LEONARDO DA VINCI’S WORK with anatomy and flying machines may be the most famous example of artists leveraging scientific study to better understand the world around them. Artist Juan Geuer saw science as “an activity as creative, inspired, and dependent upon perception as art.” More recently, Anishinaabe artist Barry Ace has woven Geuer’s influence and his own studies of electricity into his traditional designs, beaded with bits of circuitry.
The scientific community is also increasingly realizing that confronting complex contemporary challenges often requires interdisciplinary approaches. To investigate and mitigate plastic pollution in the Great Lakes, the Synthetic Collective has gathered artists, scientists, and humanities scholars. One key result of the collaboration is visualizing plastiglomerate, an agglomeration of plastics and natural materials, as both a geological sample and a ready-made sculpture that was exhibited internationally to convey the collective’s findings.
Visual thinking can also enhance scientific understanding by enabling connections with TEK (traditional ecological knowledge), which is proving important for addressing issues such as conservation and climate change. Artist and ecologist Jean Polfus overcame initial community reluctance to participate in her research by collaborating with Dene First Nation Elders to annotate her drawings of caribou phenotypes.
Over the last decade, mainstream science has increasingly recognized the importance of Indigenous knowledge to a more comprehensive understanding of observed phenomena. Traditional wisdom is especially pronounced in the oldest form of science, astronomy. “The animals and beings among the constellations are related to our relationship here on the Earth, with the animals, the plants, and each other,” says artist and Indigenous studies professor Will Morin, Michipicoten First Nation. “The dreamcatcher is in fact part of the creation stories for some tribes — the pattern echoes the math formula for ‘phi’ found in nature. This pattern is a star map of the constellations.”
A growing number of educational programs are integrating both Indigenous worldviews and artistic teachings to deliver more engaging and effective experiences for students. Expanding the limits of subject boundaries not only reflects the interdisciplinary realities of modern economic development but also addresses the ongoing concern of attracting students to STEM.
Canadian organization IndigeSTEAM (led by AISES Board of Directors member Deanna Burgart) is addressing the underrepresentation of Indigenous peoples in the sciences by making connections to disciplines such as art, architecture, and agriculture — areas where Native people have traditionally been innovators. In 2019, an IndigeSTEAM team represented Canada at an international robotics competition in Dubai. “They can see the technology side and the culture side together,” said Sheila Norris from IndigeSTEAM before the competition. “We want to bring [Indigenous youth] into STEM because that’s where our future is; that’s where the youth’s future is.”
—Patrick Quinn