TIE Fellow Creates New Course

Wednesday, November 22, 2017: Emerging from the culmination of her thesis project and her summer in Montana working on the Upstream project, Isabel Beavers (TIE Fellow 2017-2018 cohort) returns to Tufts and the Boston area with an exciting new project that once more allows her to explore the nexus between art, advocacy, and science.

 As an artist, Isabel prioritizes the connection that can be made between art and science and the way that the visualization of environmental issues sparks productive, insightful conversation that often teaches viewers to consider the issues presented with a different perspective. When speaking at an ENVS Lunch and Learn discussion this fall, Isabel noted at the conclusion of her thesis project, Arctic Lab: An Artist’s Trip to the North, that she consistently found herself returning to broader questions that were sparked by the work of her thesis. In considering how scientific fact becomes common knowledge, Isabel was captivated by the ability of art to help communicate environmental realities that would lead to collective knowledge surrounding issues such as climate change.

A Post-Graduate Fellow at the School for the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts, Isabel’s newest project will allow her to continue exploring the ways that art can help produce collective awareness of scientific exploration and discoveries. In Spring 2018, Isabel will be teaching a course that will prioritize the role of art and artists in communicating science, with a particular emphasis on the environment. This course, “Interdisciplinary Practices: Sci +Art,” was created and developed by Isabel, and will be available for all undergraduate students at Tufts, regardless of major field.

Combining a seminar format with a studio focus, Isabel envisions a unique course design which will allow students to integrate scientific material into their creative endeavors and allow them to refine new perspectives with which to consider their work. Isabel hopes that all her students will come to consider the boundary between art and science as more fluid, which will ultimately allow for future integration of the two disciplines. By encouraging her students to consider how scientific knowledge is cultivated, Isabel will help push future artists and scientists to consider how each discipline can speak back to the other, in order to spark lively and exciting conversations surround our environmental future.

Taylor Parrish, TIE Graduate Intern

For more information about Isabel Beaver’s course, please explore “PAI-0033 Interdisciplinary Practices: Science +Art."