Like Einstein, I learned to play the violin. Unlike Einstein, my personal history with the STEM fields leaves much to be desired. Besides winning first place in my third grade science fair (thanks in a large part to the intervention of my microbiology-educated mother), I grew up with very little science and math training. These classes were negligibly present during my education at a magnet high school for the arts and basically non-existent through my BFA and MFA degrees. However, I still gobble-up representations of science in popular culture, from Carl Sagan's Cosmos, to Nova on PBS to WNYC's Radiolab (a personal favorite).
There are many empirical aspects of art-making. Namely, mimetic drawing and color mixing are important skills in foundations level drawing and painting classes. In Beginning Drawing, I teach sight measuring as a tool to interpret the proportions and angles of objects in perspectival space. In Beginning Painting, students build upon these observational skills with color mixing and color matching. In both classes students begin by exploring direct representation and end by exploring modes of abstraction. In art, there is always a tension between thought and representation, content and form. I take special interest in learning about theoretical fields of science where this type of abstract thinking also exists.
One of the most interesting possibilities for this seminar is to apply research toward a class like Color Theory. This course is taught as a hybrid between a studio art class and a science lab. Students are intended to learn the science of perception and then apply these concepts to studio problems. We are currently rewriting the Color Theory curriculum in Fine Arts so that it can fit into the Scientific World category of the Common Core. This could be a great opportunity to examine new technology resources that may compliment the curriculum. In past sections of this class, I have assigned students to listen to the Radiolab episode "Colors." This episode raises many interesting questions about how color is perceived on individual, cultural and even species levels. It builds upon the classic Color Theory head-scratcher, "Do we all see the same colors in exactly the same way?" This question serves as an entry point into the dialog of empirical vs. subjective perception. On the outset, I could imagine using word cloud technology to build students' skills of color observation (for example, show a specific mixed color and ask for a group consensus about what other trace colors it may contain). The same technology could be used to build a word cloud of subjective interpretations of color (for example, what feelings a particular color may evoke).
Wow, Ari. So interesting. I didn't realize that magnet schools could essentially ignore certain subjects in favor of the schools' focus. But more interesting to me is the application of science to art in the way you described. And thank you SO MUCH for posting the link to Radiolab's "Colors." So, so interesting to me. When I taught Visual Communication, we briefly covered color theory, but this has added a whole new dimension to what I thought I knew. And the notion that an art course could fit into Scientific World... I sometimes wish I was a student again so I could take some of the really cool classes that are being developed like the one on which you're working.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments, Lisa! I'm glad that you liked the Radiolab episode. It is a perpetual source of inspiration. They do a wonderful job presenting science as a study of the sublime...something that is quite relevant to the field of art. The segment in that episode about the human evolution of color perception was essentially a digital humanities project...how the researched analyzed texts throughout human history to collect mentions of specific colors. If the technology existed, I would love to be able to compare students' visual interpretations of colors. To see if we really see individual electromagnetic frequencies (i.e. colors) in exactly the same way. For now, I many have to concentrate on comparing emotional responses to colors instead.
DeletePS: To an extent, I CHOSE to avoid taking math and science classes during my education. I can't put all of the blame on Florida's chronically under-funded and under-performing public school system (although recent studies show that this is improving...performance, not funding).
Color Theory has a long history in 'The Two Cultures' -- you can Google Richard Dawkin's 'Unweaving the Rainbow' for instance. (There he explores the Romantic poets' encounter with Goethe's theory of optics, and the basic idea that scientific discoveries could undermine our sense of what's beautiful.) That's so great that Color Theory is going to be in the Core -- sounds like it could be an entry point into other fields -- philosophy and psychology, etc....
ReplyDeleteThanks, Richard. I will definitely look into Dawkins' book. It sounds very interesting!
DeleteYour ideas for the Colors Theory course are so interesting. Thanks for posting.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jennifer!
DeleteHi Ari,
ReplyDeleteWhat a coincidence. I had taught a course called "Color and Light" at the Fashion Institute of Technology for several semesters. I loved this course. I was not that familiar with this narrow area of physics before teaching that course. However, after teaching this course, I found it's actually very useful and a pretty widely studied area.
I will be very interested in discussing more about developing this course at the seminar.
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DeleteVery interesting, Xin. I will definitely want to get your perspective as I work on re-developing the course.
DeleteI love all the creative teaching ideas. The word cloud about subjective feelings that colors evoke sounds fascinating. I wonder if there would be differences across cultures,or does red perhaps evoke excitement in all cultures?
ReplyDeleteWhat an incredible idea it would be to partner with other classes throughout the country or around the world to analyze cultural perceptions of color! Something as simple as word cloud technology in the classroom could generate very meaningful results. It could even be interesting to observe perceptual differences between students in a studio art class and, say, a natural sciences class.
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