Art and Life

Catalog description

Much has been made of the difference between Art and Science. Art has been said to be an imaginative activity drawing upon the right side of the brain, while science has been said to be analytical and situated in the left side. Alternately, the French poet Paul Valery has asserted Science and Art are crude names, in rough opposition. To be true they are inseparable. Art and Life charts the intertwined histories and mutual influence of the visual arts and the life sciences in the Western world. The premise of this course is that each discipline has provoked the other and made important contributions to the study and nature of Life, but that each and their perceived differences are products of an underlying worldview as evidenced by artifacts and scholarship of the time. In our current worldview, the course structure may seem unusual as it includes lecture, studio and laboratory components. Through deep textual and material engagements that this course provides, students will gain a deeper understanding of both Art and the Life Sciences and learn to articulate their interrelationship with nuance and clarity. There is a fee associated with this class.