The first of its kind at Lehigh, the “Interdisciplinary Research in the Arts Symposium” will examine the intersection of the arts with disciplines in the social and natural sciences, health, education, engineering and business.
The event will take place from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on March 21 and will offer a platform to share insights, foster collaboration and support the advancement of arts-integrated research.
Open to all, the symposium is being conducted by students and faculty across a wide-range of departments and disciplines. A total of 20 presentations, performances and discussions will take place at LUAG and nearby spaces in Zoellner Arts Center. Refreshments and a light lunch will be provided. Those interested in attending are asked to pre-register.
“The goal of the event is to highlight and promote how the arts catalyze interdisciplinary research, offering new perspectives, methodologies and creative problem-solving approaches that enhance inquiry across disciplines,” said Stacie Brennan ’03, LUAG’s curator of education.
Through its partnerships with faculty, students and staff, as well as community outreach, LUAG serves as a laboratory and a community hub for interdisciplinary exploration, providing a dynamic space where scholars and the public can engage with art as a means of inquiry, innovation and dialogue across fields, Brennan said.
“This event showcases the arts as a convener for community and builds visibility for the museum as a space for learning and engagement,” she said.
Art Across the Sciences
There will be six different session themes covering a variety of topics throughout the day: Psychology and Health; Community Development and Collective Well-Being; Performance, Posters, Workshop and Student Presentations; Science, Nature and Technology, and Language, Communication and Research Methodologies. Each session will include multiple 20-minute presentations and discussions.
One of the topics included is: “Great Painters are Protorheologists: Designing the Flow of Paint,” led by James Gilchrist, the Ruth H. and Sam Madrid Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering.
At the foundation of any artwork are the materials used and designed to create it, with most beholders focusing on the color used by painters to create art, says Gilchrist’s synopsis of the talk. “Beyond the chemistry that gives color, it is equally, if not more important, to design how the paint itself flows, mixes, segregates and dries. This is a visceral aspect of the work that only the artist experiences.”
Gilchrist’s talk will aim to connect rheology, the study of the deformation and flow of matter, with the techniques used in art, especially paint used in impressionist masterpieces.
Another presentation, “Botanical Art and the Lehigh University Herbarium,” will talk about a project being conducted by Robert Booth, chair of the Earth and Environmental Sciences Department, and Anna Chupa and Deirdre Murphy, both professors of art, architecture and design.
Booth, Chupa and Murphy are collaborating on the use of Lehigh’s Herbarium for source images for artwork. Booth manages Lehigh’s Herbarium and uses specimens in his wetland ecology course. Chupa and Murphy will visit Booth’s class to teach botanical drawing techniques to science students as a means to record scientific observations and learn plant identification skills.
Booth will briefly discuss the value of herbaria, the history of Lehigh’s Herbarium and show some of its specimens. Chupa and Murphy will show examples of some of the botanically inspired work they have created from a CORE grant and Lehigh’s Herbarium and scanning electron microscope facilities. They also will show sample prints from their printmaking and textile design classes.
Recordings of the presentations will be available on LUAG's website after the event.
Lehigh has been named an R1 research university by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. Universities with this designation conduct the highest level of research activity within the Carnegie Classification. Lehigh is the only university in the Lehigh Valley to have this designation, and one of seven in Pennsylvania. Learn more.
