Chasing Nabokov's Butterfly (#74)

Presenting a crude draft syllabus/homework list for the study of SciArt.

There's no science without fancy and no art without fact.
Vladimir Nabokov

It’s back to school week here in the Maritimes. In my house, it means returns to the classroom for both adult and youth - except for me, who is likely the only one of the five who liked returning to school each year.

I know, surprising. I loved the anticipation of it, laced with the smell of new school supplies, preparing the outfits waiting patiently on hangers, learning about the classes I’d be taking.

Admittedly, I’m fine with not going back to a campus - twenty years of school total will do that - but I’m still a little nostalgic at those rosy first days of September. I still want to buy new supplies each fall.

Speaking of supplies: Did you know that a “campfire notebook” is one of the school supplies we used to have to buy? It was a slim, rectangular notebook that we used in earlier grades to record the day’s homework. (Strangely, the brand we could buy in the Maritimes was called “Heritage”, an orange notebook with a sketch of a mill on the cover, but teachers still called them campfire notebooks? I think it was one of these odd cases of using the American word, but it doesn’t match the branding here in Canada. See also: football.¹)

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As I mulled over this, I realized that I haven’t shared any homework in this Campfire Notebook. After a year of learning about the intersection of art and science, and science communication, I realize that I have much more to learn. What follows, then, is a syllabus of my own creation and for my own learning, but which I happily share with you.

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SCIART 1001: The Intersection of Science and Art

“…our 21st century problems and opportunities cut across all dimensions of life; in order to create comprehensive and inclusive solutions and innovations, we need cross-disciplinary approaches.”²

While science and art are often positioned as polar opposites, but upon closer inspection, they are more closely aligned than not. This course explores the intersection of science in art, and art in science - otherwise known as “SciArt”: its’ purpose, history and applications; and, how to purposefully, and successfully, blend the two disciplines together.

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Topic 1: Defining SciArt

The joining of science and art, SciArt is “Any creative expression where the intent of the artist is to convey an observable understanding of the physical universe."³

Why create SciArt?⁴⁵

• There are internal goals: using it as a means to experiment and explore new subjects, to consider how we relate to the world, to connect with others and create community, and to cope with difficult experiences.

• There are external goals, too: SciArt as a means of reaching others in a way that creates action and change (e.g., empowering and accessing voices not often heard from in the current hierarchies built into scientific conduct); revealing new perspectives and solutions to old problems; and communicating complex concepts in new ways (both to self and to others).

#15: The Art of the Matter

Still others would perhaps argue that SciArt as a single category is reductive, and that there are nuances to be communicated by adding SciComm and ArtScience⁶:

In science communication, or “SciComm,” artists are recruited to help interpret and communicate scientific findings or conclusions for broader audiences. “SciArt” uses elements of science as inspirational seeds or media for artistic expression… A third mode, “ArtScience,” involves artists and scientists working together in transdisciplinary ways to ask questions, design experiments, and formulate knowledge.

Also, why is it SciArt and not ArtSci? Did we inadvertently bake new hierarchies into the practice? I explored this briefly earlier this summer:

#68: Erratum

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Topic 2: Common Approaches to SciArt

Current approaches to SciArt can be categorized as: visual, sound, and performance.

• Visual: Includes painting, sketching, sculpture and 3D printing, embroidery, infographics, comics

A panel from Science Comic Plagues: The Microscopic Battlefield by Falynn Koch

• Sound: Songs, spoken word performance, podcasts

• Performance: stage , videos (including short-form social media, e.g., TikTok)

As I continue to explore and catalogue various forms of SciArt, I should consider what draws me to particular media and examples. Is it style? Use of colour or sound? Effectiveness of messaging? Across different exemplars, what is the role of the viewer in “participating” in the art? To help with this, I can create a commonplace book to note what I like and want to learn more about - both method and artist behind the piece.

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Topic 3: The Process of SciArt

To learn more about making SciArt, I need to explore both the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators and the Association of Medical Illustrators, which each publish comprehensive lists of resources to create SciArt (media, subject) and share the work (e.g., business considerations).

From an academic perspective, there is also the Science Gallery Network, which links universities around the world in a mission to educate through science and art collaborations, and SymbioticA, an art-life sciences laboratory in Australia.

One also needs to consider the collaborative aspect of working with artists and/or scientists. How do you negotiate the goals and leadership on a SciArt project - whose interests/needs take precedent (if any at all)? I feel better equipped here, although I still have much to continue learning.

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Many thanks to Glendon Mellows (@flyingtrilobite), Melanie Connolly (@Mecovisuals), and Michele Banks (@Artologica) for the recommendations, especially those shared in Topic 3.

What do you think of the above homework as a starting point to learn more about SciArt? And, is there something you’d like to learn more about (i.e., give me homework)?

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1. I am a terrible Canadian - I do not like CFL. But NFL starts TODAY and you can bet your delightful posteriors I will be in front of my TV.

2. SciArt Initiative. (n.d.) Mission statement.

3. Pappas M. (2021). What is SciArt?

4. Jain I. (2020). The nebula of #sciart and its explorer-artists.

5. Fleerackers A et al. (2022). Why create SciArt? An investigation into science artists' goals and professional journeys.

6. Blaeser KD et al. (2023). Why—and how to—engage artists in science.