Art and Science : Academic Identity
I have been an artist for all of my life. As a little girl, piles of art pieces began to accumulate in my house and my mom would tuck them away in boxes in the basement saying “when you’re a famous artist one day these will be worth a million bucks”. I don’t think I will ever be a famous artist, but art continues to be an important aspect of my identity as a person and academic. From Kindergarten to 8th grade, art was my favorite class and I was most successful in any projects that encouraged artistic expression. I spent much of my free time in the art studio drawing, sculpting, and building. It wasn’t until high school when I realized that art can be combined with other academic subjects in a way that elevates and articulates my understanding of the material. During senior year, one of the assignments in ecology was to write a species profile on a native Oregon plant, preserve a specimen, draw a labeled picture, and combine the elements to make a page for a guide book. This project turned out to be a defining moment in understanding my academic identity. My love for the natural world and for art were combined seamlessly in my guidebook page and I realized that this can be replicated again and again.
Art and science. So different, yet beautifully intertwined. At their core they are human attempts to understand and process the world around us. Now that I think of it, rock collections, leaves, animal books, and pets were often stacked on top of my piles of artwork back in the day.
The archive linked below traces my journey to understand my academic identity as I do today and records the main influences on my connection with art and science. Every aspect of my life from my recreational activities to my major to my life aspirations are driven by the spheres of art and science.
Works Cited:
Editorial, A., & Lee, S. (2020, April 20). These 10 Artists Are Making Urgent Work about the Environment. Retrieved October 13, 2020, from https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-10-artists-making-urgent-work-environment
Estiler, K. (2020, September 23). Artists Transform Famed NYC Metronome Into a Countdown Clock to Climate Disaster. Retrieved October 13, 2020, from https://hypebeast.com/2020/9/climate-clock-installation-new-york-city-info
Flaccus, G. (2020, September 22). Oregon mourns for natural spaces altered by recent wildfires. Retrieved October 13, 2020, from https://www.opb.org/article/2020/09/22/bc-us-western-wildfires-special-places/
Marianne North (1830–1890). (n.d.). Retrieved October 13, 2020, from https://www.kew.org/mng/marianne-north.html
MESD Outdoor School. (n.d.). Retrieved October 13, 2020, from https://www.mesdoutdoorschool.org/
Radziwill, N., Benton, M., & Moellers, C. (n.d.). From STEM to STEAM: Reframing What it Means to Learn. Retrieved October 13, 2020, from https://scholarship.claremont.edu/steam/vol2/iss1/3/
