Tag Archives: Education

Genetics, art and communication

Dr Ahna Skop is a Professor in the Department of Genetics and an affiliate faculty member in Life Sciences Communication and the UW-Madison Arts Institute at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She mentors both scientists and art students in her lab, and also serves on the board of the Wisconsin Science Museum, where many of her artscience collaborations are on display. Some of her work can be seen in the main entrance of the Genetics/Biotechnology Center building on the UW-Madison campus with a 40ft-scientific art piece called “Genetic Reflections”. She has also curated and contributed to a traveling exhibition of scientific art called “TINY: Art from microscopes” from the UW-Madison campus, and she has organized the bi-annual Worm Art Show for the International C. elegans Meeting for over 24 years. Ahna is a winner of the prestigious Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE).

The Art of Science

‘The Art of Science’ explores the work of 40 artists and artist–scientists, from different cultures and eras, uncovering how these innovators have designed futuristic technology centuries ahead of its time, investigated time and space through abstract art, and created sculpture informed by Nasa technology.

‘The Art of Science’ explores topics such as: Climate breakdown and conservation ; Deep space and cosmic archaeology ; How media is used to communicate ideas relating to science ; Exploring being human alongside biotechnology ; and AI and Neural Networks.

How children can learn to balance science and religion

Liam Guilfoyle is a Postdoctoral Research Officer, University of Oxford, working on the Oxford Argumentation in Religion and Science (OARS) project, funded by the Templeton World Charity Foundation. He is particularly motivated by exploring the challenges and possibilities for teachers drawing on educational research for classroom practice and to this end, he is a member of the Teaching Council’s Research Engagement Group (REG) in Ireland, which works to promote teachers’ engagement with and in research. Liam also serves as a reviewer for the International Journal of Science Education and NARST: A Worldwide Organization for Improving Science Teaching and Learning through Research.

Revealing Affinities between Art and Science

Philip F. Palmedo studied art history and physics as an undergraduate at Williams College, and received his PhD in nuclear engineering from MIT. He carried out nuclear reactor physics research at the French nuclear laboratory at Saclay and at Brookhaven National Laboratory. He then initiated and headed the International Resources Group and the Long Island Research Institute. He has written extensively in many areas, including several books on modern sculpture. His most recent book is ‘Deep Affinities: Art and Science’, on which this article is based.

Abstraction, the Ether, and the Fourth Dimension: Kandinsky, Mondrian, and Malevich in Context

Linda Dalrymple Henderson is the David Bruton, Jr. Centennial Professor in Art History at the University of Texas at Austin. Her research and teaching focus on modern art in its broader cultural context, including ideas such as ‘the fourth dimension,’ the history of science and technology, and mystical and occult philosophies. In addition to over eighty journal articles and book and catalog essays, she is the author of ‘The Fourth Dimension and Non-Euclidean Geometry in Modern Art’ (Princeton University Press, 1983; new, enlarged ed., MIT Press, 2013) and ‘Duchamp in Context: Science and Technology in the Large Glass and Related Works’ (Princeton, 1998).In 2014 Professor Henderson won a Lifetime Achievement Award, given by the Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts. In 2018 she received a Leonardo Pioneer Award, given by the journal Leonardo on its 50th Anniversary.

Returning the artist to the field: Utilizing printmaking’s multiplicity, mediation and materiality for enhanced science communication.

Visual art as a parallel practice to science research offers opportunities for communicating the complexities of many ecological systems to non-experts. Immersive and interactive artworks provide a means to complexity, perceived distance, and opaqueness of language surrounding ecological systems. This paper describes the use of printmaking and print installations as analogues that engage audiences in complex soil systems. The three projects discussed here trace the journey of artist observer to field collaborator and examine printmaking’s capacity to facilitate the communication of both explicit and experiential knowledge of soil systems.

Keywords: field research, practices of arts and sciences, soil science, tacit knowledge, fine arts, printmaking

Imagination in Education

“At this time, the world we live in is in great need of a balance between our heads and our hearts, so that we may connect to the ‘tap-root’ in us all by opening us to the realm of imagination, inspiration and integration.”

Sacha, Duchess of Abercorn OBE was an innovator in creative education and the founder of The Pushkin Trust, an organisation that supports creative learning and education across Ireland, works to provide and support a holistic model to spark imagination and deepen awareness of our collective creativity, our humanity and ‘the child’ within each one of us.

Sadly, Sacha died on 10 December 2018 and this interview, first published in the launch issue of Interalia Magazine, is re-published here as a tribute to her creativity, compassion and imagination.

Creativity, Imagination and ‘Finding Your Element’

Sir Ken Robinson is an internationally recognized leader in the development of creativity, innovation and human resources in education and business. His inspiring TED talks have been viewed more than 25 million times and seen by an estimated 250 million people in over 150 countries. In an exclusive interview for the Interalia Magazine he discusses subjects such as the transformative role of creativity and imagination in education and how we can all ‘Find Our Element’.

The Mythic Imagination: From Ancient Troy to the Present Day

Lindsay Clarke’s working life has been devoted to his two principal passions, writing and education. In both contexts he has tried to put the power of the creative imagination – in both its inventive and compassionate aspects – into the service of the radical evolution of consciousness, which he believes is seeking to happen in these transitional times. His first novel ‘Sunday Whiteman’ was shortlisted for the David Higham First Novel Award; his second ‘The Chymical Wedding’ was awarded the Whitbread Prize for Fiction in 1989; and his novel ‘The Water Theatre’ was longlisted for the IMPAC Dublin International Literary Award. ‘Green Man Dreaming’, a collection of Lindsay’s essays, talks, poems and occasional pieces, was published in 2018,