by Marcella Ortega
Daily Lobo
An exhibition at the University Art Museum is giving scientists the opportunity to display their art.
"This is all about people from fields that are traditionally at opposite poles, but they intersect around observation," said Sara Otto-Diniz, curator of "Art and Science/Observation and Imagination."
The exhibition will be on display in the University Art Museum until February. Otto-Diniz said it was based on the work of Leonardo da Vinci as a scientist and artist.
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"His knowledge really pervades the show," she said.
The exhibits are divided into scientific sections such as botany, astronomy, biology and physics. Each includes a brief introduction to the artists and da Vinci's influence on the topic.
Otto-Diniz said the exhibit was keyed to collaborate with the nonprofit organization, Art in
the School.
"People's understanding of science is really pretty spare in our country nowadays," she said. "So, we ask, 'What can we as an art museum do to help support this need in science, which isn't our
normal field?'"
Otto-Diniz said elementary
students from the program will learn proper museum etiquette.
"There is a lot of personal learning that goes into the piece of art," she said. "That's what we want to teach the children to do. We'll take them to several of the sections and model good museum-going behavior and how to navigate the space - how to observe and use their imaginations."
Otto-Diniz said the exhibit has been used by University professors outside the art and art history department.
Architecture professor Anne Taylor used the exhibit for her class, Research Methodology in Architecture. Taylor sent architecture students to the exhibit to observe the way people interacted in the space.
She said analyzing the way people use buildings helps architects create better designs.
"We are honing our observation skills - did they go to the left, did they go to the right, did they pause," she said.
Taylor said the exhibit was a good fit because the topic is like architecture in that it combines art with science.
"It's really a study on how people use an environment," she said. "It was great because the topic relates to architecture, which promotes the visual literacy of the public."
Two botanical sketches by artist Margy O'Brien were featured in the exhibit.
"The sketchbooks I sort of visit sporadically, but that is where my passion goes," she said. "For me, it's just an important part of my practice. Mostly, I'm happy when I am sketching things outdoors."
O'Brien, who studied art and biology, has worked as a scientific illustrator, cartographer, public school teacher, graphic artist and painter.
"I can remember my science professor saying some of the greatest artists in the world are scientific illustrators, but you will never see them in an art exhibit," she said.
O'Brien said she now works as an artist, painting murals.
"It (the exhibit) is the most organized blending of art and science that I have ever been in," she said. "I feel very honored to be included in it."
"Art and Science/Observation and Imagination"
Now through February
University Art Museum
Free
