Science Art Mentorship

Mentorship

PROGRAM OVERVIEW

The Science Art Mentorship Program offers a unique interdisciplinary experience, blending scientific research with studio art. Students from both Biology and Art Studio backgrounds are invited to apply and work alongside CCRI faculty and researchers over the course of the program.

At its core, the program is built around two ideas shared by artists and scientists alike: observation and interpretation. Both an artist and a scientist look closely at a subject, decide what's worth paying attention to, and interpret what they see — as artwork, as a design solution, or as a scientific finding. This program asks students to sit in that overlap.

[Image 1 here — suggest exhibition photo or SURS showcase image]

Participants engage in hands-on workshops at leading research laboratories, where they learn techniques for capturing, manipulating, and displaying images essential to scientific inquiry — including illustration, microscope photography, video, 3D imaging, and the creation of physical 3D models. Lens-based observation methods like microscopy and photography open up possibilities that stretch across both disciplines, giving students new ways of seeing their subject before they start making work about it.

Drawing on these workshops, students apply a design process to create original art and design work of their own — experimenting, following their own creative ideas, and choosing the materials and processes that suit their concept. The goal isn't to illustrate a finding students didn't arrive at themselves; it's a genuine two-way exchange, where students' work is personally meaningful and shaped by real time spent observing in the lab.

[Image 2 here — suggest a past student's finished piece, or a workshop/lab-visit photo]

All of this builds toward an end-of-summer exhibition at CCRI, showcasing the work each student produces over the course of the program.

Guidance and mentorship throughout is provided by faculty from CCRI's Art and Biology departments, along with guest scientists and artists from partner institutions. [Keeping this general rather than naming specific mentors here, since Partners will cover that in detail — let me know if you'd rather name people on this page too.]