Friday, January 16, 2004
When art meets geology
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To Jennifer Stilwell, the earth is a palette. The USI sophomore is an art major who developed a natural look and feel to her artwork by turning minerals into artists’ media. Stilwell is USI’s Alcoa Foundation Presidential Scholar and a participant in the University’s Honors Program. For her honors project in an introductory geology course, she wanted to explore which minerals would make good pigments based on their color, relative hardness, and cleavage. She knew that early painters used pigments made from minerals but that modern pigments are synthetic. With money from a RISC (Research, Innovation, Scholarship, Creativity) award, Stilwell bought the minerals and other supplies. She powdered the minerals with a mortar and pestle or a hammer. She observed their colors. “Azurite created a bright blue pigment, malachite was sea green, and native copper was a sparkling copper color,” she said. Other minerals gave her pigments of red-brown, gray with sparkles, green-gray, light orange, and yellow. She mixed the powdered minerals with water and clear acrylic paint so they would adhere to paper. Stilwell created a drawing of a dry streambed that she had photographed at a nature preserve. She transferred the drawing to a linoleum block and carved the linoleum. Then, placing watercolor paper over the design, she made three embossings on a printing press in the USI art studio. Using the mineral pigments, she added color to the embossings, painting different areas of color on each of the three. The series is titled “Earth: A Natural Color Palette.” “I have learned more about the minerals that my geology class is studying by researching and dealing with the minerals hands on,” Stilwell said. Stilwell conferred with members of the Evansville Lapidary Society about the choice of minerals for the project and made a presentation to the organization’s Junior Rock Hounds group after completing the artwork. Stilwell also shared her research with art students at North High School in Evansville. She is a 2002 graduate of North. The deadline for 2004 grant proposals is February 6, 2004. Students interested in submitting a proposal can contact faculty advisors or The Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence, Rm. 104F, Wright Administration Building. The 2004 RISC showcase, an event for undergraduate students to present, demonstrate, and display their RISC projects, will be held on April 24, 2004. Submissions will be accepted through March 26, 2004. |
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