November 5–7, 2015
California College of the Arts
1111 Eighth Street
San Francisco
exploringscienceinthestudio.cca.edu
More than 300 educators from across North America will participate in the 2015 AICAD Symposium: Exploring Science in the Studio, running November 5–7 in San Francisco. Hosted by California College of the Arts (CCA), the symposium examines the place, purpose, potential, and role of science in contemporary art and design education. The symposium is sponsored in part by a National Science Foundation grant.
Highlights of the three-day event
Highlights of the symposium include keynote speaker Natalie Jeremijenko, associate professor in the Visual Art Department at NYU and affiliated with the Computer Science Department and Environmental Studies program.
A host of speakers will present on a wide range of topics, from data visualization and technology to biomimicry and sustainability. Field trips to Bay Area locations such as the Academy of Science and Autodesk’s Pier 9 Workshop are also options for participants. Installations, poster sessions, an exhibition, and a performance titled Drought 1200 round out the three-day symposium.
About Exploring Science in the Studio
California College of the Arts, one of the oldest and most influential art and design schools in the country, is pursuing ways to enable its students to take their places as scientifically literate problem solvers in a variety of careers.
In 2011, CCA launched the Exploring Science in the Studio pilot program, offering a set of interdisciplinary thematic studios called Sci-Studios in the college’s principal areas of study—architecture, design, fine arts, humanities and sciences, and diversity studies—allowing faculty to embed guest scientists directly into the studio courses.
As the recipient of a 2012 grant from The National Science Foundation (NSF), one of the largest awards made to an art and design college, CCA was able to expand the Exploring Science in the Studio initiative to include two other initiatives in addition to the Science in the Studio courses.
The grant enabled the creation of Mobile Units for Science Exploration (MUSE), which allow instructors to bring science equipment directly into the studios. MUSE provides a replicable model for bringing science instructional materials and equipment directly into classrooms at colleges that do not have standalone science departments or facilities.
The NSF’s Exploring Science in the Studio grant also supports the 2015 AICAD Symposium.
About AICAD
AICAD—the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design—is a nonprofit consortium of 43 leading art schools in the United States and Canada. It was founded in 1991 by a group of 25 presidents who felt a need for the similarly structured art schools to come together so as to mutually develop their schools and programs. Our mission is to help strengthen the member colleges individually and collectively, and to inform the public about these colleges and the value of studying art and design.
About California College of the Arts
Founded in 1907, California College of the Arts (CCA) offers 22 undergraduate and 12 graduate programs in the areas of fine arts, architecture, design, and writing. The college offers BFA, MFA, BArch, MArch, MAAD, MBA, and MA degrees. It has campuses in San Francisco and Oakland and currently enrolls 2,000 full-time students. CCA students are encouraged to work in an interdisciplinary manner, undertaking projects and collaborations with students in other majors and engaging with outside communities.
Noted alumni include the artists Nathan Oliveira, Jules de Balincourt, Robert Arneson, Robert Bechtle, Viola Frey, and Peter Voulkos; the Oscar-winning filmmaker Audrey Marrs; the illustrator Tomie de Paola; the conceptual artists Harrell Fletcher, David Ireland, and Dennis Oppenheim; and the designers Lucille Tenazas, Michael Vanderbyl, and Gary Hutton.
Tickets and information
For tickets and additional information, visit the symposium website.
