Art+Science showcase
Art-science interactions are a core approach at INSTAAR to engage the public in our science, carrying the potential to bring our science to new audiences; pursue storytelling approaches to science; and change the way people think and act about climate change, the environment, and ecosystems. Professional artists number among INSTAAR's Affiliates, and several INSTAAR researchers are artists as well as scientists. Partnerships with campus groups like the Office for Public and Community-Engaged Scholarship and Inside the Greenhouse have facilitated student and faculty engagement in art + science practice.
Contact Joe Constancia (INSTAAR Operations Assistant) to participate in art/science partnerships, reserve gallery space in SEEC, or discuss art-science interactions.
News
Desert Visions: Paintings by Natalie Aranda
Her acrylic and oil paintings are unified by their embrace of desert landscapes. They were shown in the SEEC 1st floor gallery, July 19th–August 23rd, 2024.
From the artist: Some of the paintings were inspired by views from my parents’ yard, which resides in southern California, more desert-like than anything else. Other paintings are of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, which is considered to be a polar desert. As a whole, these paintings pay homage to the impact the desert has had on my life. From the place I grew up, to the place where my current studies are focused, the desert has defined a course through my life. In each of these, the color palette is more vibrant than what can be seen in person, representing the dreamy aspect a place can take on when it becomes significant.
Natalie Aranda is a graduate student at INSTAAR and in the Department of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering, studying ecosystems in the streams of Antarctica’s Dry Valleys.
Gallery space in SEEC
The university's building has two gallery spaces:
- 1st floor gallery: On the south side of the first floor, in the long hallway that extends from the south atrium eastward to the courtyard. Note that the dinosaur is in the north atrium.
- 2nd floor gallery: In the central part of the second floor, above the first floor auditorium in the Albert A. Bartlett Science Communication Center (C215).
These spaces host rotating exhibits of art by partners, ֱ members, artists, and community programs that touch on themes of sustainability, climate, or environment.
The gallery spaces feature STAS hanging systems and are governed by guidelines to protect the building and its residents.
Joe Constancia programs the galleries, so contact her to find out more about the spaces, if you have an exhibit to suggest, or just want to know what’s on deck.
Snapshots
INSTAAR Affiliate Diane Burko was one of 92 artists chosen from >800 submissions for the first art gallery of the National Climate Assessment: . The gallery launched in November 2023. Shown here is Burko's portrayal of Grinnell Glacier retreating in Glacier National Park, Montana.
Shelly Sommer, on left, was one of seven artists represented in the from July 14 - September 9, 2023. Her fiber piece, The Anthropocene, was made from woven VCR tape in response to the by Jaia Syvitski and her colleagues.
INSTAAR and the Dairy Arts Center collaborated on our 2nd Art and Science Connections Collider in April 2023 during Boulder Arts Week. The event began with a tour of INSTAAR’s Stable Isotope Lab. Here, Sylvia Michel (left) explains how analyzing ice cores can tell us about past climatic conditions.
Artist Jocelyn Catterson and INSTAAR scientist Holly Barnard speak about dwindling groundwater in the San Luis Valley in April 2023 in the ֱ Natural History Museum. They are paired as part of the that connects the arts, sciences, and community for shared action on ֱ’s environmental issues.
A “coffee collider” between INSTAAR researchers and artists associated with the Dairy Arts Center showed that many of us have “slash” identities: dancer/scientist, curator/artist, artist/educator, or science/storyteller. Marisa Sánchez Montes, Laine Moser, and Valerie Morris talk at the Dairy Arts Center in January 2023.
Jen Morse at the Dairy Arts Center for the opening of the exhibit in September 2022. Jen spoke as part of a panel during the opening, alongside artists who created work for the exhibit.
Photo courtesy Drew Austin, Dairy Center for the Arts.
Events
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