Spring 2009 Art Installations

Bee Purple by Spencer Finch (Image courtesy of the artist)

A Day of Science and Art

On Thursday, April 2, the Center for Natural Sciences will be transformed into a center for art, as visiting artist and C.P. Snow Speaker, Spencer Finch, sets up four different installations that bring principles of science and art together. Artwork created by Ithaca College students (see the Photo Gallery for images of students at work) on the themes of micro/macro and light and the color wheel will also be on display, as will scientific images provided by Ithaca College faculty.

Free and open to the public

10am – 6pm:  Installations will be open for viewing and visitor participation in the Center for Natural Sciences

4pm:  Reception to introduce Spencer Finch to the community, 2nd floor CNS
7pm:  C.P. Snow Lecture by Spencer Finch on “Beauty and the Scientific Method,” Textor 102

Center for Natural Sciences

→ Glacier by Spencer Finch (2nd floor atrium/hallway)

• This installation is a modification of Sky (Over Franz Joseph Glacier, April 8, 2008, 10:40am); it recreates the observed color of the sky from the reflection of the water at the basin of the glacier.
• Watercolors by Spencer Finch

→ Big and Small (2nd floor hallway and Room 212)

• Watercolors by Spencer Finch
• Digital astronomical images provided by Ithaca College faculty
• Lithographs by students of Susan Weisend (art department faculty member), based on observations of plant cell slides (micro) and plants in the Greenhouse at IC (macro)
• Plaster cast relief sculptures by students of Bill Hastings and Carla Stetson (art department faculty) based on observations of plant cell slides (micro) and plants in the Greenhouse at IC (macro)
• Hands-on: Visitors will have an opportunity to look at plant cells through the microscopes and try their hand at drawing what they see.

→ Bee Purple by Spencer Finch (3rd floor, Room 368)

• This installation recreates the luring color purple that bees see but cannot be seen by humans.    

→ Newtonian Light and the Color Wheel (3rd floor, Room 302)

• Newton’s light and prism experiment, set up by members of the IC Physics department.
• Color block paintings by students of Jeremy Long (art department faculty member), based on juxtaposing color relationships
• Hands-on: Visitors will have an opportunity to mixing colors to see the difference between subtractive and additive principles of light and color.