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The mind contemplating “light and refraction” and “light and shade”: Blending art and science in education
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Art and science often seem or are presented as being dichotomous. Accordingly, art is subjective whereas science is objective. Thus, too, art is about irrational feelings whilst science concerns itself solely with rational information. In fact, rather than see them as polar opposites, we should see them as different manifestations and incarnations stemming from the self-same source of human creativity. From what we know of the early days of human existence, as revealed by anthropology and the social, human and natural sciences in general, humans have always been involved in art-making and experimentation. From cave paintings and the mastery of fire-making through to pottery, both domains, i.e., science and art have evolved together as human culture has progressed. With the Industrial Revolution, we began to teach specialisation in one domain or the other and, entrenched within these now-divorced knowledge domains, to specialise even further into ever more specific fields. Thus, the specificity and inner gravity, so to speak, of highly specialised knowledge further widened the gap between the domains of art and science. As a result of this phenomenon of specialisation, art and science drifted apart in academia, finally crystallizing into separate subjects taught, in turn, by specialised individuals. This phenomenon of specialization and exclusionary knowledge practices ultimately steered me in the direction of art, thus leading me further away from the domain of science. Fortuitously, glass making opened a path for me to get to know science better as well as ignited my scientific curiosity. The artist and the scientist's creative life are made up moments of epiphany: moments which have led me to a more nuanced and deeper level of personal achievement and satisfaction. Specifically, my epiphanic moment has allowed me to embrace various science projects, producing glass and analyzing their properties, and engage with science to solve the technical problems arising during the process of art-making. Nowadays, I see science and art as related manifestations and both as the culmination of experiment and creativity. Both are, in their purest forms, deeply creative endeavours which bring us closer together as living, thinking beings and help us to transcend our limited, i.e., specialised perspectives. It is our belief that the merging of art and science in education will allow us to surpass the barriers of even the most deeply entrenched and dichotomous thought patterns.
Based on my experience of travelling between these two avatars of human creativity, the thesis reflects upon the value of, and need for, the reconciliation and reintegration of art and science in education. By engaging in transdisciplinary research, I have rediscovered myself and, consequently, discovered my ability to blend art and science. This thesis, in addition to my artwork, shows the results of my forays into art and science, i.e., the pursuit of mature creative, conceptual and pedagogical expression by way of distinct yet related modes of knowing and communicating, experimenting and creating.
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art science education experience