Science and Art-Our Potential Future....

Alexis Rockman, The Farm, 2000

http://www.viewingspace.com/genetics_culture/pages_genetics_culture/gc_w02/gc_w02_rockman.htm

 

She used the Museum of Natural History as inspiration for this piece. I visited this museum yesterday in New York City. There were a number of things in which have inspired me for new curriculum topics for next year.  If you can go there at any time in your life, it is a must. A lot to see and definitely not something you could complete in a day. The inspirations, facts, and artifacts are out of this world! There are many uses for this museum of integrating different concepts and ideas into your art classroom curriculum, especially with history and the sciences.

This artwork resonated with me based on the not only the visual interpretations but the information and facts behind this piece. Scientifically there are many studies in our sciences in which animals are used as the "testing tools." It is interesting to see the current state of the animals on the left, and progressively through time these animals are transformed and distorted based on not only scientific studies that have been done already but what is to come in our future. I see genetics, breeding, and control in this image. It is great for discussion both aesthetically and scientifically and brings up a lot of interesting topics and issues currently happening in our world today. Although this image has a somewhat imaginative aspect to it, it very much describes the path our society has taken.

Concept use in this artwork for classroom curricula:

• depictions of how our culture perceives and interacts with plants and animals
• the role culture plays in influencing the direction of natural history
• how the present and the future look of things are influenced by a broad range of pressures- human consumption, aesthetics, domestication, and medical applications among them.
• creates a context for inquiry

Guido Daniele---"Handimals"

 
 When we think of ourselves in relation to the universe, our world, our home, or our environment, how do we see our place in the world? How do we see ourselves in comparison to the animals, organisms, and living things out there that have life, have meaning, and purpose to our whole way of the world working and continuing this stabilized atmosphere we have so long been living in?

Italian Artist Guido Daniele, added a new artistic experience using the body painting technique where he creates and paints models bodies for different situations such as advertising pictures and commercials, fashion events and exhibitions.It started in 2000 about "Handimals."

When thinking about our place in the world, it is interesting to think about the following three words: nature, humans, and advertisement. Guido, creates these beautiful pieces of photography using hands and the form of them, yet they are blown up and used in advertisements and mass marketing for companies around the globe. Is this  a way to create awareness about animals? Is it a way to manipulate the human body and adorn it with the beauty of earth instead of make-up or clothing, or is it a way to send a message to our culture about the importance of animals, living, breathing, and sustaining our world for keeping it's existence. It is interesting to inquire and connect both the arts and sciences to his works of art. These discussions may bring up great inquiry and connections in the art and or science classrooms.


 http://www.guidodaniele.com/mani01.htm 

Plastic Ocean Art --Art and Science Integration!

 What is art? What is science?How do we determine the difference or similarities of an artist and a scientist? How can both art and science work together to engage our students and show them that there are layers and connections beyond the subjects that are often segregated at times in schools. 

Currently I am taking an Art and Science integrated graduate course at Kutztown University. We have discussed topics this week based on the integration of the two concepts combined to both advance our students in ways of thinking, seeing, and understanding their world and their place in it. 

Below is an artist I discovered towards the end of the school year that I shared and discussed with my 5th grade Art and Tech students. We had a conversation on our EDMODO site  in addition to looking at objects and things found in our homes that are usually discarded. We discussed new purposes and functions for them, in addition to other science topics that related to our views of the video. 

Maybe you can get your students thinking more about plastic and the pollution in our oceans.

Bonnie Monteleone has been to three oceans collecting plastics 100s to 1000s of miles from land and are found here in this art show. Using the well recognized, "Great Wave" by Hokusai circa 1830s, Monteleone illustrates a very different ocean than what Hokusai saw 180 years ago. Each of the 4'x5' panels morph away from the original until it is unrecognizable in the last image depicting the North Atlantic heaving plastics onto Bermuda's beaches. The title is "What Goes Around, Comes Around meaning plastics get lost at sea, then return to us either in our fish or on our beaches. The centerpiece is a 6' long by 3' tall interactive sculpture of a wave made from bottle caps and plastics found on Wrightsville Beach, NC. This portable art show intends to express the ocean's beauty against the disturbing reality that our sea are being trashed. Five wooden windows are mounted with photos from the voyages along with explanations of each canvas positioned above crates filled with the items found in each work. It serves as an educational tool for explaining the problem with plastics in the ocean through discovery. For more information visit www.theplasticocean.org