Making Art and Doing Science in an Undergraduate Earth-Science Course

Artists must function professionally in two worlds: an inner world of ideas and vision and a very practical world of materials and technique. Earth scientists may recognize this dual existence, as they deal with the materiality of the earth’s surface now and the visions of the hidden subsurface and processes operating over geological time. The two fields thus have much to offer one another at the pedagogical level. Earth-science courses at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago invite students to use their own expertise in art as a tool to investigate and analyze geological problems. Students may propose their own projects in lieu of exams in some courses, while in others, certain assignments have an art component in the research or presentation of a topic. Experience shows that students who use their art in a course are more likely to investigate topics in depth and pursue them outside of course work. Although earth-science content finds its way into student art quite naturally, recent attempts to bring it into studio art courses in the form of a team-taught studio research seminar have produced mixed results.