by Amber Mrnak
Drawing Water: Art and Science Mentorship Program Produces Beautiful Results
This past summer, Trout Lake Station hosted three undergraduate artists for the entire field season as part of a program exploring new ways to share our science with wider audiences. Each student spent time doing fieldwork with a scientist mentor and time in the studio (or outdoors plein air painting) with an artist mentor. Having student artists living and working on station and interacting with other “Trout Lakers” helped students and researchers see the science they interact with daily in new ways and also added a new, vibrant aspect to our community. Below is a sample of each student’s work.
Cameo Boyle
“I want to show our connection with nature through my work. As humans we have the desire to be near nature such as plants and wildlife. We as humans depend on the natural world that supplies our daily needs.”
Libby Hetzel
“Nature has always sought ideals. Ideals that are never perfectly realized, but that exist nonetheless: only as intangible concepts… Concepts that humans understand collectively; concepts that are evident in every methodical step we take to study our surroundings.”
Catherine Nelson
“My work is about connection: bringing people closer to each other and to the natural world around them. Influenced by both science and art, my work in each field is strengthened by skills I’ve learned in the other.”