An unusual art show opened May 19 and will continue until June 20 in Waddell Art Gallery at the Loudoun Campus of Northern Virginia Community College.
The exhibition reflects a movement at NOVA to integrate art with science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
When Kamen retired last year, she requested that leftover grant money be used to fund a faculty learning community focused on STEAM. Faculty met weekly to discuss STEAM as a faculty development opportunity. This developed into a student project that was offered as a pilot course in fall 2013.
“Students in NOVA’s Honors program were given the chance to participate in the initial course which was cross-listed in every discipline offered, allowing students to earn one credit in whichever discipline they liked,” Backus said.
Each student benefitted from two faculty mentors: one from art and one from science. The student was responsible for conceptualizing and executing a project that was then exhibited as a final project during exam week.
Two students decided to use oil on canvas, one chose pastels and chalk, another created with pottery and glazing, and another used AutoCad to learn sophisticated computer graphics and animation.
Herbst focused on depicting the geology of the Chesapeake Bay, Miller illustrated his concept of black holes, Duong created a project focusing on the neurobiology of vision and Campbell concentrated on understanding the art of zebrafish embryology. Conrad decided to use her art to represent the “nasty, icky” biological processes that are taboo to speak about.
Waddell Art Gallery is open 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday at NOVA’s Loudoun Campus, 21200 Campus Drive, Sterling, VA 20164. To learn more, contact Backus at gbackus@nvcc.edu.