Blending Art and Science

Along the edge of a small stream, researchers squat along the water’s edge, collecting data from sensors they’d placed there earlier in the year. Off to the side, Meredith Emery ’18 lifts her camera to her face and clicks rapidly.

More than 800 photos later and with funding from a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship, she’s taken 15 of those images, transformed them into decals, and applied them to rectangular clay slabs. She points to the juxtaposition within each image, how it signifies the sometimes tense relationship between people and their environment.

This project has helped Emery figure out what kind of artist she wants to be. “I want to make art that’s educational, that people can get something from, that they walk away from thinking, I want to make a life-change off of what I just saw. I think the power of the image and the power of art, in general, moves people in a way that is crucial to helping promote science.

“I want to plant a seed — an idea of change and awareness about our relationship to the environment. And I want people to ruminate on that and hopefully inspire gradual life changes and greater awareness about how we treat our environment.”

Read the complete Carolina Story from Endeavors…

Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships enhance the educational experience of undergraduates by engaging them in research opportunities. The awards are given to Carolina students within all departments and majors who are in good academic standing, enrolled full time, enrolled for the fall semester following the fellowship, and have not previously received a SURF grant.

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