Chemical Education Today
Report
A Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration by Lynn Diener and Jordan Acker Anderson
The Collaboration: Scientist’s Perspective Lynn Diener
The Collaboration: Artist’s Perspective Jordan Acker Anderson
When writing News from Online: Stratospheric Chemistry (pp 153–155) and thinking about the art I would like to grace it, I couldn’t think of anything I would like more than to include artistic renderings done by students. What could be more unique and beautiful? This would allow me to collaborate with artists at Mount Mary College where I teach and give them a new appreciation for the science around them. Most students outside of the sciences division will never take chemistry. Though required to take a non-majors science course, often students shy away from chemistry because it seems scary or hard. This collaboration gave students an opportunity to see chemistry in a different way. To see it as relevant and beautiful, to turn ideas about chemistry over in their head, and find something they could relate to and become passionate enough about to illustrate. It is tremendously rewarding for me to see the results of their work. I want to wholeheartedly thank Jordan Acker Anderson (an assistant professor in the Fine Arts department) and her color theory students for their enthusiasm and hard work on this project. I am so happy they agreed to this collaboration. They engaged fully in the process and produced really extraordinary and beautiful images that captured the science.
The invitation from my colleague, Lynn Diener, to engage our art students in a visual conversation about science was an exciting opportunity. My Color Theory class has spent the semester learning about the science of color as visible energy, differentiating between the additive and subtractive color mixing processes. We have studied the history and methodologies of color theory, learning to predict and control color interactions. Students are aware that color is inseparable from the form that carries it and that it is unstable, always changing with light, surface and relationship to other colors. For the collaboration, I started by showing my students a lot of imagery related to the concept of atmosphere, specifically images related to the sun, moon, aurora borealis, global warming, and landscape. We discussed the difference between illustration and expression. I challenged my students to create small compositions dealing with one aspect of the aforementioned topics, but doing so as an individual expressive response rather than an illustration. An illustration is a pictorial explanation and I wanted my students to move beyond that restriction into a connection with the content of their work. Their work is asking the question of how do we relate as individuals to our personal experiences within the atmosphere and landscape. How can we express this connection on a small scale? Photography and scientific visual documentation mediate and expand our experience of the natural world. It is incredible that in our time, instead of only imagining the surface of the sun, we are actually able to see it through technology. Some of the student examples come from these sources of documentation and as a result are abstracted designs based on an image rather than an experience. Other students worked from a place of personal understanding, recreating a natural scene that was important to them or making an image that embodied their belief about how we should treat our environment. Having multiple ways to approach the content creates very engaging and different solutions to express how we are connected to science and our environment.
“The Sun in Space,” by Kate Linton. The contrast of the vibrant sun in the darkness of space is breathtaking. I wanted to capture the vivid colors while showing how complex the colors of the sun can be.
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“Jungle Fever”, by Kathy Rovik. I wanted to show the contrast between the cold, hard, man-made city against the warm, organic haven of nature. This piece is meant to stir our desire for a more simple and unaffected world.
Journal of Chemical Education • Vol. 86 No. 2 February 2009 • www.JCE.DivCHED.org • © Division of Chemical Education
Chemical Education Today
“The Old Moon in the New Moon's Arms”, by Holley Bakich. My piece depicts the beauty and serenity of the moon as it begins its cycle of phases. I have also tried to show that if you really look at a thin crescent moon you can see the rest of the moon in shadow. The moon is always in space orbiting the Earth whether we can see it or not.
The Collaboration: Students’ Perspective Questions for Students Here we have included quotes from students in response to these questions:
• Did this project change the way that you think about science (specifically chemistry)?
• Do you feel that you learned some science content in the process of designing these pieces?
Student Responses This project caused me to think about science outside the confines of the logical and mathematical realm. It encouraged me to think of science as an art. I was further reminded of the complexity and diversity of nature and science. I realized that science phenomena can be translated artistically. My piece made me think about the interplay of states of matter—liquid versus solid and how they interact in nature. I think too often we compartmentalize science into a logical realm of numbers and formula and ordered theories and laws and this project allowed me to take this logical knowledge about the states of matter and interpret that in a visual way. It returned some of the awe and mystery to science and the world around us. This project opened up both my eyes and my ears to science. There are so many different attributes to science I have never noticed artistically. For example all the different elements and principles of art are present in many of the forms and subjects relating to science. This project changed the way I viewed the meaning of science. I felt science was about predicting and controlling the physical world, but now I see it as man’s curiosity for the world around him. Man needed to explain the immense beauty around him that affects him at an incredibly emotional level. After I created my design, I was inspired to facilitate discussions with those around me about the environment. These
“Tranquil Autumn”, by Alison Wroblewski. My piece is based on when I went back home to my hobby farm in Iola, WI. I had the experience of looking out my window to the rolling hills of forest and watching the warm country sunset.
discussions caused me to learn new things. In a way, my design did cause me to learn more about science. It made me look at science from a different perspective. It changed how I look at science (chem.) and raised my awareness. This project changed the way I think about science, in that when I used to think about science I thought about atoms, animals and nature. Now with this project I have learned to think of science in the abstract.
After the Collaboration: Would We Do It Again? Lynn Diener and Jordan Acker Anderson This collaboration was something new to both of us. Having done it once there are certain things that we will change and improve the next time around. This time we were asking students to work from a previous base of knowledge. We wanted them to draw on their own experiences with and knowledge of science and transform it. Next time we will attempt to incorporate more of the science content into the process, perhaps incorporating a chemistry lecture or discussion into the art class. We will not change the students’ process though. They are given the freedom to choose their own topic within the larger topic, in this case the chemistry of the atmosphere. From there they craft a piece of art with intention, illustrating from what they know. Ultimately this collaboration has been very rewarding for both of us and the students as well. We intend to continue this collaboration and continue to refine it, ensuring that the students get the most benefit from the process. Supporting JCE Online Material
http://www.jce.divched.org/Journal/Issues/2009/Feb/abs156.html Abstract and keywords Full text (PDF)
Lynn Diener is a member of the Science Department and Jordan Acker Anderson is a member of the Fine Arts Department, Arts and Design Division, Mount Mary College, Milwaukee, WI 53222;
[email protected];
[email protected].
© Division of Chemical Education • www.JCE.DivCHED.org • Vol. 86 No. 2 February 2009 • Journal of Chemical Education
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