlea

The STEAM Journal

Many sources date the pit-firing process as a 30,000 plus years-old ceramic firing technique. Every year I take my AP 3D Design class to the beach to fire ceramic pieces using this method. Being a contemporary sculptor who shows in Los Angeles I have always appreciated pit-fired pieces but never used one in my own art practice until now. A connection between the first method of firing ceramics and my art practice seemed unrelated. The title for my piece might add to the disconnect; and yet these seemingly unrelated elements force the work into a place where the artistic process …

Screen Assault, Julie Orr

The STEAM Journal

My work is both a commentary on the pervasive societal ills of disposability and detachment in contemporary culture and an active participant in the same environment it criticizes. I demonstrate my simultaneous revulsion and fascination with disposable goods. I photograph myself with such chemically toxic substances as cosmetics, sodas and cleaning products, speaking to their harmful nature while also reveling in their shimmering color. Their clever design is no accident and I find myself giving into the marketing seduction. The same goes for such other harmful behaviors as obsessive use of cell phones and social media, and rabid consumption of …

Is This Art?, Susan Joyce

The STEAM Journal

Is This Art?

Fringe Exhibitions began in 1999 as an independent curatorial practice. My primary area of research was the intersection of art, science, and technology. I decided go this route because I was interested in finding a way to engage the contemporary art audience. I was inspired by Eduardo Kac, an artist I first worked with as a curator on an exhibition featuring his “Holopoems”. I continued working for several more years organizing exhibitions in university art museums and galleries where support for this type of interdisciplinary work and experimentation was well received and encouraged. The research I conducted …

Engaging Many Minds: Nurturing Collaboration In A Steam Context, Mark Dzula

The STEAM Journal

This field note describes a recent interdisciplinary project facilitated by Jeremy Gercke, an art teacher at the Bishop's School in La Jolla, California. The project creates ceramic tile markers for flora around the Bishop's School campus. The markers feature QR codes linking to websites populated with student content, including: drawings, information, and oral histories. In this project, Mr. Gercke synthesizes his interests as an artist; maximizes his social connections to mentors, peers and students; and bridges disciplines to create opportunities for interdisciplinary (STEAM) inquiry.

Ecoscience + Art Initiative: Designing A New Paradigm For College Education, Scholarship, And Service, Changwoo Ahn

The STEAM Journal

The paper presents a new initiative, EcoScience + Art, which blooms at George Mason University. The creator explains the background, history, and recent activities of the initiative, and also introduces an on-going special project called “The Rain Project”, a student participatory project to design, construct, and monitor a green infrastructure (i.e., floating wetland) for sustainable stormwater management on campus. The special project is geared to design and present a new paradigm to integrate college education, scholarship, and service. The relevance of the initiative and the special project to STEAM education is discussed.

Prancing Shadow Connecting Worlds, Tiffany D. Randle

The STEAM Journal

The practice of being conscious about the environment and how shadows, light, and movement create an intellectual space for different interpretations allows the viewer to make their own associations. Concrete, the ground that people of different shades walk on, to one person can look and seem like an ethereal and unknown environment, but to another may seem like a moving body of liquid. When artists stop and look at the simple things such a concrete, and water, or passersby they can capture a moment in time that transcends the mundane and suddenly the artist is in a position to present …

K-12 Students See Steam Everyday, Meghan Reilly Michaud

The STEAM Journal

Today’s students exist in a visual world. A new semiotic language has emerged in the digital age. It consists of an ever-evolving vocabulary of signs and symbols that one can rapidly decipher. Icons represent applications and functions on a plethora of modern devices. Sounds indicate changes and the start and end of activity. The exposure of new audio and visual media are part of everyday communication, now more than ever. The Arts teach our students to better perceive these cues and the information that they deliver.

Turbulence, Climate And Supercomputers, Georgios Matheou

The STEAM Journal

Turbulence is often referred to as the last mystery of classical physics. Although turbulence is ubiquitous and prominent in our daily lives – from the mixing of milk in a cup of coffee to the perpetual motion of the atmosphere and the resulting weather variation – our understanding of this complex phenomenon is comparatively very limited (e.g., Davidson et al., 2011).

From The Inside Out, And Through., Dominique Ovalle

The STEAM Journal

These photographs describe “Science” born of consumerism, hijacked by me, economically disenfranchised, or rather—temporarily embarrassed, artist. I was putzing around Malibu—my old college stomping ground, looking for free food; maybe a sample of some gourmet $5 chocolate, and all I got were these photographs.

Sound Exploration: Text To Music, Raisa Park, Annalisa Swank

The STEAM Journal

This sound exploration repurposes the familiar – written text – and literally translates it into music giving text a new form.

Two Bit Circus, Elise Lemle

The STEAM Journal

Two Bit Circus collaborated with the Girl Scouts of the Greater Los Angeles Area to explore the exciting world of wearable electronics. Over the course of the program, the students explored concepts of introductory electronics while designing and creating their own illuminated fashion piece. The program was held in Montrose, CA in Fall 2013. The students were approximately 10 girls ages seven to 14. The program was held over seven sessions with each session lasting 80 minutes.

Stem Art Learning Outcomes, Emily Gottlieb

The STEAM Journal

No abstract provided.

Celestial Messenger, Bijian Fan

The STEAM Journal

This dragon sculpture is embedded with binary code in the form of 1s and 0s, they are generated by light transmission through the holes.

The Art / Crime Archive: An Anti-Boredom Space, Paul Kaplan, Brian Goeltzenleuchter, Dan Salmonson

The STEAM Journal

This paper reports on an ongoing web-based project devoted to the study of deviant art and creative crime called the Art / Crime Archive: www.artcrimearchive.org. The Art / Crime Archive (ACA) is a collaborative laboratory, teaching center, and web-based platform devoted to the study of this space. The ACA is organized by an artist, a criminologist, and a computer engineer. The working process of the ACA involves locating, archiving, and discussing visual, audio, and text artifacts that support this shadow space. The work product is a dynamic archive which can be configured for a multiplicity of contexts—art exhibitions, academic …

Geology – Future Continent, Joy Wulke

The STEAM Journal

Terra Mirabila, a multi-media presentation illustrating the geological story of Stony Creek Granite back through complex sequence of geological events that spanned some 600 million years of early history.

Spannungsfeld, Julian Voss-Andreae

The STEAM Journal

My design for a sculptural installation for the University of Minnesota’s new Physics and Nanotechnology Building is inspired by a view of the human body through the lens of quantum physics.

The German title of the installation (literally "tension field") originated in physics but is used in contemporary German almost exclusively in a metaphorical sense, implying a dynamic tension, often between polar opposites, that permeates everything in its vicinity.

Influx, Julie Orr

The STEAM Journal

My work is both a commentary on the pervasive societal ills of disposability and detachment in contemporary culture and an active participant in the same environment it criticizes.

Mana & Ea, Dan Taulapapa Mcmullin

The STEAM Journal

This work, Mana and Ea, expresses Polynesian indigenous sovereignty struggles with colonialism and globalism in the Pacific Islands.

Big Horned, Juniper Harrower

The STEAM Journal

Tinta y tinto (Spanish for black ink and red wine)
Through a process of oxidation, reduction, and light manipulation, Juniper stains and colors paper with red wine and a rich black pigment made of the wild harvested mushroom Coprinopsis atramentaria.

Crochet As A Model For The Elasticity Of Skin Cells, Jaqueline (Jackie) Bell Johnson

The STEAM Journal

My artwork is a result of the exploration of materials through process. The sculptures I make are the solutions to problems of how to combine materials, and create structure and form that I am able to build and transport on my own.

Design In Nature, Farhana Azim

The STEAM Journal

Floral Designs are a combination of, line, form and space. By creating balance while incorporating all these three elements in proportion to the space allowed, with an eye on the use of color and contrast, enabling the smooth visual flow of the design one produces the perfect arrangement.

The Quantified Self, Behind The Cover Art, Leslie Love Stone

The STEAM Journal

We lead quantified lives. The information we send and receive through our computers, CD players, and smart phones is coded in ones and zeroes. We exist as numerical accounts, license numbers, and login IDs. Anyone who has ever waited on hold for a live customer service representative understands the desire to be treated like a person, not a number. We each want acceptance for our inherent peculiarities and consideration for our circumstance—conditions we believe extrinsic to numbers.

Art Meets Science! Get Over It . . ., Stephen Nowlin

The STEAM Journal

The news headline, when such projects garner attention, usually goes like this – Art Meets Science! Or perhaps Art Merges with Science! or maybe they combine, or art collides with science, or they fuse, join, bond, or unite. And ‘art’ in the phrase usually precedes ‘science’, perhaps because their integration is more typically initiated from the art side of the equation. But whatever the order of the two terms, and whatever verb is used to link them, the tenor of the declaration is typically the same – this is a story worth reporting on, it announces, because …

A Reflection: Art And Science In A Museum Gallery, Kaileena Flores-Emnace

The STEAM Journal

Art education in a public space can be a venue for the blending of art and science. As a Contemporary Art Start educator for the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Los Angeles, I have experienced the many ways in which transdisciplinary education creates deeper student understanding and engagement. At MOCA we use Visual Thinking Strategies for student tours, a research-based teaching method that invites students to direct gallery discussions. We visit a few artworks for ten to fifteen minutes each to foster critical thinking and encourage students to bring personal knowledge and experience to the conversation.