Art meets science?

Abstract

Introduction Links between the arts and sciences are abundant and critical to a holistic approach to general education. As educators, we have the unique opportunity to make these interdisciplinary connections evident to our students through a variety of means including interaction in the classroom, undergraduate research, and through student organizations. In that process, it is possible to support and raise awareness of the value of a liberal education. The purpose of this paper is to present ideas that bridge the sciences with the visual arts by examining the science in different forms of art, how science can inspire art, and works of art that have come out of scientific inquiry. Examination of an art piece, whether a painting, photo, print, sculpture, or ceramic piece leads the viewer in many different directions depending on his or her experiences and knowledge. For example, a painter might look at a painting and see the technique used, or the content and how it has been expressed, or the composition strategy. In contrast, a historian may place the piece in its historical context and look for clues to the political or socioeconomic setting of the subject or artist's view. An interior decorator might evaluate the size, color scheme, and content with individual clients, fabrics, and space in mind. There are many possible views for any single piece of art. The following is a simple description of a landscape painting that has been on exhibit at the Strecker-Nelson art gallery in Manhattan, Kansas. Louis Copt's oil painting, Passing Storm, depicts an image of farmland just after a thunderstorm has passed through. The color scheme is primarily in muted tones of blue and violet along with brown and dark grey. The lower third of the painting shows standing water in the landscape while the upper two thirds provides an image of thunderstorm clouds illuminated by rays of light emerging from behind the clouds. This image can be found at the following website: www.strecker nelsoneallery.com/Artists_nu/1_copt/Landscapes/ LandscapeSlideShow/index.htm (Web 3) As a single individual, I can process this artwork from at least two perspectives. The first perspective is that of a young person that grew up in a farming community and commonly observed thunderstorms passing through in the spring and summer. From this perspective, the piece tends to provide a calm, quiet sense where the air would smell fresh and the breeze would be cool and damp. Although it could be in the morning, I perceive the image to be that of an early evening in late spring. A second perspective seems to be from an adult with attention to details specifically in the earth sciences. With this perspective, several pieces of information emerge to evaluate the setting. For example, the sky is filled with cumulonimbus clouds towering to an anvil head near the top of the painting. There are also smaller strings of clouds at the lower and middle atmospheric levels. The view is most likely looking to the west and therefore the storm is probably moving toward the northeast, which is common along a cold front boundary passing through the Midwest U.S. The field, in a flat floodplain area, is prepared for row crops and may have even been planted with corn or soybeans. The trees in the background appear to be along the stream and some fog has settled in near the land surface. In either of these two cases, it is important to note that perceptions are shaped by both experiences and knowledge. As experiences accumulate and knowledge is gained, individual perceptions have the capacity for change. The Science behind the Art One of the fundamental components of art is color and whether vibrant or muted, primary or accent, intense or subtle, the colors are controlled by chemistry and physics. Physics governs how light energy moves while chemistry controls what interacts with the light as it moves. …