Science and art are often viewed separately but we believe they have more to offer the world when they happen collaboratively. We ask together, can collaborations between scientists and artists reveal ways forward in our current reality of changing climates?
Jamie Cornelius, Michelle Swinehart, and I spent 2 weeks in Sisters, Oregon on the Pine Meadow ranch to explore new ways for artists and scientists to work together both in the field and in the studio. We spent early mornings out in ponderosa pine forests studying red crossbills led by biologist Jamie. And afternoons were spent in the studios, where we asked ourselves new questions, created artworks to share at a public open studio and developed a plan for our future work as part of OSU’s Little Bird Lab.
For the Open Studio event, we started with a circle discussion then folks toured the installation, the audio and visual wall of questions, and discovered a secret by looking into a scope. We also invited them to participate in our exploratory process and add their unique voices to the discussion. Then, Jamie, also a musician songwriter, performed a number of her original songs.
