Blog Post # 1- Beyond Two Cultures

I’m not sure how much I buy in to the idea of two cultures. On the one hand it feels like a limiting stereotype that gets manifested, (like girls are better at English than Math) but on the other hand I do know that certain fields are definitely more comfortable for me as a learner and practitioner- I love using drawing & photo apps, but have no deep desire to make them!

I guess the areas where I cross over are in some of the methods I use in my art practice- where my main area of focus has been visual representation of narrative. The work has taken the forms of paintings, installations and books, which are based on various methods of text/data visualization. Much of my work is based on mapping – using the visual symbol language of cartography to house narrative. Time, experience and other ephemera get situated in maps, charts, lists- forms we read as “true” or “scientific”- adapting a quantitative schema to track the qualitative. I’m also interested in narrative beyond a purely text-based, linear form, and how different visualizations of text can suggest different readings.

I teach mostly studio painting and drawing classes, and I would say that the art students sometimes do see a distance between art making and Science/Math. We use mathematical concepts in drawing- scale, perspective and of course in color mixing in painting, but I often hear groans when we use a simple grid method for enlargement. I think the connection to digital humanities can be introduced as a more conceptual strategy-what methods of DH tools, like analysis and visualization, can be brought in as ideas for art works? How can we use the existing DH tools for research and information to make a painting- like using photo archives? How are artists manipulating technology for their work? How can we use the devices that are using us?

It feels more difficult to think about incorporating DH into studio-based classes, but I think assignments can be built around students using them as research tools, which would at the very least expose them to existing resources and how they can be used.