Interdisciplinary

Mountain art residency attracts participants like moths to a flame

Anonymous — Sat, 31 Aug 2019 22:29:27 +0000

Mountain art residency attracts participants like moths to a flame Anonymous (not verified) Sat, 08/31/2019 - 16:29

Kenna Bruner

New program aims to promote cross-disciplinary research between art and science, and to support new creative works

Aaron Treher appears in an image titled "Street Light Project: Piney Creek Site." Photo by Barbara Bosworth.

In a small, brightly lit cabin nestled in a mountain forest west of Boulder, moths and other night creatures rushed toward the mercury vapor streetlights glowing inside. After dark, hundreds of moths and insects of many varieties flew into the open door and swarmed around the lights as part of an art installation conceived by Aaron Treher, who is a contemporary artist.

Treher, who earned a Master of Fine Arts in art practices at the �鶹��Ѱ��, is the first recipient of a residency program launched this summer to promote cross-disciplinary research between art and science, and to support new creative work by a selected artist-in-residence.

Treher’s project documented the interaction of bugs and streetlights in a gallery space.

The Mountain Research Station Sculpture Residency Program is a collaboration among sculpture and post-studio practice in the Department of Art and Art History at �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder, the Mountain Research Station (MRS) and the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR). The residency includes the use of two remote MRS cabins, one for the artist to stay in for two weeks and the other to use as a studio or gallery space.

“I’ve been wanting to do this project for a long time,” Treher said.

An insect alights on a street lamp in Aaron Treher's work at the Mountain Research Station.

“The point of the work was to get people to look at these older style streetlights and consider them as cultural objects while also seeing how they interact with the ecology of a place. People reacted in an excited way and MRS is a great space for that kind of work. I had some great conversations with researchers and students about the intersection between art and science.”

The point of the work was to get people to look at these older style streetlights and consider them as cultural objects while also seeing how they interact with the ecology of a place."

Treher’s art practice focuses on building, documenting and studying forms of architecture and infrastructure that serve as niche habitats for specific animal species, such as barn swallows and bats. His artworks utilize sculpture, photography, architectural design, fieldwork and ecological survey.

“We think of street lights in terms of public safety,” Treher said. “The type of streetlights I’m working with have also become a form of habitat for a specific set of animals. I’ve been trying for a long time to find a place that would allow me to document the interaction of bugs, bats and streetlights. Most gallery spaces wouldn’t be too happy about hundreds of bugs showing up in their space. This residency was a perfect opportunity for me to make that happen.”

The residency program is directed by Richard Saxton, professor in art practices at �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder.

“The main point of the residency is to create relationships between science and art,” Saxton said. “We really believe an artist needs to be working deeper in other fields, not just art, so we’re pushing hard to produce what we think of as the next generation of artists and cultural leaders. That includes being able to understand science topics like climate change and have first-hand experience with it. We’ve dedicated ourselves to that engagement with the world.”

The concept of a sculpture is much wider than people give it credit for, Saxton said. In Treher’s piece, the sculpture involved using the entire cabin.

“When we talk about sculpture, we’re also talking about installation art, outdoor participatory art,” Saxton said.

An important aspect of this residency is interacting with the classes and researchers at the MRS and creating work that can engage audiences that include K-12 students, undergraduates and graduates, and researchers who come from around the world.

Street lamps are visible inside of a cabin at the Mountain Research Station, where Alex Treher's creation underscores the interplay between the human-built environment and indigenous creatures, in this case insects. `

The residency program is one way that the sculpture and post-studio practice area promotes cross-pollination with scientists, researchers and policy makers whose work centers on rural environments, conservation and ecology. The residency allows space for creative voices to join many important science-based conversations.

The artists-in-residence will share their work through open studio events and presentations. Immersed in the workings of a science research station, artists can create site-specific installations, ecological projects, walking and hiking projects and collaborative experiments.

The residency will be awarded annually to an alumnus or graduating Masters of Fine Arts students in the �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder sculpture and post-studio practice area. Artists will spend two weeks during the summer on the MRS campus.

At 9,500 feet in the Front Range of the Colorado Rockies, MRS is an interdisciplinary INSTAAR research centerdevoted to the study of mountain ecosystems. Alpine ecosystems support an abundance of diverse and rare species that are being affected by climate change. For nearly 100 years, MRS has provided research and educational opportunities for scientists and students.

“We want to continue offering more than just the studio on campus,” Saxton said. “We’re really focused on site-based work. There may be some preliminary research they’ve done, but the project is going to come out of their time there.”

Grad student is first recipient of a residency program launched this summer to promote cross-disciplinary research between art and science.

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Program uses language to expand cultural perspectives

Anonymous — Fri, 22 Mar 2019 02:48:39 +0000

Program uses language to expand cultural perspectives Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 03/21/2019 - 20:48

Cultures and Languages Across the Curriculum uses foreign languages as a tool to ‘open new avenues of inquiry and communication to enhance whatever you are studying’

At a historical and political moment when millions of Americans seem less than keen to make global connections and embrace different cultures, a nascent program at the Center for Asian Studies at the �鶹��Ѱ�� is taking the opposite tack.

Launched in 2017 with an undergraduate education development grant, the Cultures and Languages Across the Curriculum program “supports student learning in disciplinary courses by creating opportunities for them to use their skills in languages other than English.”

Danielle Rocheleau Salaz, executive director of the Center for Asian Studies at �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder.

The goal is to help students broaden their perspectives by using the lens of a second language.

“The idea is, language shouldn’t just be looked at as an object of study, the way you might think about math. It’s also a tool that can open new avenues of inquiry and communication to enhance whatever you are studying … if you have additional (non-English) language skills you can bring to any subject,” says Danielle Rocheleau Salaz (MJpn’00), executive director of the Center for Asian Studies and the driving force behind CLAC at �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder.

Salaz got her first taste of the concept in 2006, when she attended a meeting of the CLAC Consortium. Somewhat diffuse—“It’s not one-size fits all,” she says—the concept has been realized in everything from service-learning to content-based education models and alternative modes of education that “foster the acquisition of cross-cultural competencies,” according to the consortium.

“Students (use) supplementary materials to get different perspectives and enhance their understanding of the concepts presented in the parent courses,” Salaz says.

At CU, the result so far has been five one-credit “co-seminars” attached to existing courses, ranging in subject matter from Islam to Indo-Pakistani literature. In the co-seminars, students work with materials in non-English languages, which can broaden their understanding of different cultures. Often, students report back to the parent class, sharing what they’ve learned in the co-seminar.

Students also may study English-language materials published in non-English-speaking countries and cultures.

“One example is using English-language newspapers from around the world to see how they cover a big story,” Salaz says. “Take a plane crash: In one (outlet) some high-level person may be apologizing, in another there are photos of crying families, in another a photo of wreckage. That’s the ‘c’ in CLAC: What can this tell us about the world and the people who live in those places?”

One example is using English-language newspapers from around the world to see how they cover a big story. Take a plane crash: In one (outlet) some high-level person may be apologizing, in another there are photos of crying families, in another a photo of wreckage. That’s the ‘c’ in CLAC: What can this tell us about the world and the people who live in those places?”

Students of all different abilities, from native speakers to novices, have signed up for the co-seminars. They must be enrolled in the parent course, but enrollment in the co-seminar is optional, and professors define for themselves what the language requirements should be.

For example, during the fall 2018 semester, four students enrolled in Assistant Professor of Hindi/Urdi Rahul Parson’s course, “The Power of the Word: Subversive and Censored Twentieth Century Indo-Pakistani Literature,” signed up for a co-seminar. Students in the co-seminar read texts in Hindi at whatever pace matched their familiarity with the language, ranging from intermediate to advanced.

“My motivation behind enrolling was to further my reading and speaking skills in Hindi. … It brings about a whole new perspective on the time and culture of the piece written,” neuroscience major Mancy Shah said while taking the course. “I really like the fact that this co-seminar is small. It allows for a more in-depth and detailed discussion. Also, with everyone having similar backgrounds in Hindi, it allows for a new interpretation of the text over the translation that we have also read in English.”

For now, CLAC is limited to Asian languages at �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder, though the Center for Asian Studies is hoping it will gain traction with other world languages. Ideally, Salaz says, CLAC can expand cultural perspectives through foreign languages in all corners of campus. This kind of innovation can help �鶹��Ѱ��meet its goals for internationalizing the curriculum, providing student-centered learning opportunities, and promoting interdisciplinarity, all key priorities in the Academic Futures initiative.

One of CLAC’s many benefits, Salaz says, is that it can help international students feel more embraced and welcomed by the university community.

“Instead of looking at such students as if their English isn’t up to par, it shows that we really value international students that bring additional language skills, whether in Chinese, Japanese, Korean or Arabic,” she says. “It’s a way to celebrate our differences as strengths.”

Cultures and Languages Across the Curriculum uses foreign languages as a tool to ‘open new avenues of inquiry and communication to enhance whatever you are studying.’

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