Autumn 2005 |
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Touching Art Experience Mark Adreon presented UW art students an unusual challenge last spring: to create artworks that could be enjoyed by both sighted and blind or visually impaired people. Adreon’s employer—the Washington State Department of Services for the Blind—was ready to pay $500 each for four artworks created by the students. Adreon, who lost his sight nine years ago, explains that his office had collected artworks by low vision or blind artists, “but most of the people who visit our offices can’t see those artworks. I thought we needed to do something tactile.”
Adreon contacted School of Art (SoA) director Christopher Ozubko, who saw this as an intriguing opportunity for students. A juried competition was planned, with both sighted and blind jurors judging the artworks. Ozubko asked SoA lecturer Timea Tihanyi to oversee the project. “There were restrictions of size, depth, and materials,” recalls Tihanyi. “The works had to be shallow wall-mounted pieces and had to be able to withstand handling for years and years. For students, it was an interesting challenge.” Students were asked to submit proposals, but first Adreon presented a workshop about blindness and the art experience. He brought goggles fashioned to simulate different kinds of vision loss and encouraged the students to explore art tactilely. “In the three hours I was with them, I wanted to take them to the place they feared most—blindness,” says Adreon. “To take them to a place of blindness and get them comfortable enough to be creative there was a big leap.” Students Susie Lee and Ben Hirschkoff found Adreon’s visit invaluable. “As a ceramics /sculpture person, I think I’m always aware of texture and material,” says Lee, “but for these pieces, I would close my eyes at times to force my fingers to determine the next step.” Adds Hirschkoff, “There is a lot of visual subtlety that the visual community takes for granted. Translating that subtlety into a tactile experience is a lot more difficult than you may imagine.” Hirschkoff wanted his work to appeal to the olfactory, auditory, as well as tactile senses. “Somehow I came up with bees wax, computer fans and a motion sensor and decided to make a piece based on a beehive,” he says. When a hand passes over sensors in Hirschkoff’s work, the fans create a gentle breeze—and a buzzing noise—through holes in the beeswax. Lee’s and Hirschkoff’s artworks were selected for purchase, along with works by Andrea Hull and Chad Downard. All 13 pieces created for the competition were exhibited in the School of Art’s Jacob Lawrence Gallery in June, with disposable sleep shades provided “so that people could experience the art from a tactile perspective,” says Adreon. “In traditional galleries, the piece, regardless of placement, seems to always be on ‘the pedestal,’” says Lee. “At this exhibit, people were so close to the work—not only with their hands, but their faces. It was a refreshing kind of intimacy to the work. It was a bit unnerving initially, and I hoped that I had made my work robust enough.” Adreon looks forward to having the four selected artworks on permanent display. But first the works are being exhibited at several other venues, including the Washington Council for the Blind’s State Convention in Pasco. “Part of the educational
process is to let people who are blind and low vision experience
tactile art,” says Adreon, “because they have been so
isolated from
Strong is not alone. Nearly all of the 28 students who took a recent anthropology course on the Marshall Islands are similarly obsessed. Two are now teaching in the islands; Strong will head there in January. The course was designed
for anthropology
majors to explore how to apply The Marshall Islands are a sovereign nation with unique ties to the U.S., explains Holly Barker, anthropology lecturer and staff member of the Republic of Marshall Islands Embassy, who taught the course. The U.S. retains defense rights there in exchange for providing economic assistance.
About 1,000 Marshallese live in the Puget Sound area. The class spent weeks getting to know them and identifying their most pressing concerns through formal interviews, focus groups, and informal interactions at community events. Then students identified ways in which they could help, focusing on education, advocacy, health, and employment. Barker offers one example: “Marshallese can have trouble at the Canadian border because officials don’t realize they don’t need a visa. So the students drafted a letter explaining Marshallese immigration rights, had the Marshallese ambassador to the U.S. sign it, and made it available to Marshallese to present at the border. It shows what undergraduates can do with the skills they already have.” By the end of the quarter, the class had created a 200-page resource guide for the Marshallese community that included everything from the location of free health clinics, to free English and computer classes, to forms for wills. “Not in my wildest dreams did I think they could put together such a document in 12 weeks,” says Barker. “They went so far beyond what the class required. Instead of attending church once or twice to observe, they went every week to become more a part of the Marshallese community.” In fact, some students
are still driving to Lynnwood and Everett each week to Strong, with degrees in anthropology and public health, will teach health at a high school on one of the islands. A professor once warned her that she would “want to drop everything and go to the Marshall Islands” if she took Barker’s class. “My response at the time was, ‘Sure, whatever,’” she recalls with a laugh. And now? “I had
no idea a class could have that effect. But it was life changing.This
class gave me direction."
Don Quixote, the dreamer who imagines himself a knight and tilts at windmills, turns 400 this year. In December, the UW will celebrate this milestone with a weekend of readings, performances, and discussions. “Cervantes’s Don Quijote de La Mancha is quite possibly the most influential work ever written in Spanish,” says Donald Gilbert-Santamaria, assistant professor of Spanish and Portuguese studies, who is organizing the celebration. “Many scholars consider it the first modern novel. It is a touchstone for just about everyone who writes later.” The novel has been translated repeatedly—most recently by UW students. As part of a Quijote course being taught by Gilbert-Santamaria this quarter, students are translating episodes from the book; they will kick off the celebration with a public reading of their translations. Other performances include a Quijote play by Book-It Repertory Theatre and a concert by guitarist Francesco de Soler. Two roundtable discussions about Cervantes are also planned, with noted Cervantes scholar and UCLA professor Carroll Johnson serving as keynote speaker. The celebration is sponsored
by the UW’s Simpson Center for the Humanities, Spanish and
Portuguese Studies, the Center for Western European Studies, and
the Spanish Consulate of Seattle. For event dates, times, and locations,
visit www.simpsoncenter.org.
Down and Dirty with Dung Beetles in Ecuador
Claire Muerdter can sum up her summer in two words: dung beetles. Press her further, and she’ll tell you it was one of her best summers ever. Muerdter, a junior, was among 11 UW students who spent 17 days in Ecuador conducting research through the Howard Hughes Programs in Science. Graduate student Paul Martin led the group; Biology faculty Josh Tewksbury and Clarissa Dirks provided guidance. “We wanted to create a program that connected different levels of education in the Biology Department,” says Dirks, “from sophomores with no research experience, to juniors and seniors involved in research, to more experienced graduate students and a postdoc.” All four groups were represented on the Ecuador trip. The postdoc and graduate students mentored the advanced undergraduates, who in turn mentored the sophomores. The intention was for the undergraduates to take the lead on the research, with their mentors on hand to provide guidance. The group left for South America in late July, but their work began six weeks earlier, when they started developing a detailed research proposal. Graduate student Paul Martin presented the undergrads with a ‘big picture’ question—why does biodiversity decrease with an increase in elevation or latitude?—and offered suggestions for addressing the question in Ecuador. The undergraduates then developed hypotheses and planned their approach. That’s where the dung beetles come in. In a study of biodiversity and elevation, they make an excellent case study. In Seattle, the students learned everything they could about dung beetles and—after interviewing a UW entomologist—designed traps for collecting the beetles, with the goal of capturing them on two elevational gradients in Ecuador. When the students arrived in Ecuador, reality set in. One of their planned gradients could not be reached due to a washed-out road; the other involved an exhausting 14-hour trek each day to set traps. And their carefully designed traps? They flooded after the first rain.
“We knew we’d have to repeat that hike every day, and that the traps would continue to flood unless we made adjustments” says Muerdter. “We had to decide amongst ourselves—just the undergraduates — how we were going to address these challenges. From then on, it was clear that it was our project. We were calling the shots. It was such a great experience to be given so much responsibility.” The students took turns making the trek, and they designed “umbrellas” of leaves and sticks over the traps to avoid pooling water. During their stay, they collected more than 3,000 dung beetles, which they spent endless hours identifying and tagging. “Their data show that some dung beetle species are abundant at certain elevations, whereas others are not,” says Dirks. “The students did an amazing job of setting up a project that will lead to publishable data. I’m astounded by what they were able to accomplish.” For Muerdter, the rewards go beyond the research itself. She believes her role as mentor on the trip has changed her in important ways. “I was pretty intimidated
to be a mentor,” she admits. “But when people look to
you for leadership, you just rise to the occasion. When someone
else believes in you, it gives you more confidence. That confidence
has stayed with me.”
Nearly 100 students are studying at the UW while their home institutions rebuild. The College of Arts and Sciences is also offering a temporary home to faculty affected by Katrina. As autumn quarter began, the College welcomed six faculty—appointed as visiting professors or visiting scholars—from southern universities including Tulane, Xavier, Loyola, Dillard, and Southern Mississippi. Additional appointments are pending.
“These faculty came to our attention mostly through word of mouth,” says Paul LePore, assistant dean for educational programs, who has been coordinating the Katrina effort college-wide. “It really was a network of folks around the country who knew that their colleagues were in need.” Some faculty are being paid by their home institution, with the College simply providing a place for them to do their work. Others come from institutions that are unable to pay faculty salaries while they are rebuilding. “In those cases, we have looked for ways to support the faculty financially, primarily through teaching positions,” says LePore. The Biology Department has welcomed two of the displaced faculty, both of whom will teach courses; in the English Department, a visiting poet will teach classes not otherwise offered. Other participating departments include chemistry and philosophy, with additional appointments being negotiated in music, mathematics, history, and digital arts. “We want to be clear here—we did this because it was the right thing to do, to help people devastated by Katrina,” says LePore. “That said, we are clearly benefiting in countless ways, through the visiting faculty’s teaching, their cultural exchange, and their sharing of their experience. It’s been a bright spot in an otherwise tragic situation.”
Jewish
Studies Receives $10 Million Gift Of the gift total, $2 million will fund the continuation of the existing Stroum lecture series and publication of the Stroum book series by the UW Press; $3 million will create new endowed chairs in the program; and $5 million will support scholarships and fellowships for undergraduate and graduate students, as well as fund strategic program objectives. “Samuel and Althea Stroum’s gifts to the University over the years have had a transformative effect, and this latest expression of their generosity will have a lasting impact on our Jewish Studies Program,” says UW President Mark Emmert. “Sam also served as a Regent of the University for thirteen years, contributing his time and effort to advance the University’s mission. We are very grateful to the Stroum family for this wonderful gift.” More details of this major gift to the Jewish Studies Program—to be renamed The Samuel and Althea Stroum Jewish Studies Program—will be provided in a future issue of A&S Perspectives. [Autumn 2005 - Table of Contents]
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