Animation faculty member Laurence Arcadias brings an extraordinary record of professional experience in the field of animation to MICA. Among her many successes is an NEA Research: Artworks grant awarded to MICA, on her behalf. The resulting research has led to a string of papers that have gone on to be published in peer-reviewed journals like Leonardo and Animation Practice, Process & Production.
We sat down to talk with Laurence regarding her work with astro-animation and more.
What is innovative about your research and what have been the impacts?
Robin Corbet and I teach an astro-animation class in partnership with NASA scientists. In this class, the students create short animations based on cutting-edge research of the partnering scientists. The partnering scientists go on to follow the students’ projects and serve as mentors for the students. For example, a group of students is working with one of the lead scientists of the DART mission: a spacecraft programmed to impact a small asteroid as a test for preventing further damaging impacts on Earth. By creating these animations, students bring the power of their imagination to see the research of the scientists through a different lens. A few years ago, we received an NEA grant with me as the PI. The project investigated how teaching art and astronomy together has the potential to inspire new art forms, enhance scientific public outreach, and promote art and science education. Astrophysicists, educators, students, and the general public were surveyed to evaluate their experiences and benefits with the project. The responses were very positive and showed that the work we are doing is an effective way to stimulate art students to learn science, share an artist’s viewpoint beyond the classroom, and engage with the public. This research led to several peer-reviewed papers.
For the last eight years, thanks to Robin’s own research funding, we have been able to provide paid summer internships at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) for astro-animation students. In our paper: Astro-animation - A Case Study of Art and Science Education, two of our students were included as authors. They described their experiences as summer interns at NASA GSFC. The NEA grant was also a great way to involve student interns in the research. We had two research assistants who helped with the film interviews and the website. We have been invited to several conferences and outreach science events, sometimes with the participation of students. The astro-animations from the students are available online and have been featured on NASA’s social media. Scientists have been using the animations in their conference talks or in classrooms.
Scientists have been very supportive of our class, and every time, we have a pool of scientists volunteering to have their research animated. They appreciate the opportunity to express their ideas in an approachable way, and they love to see how creative the students can be. We want to emphasize that the animation is not at the service of science, but may bring another way to look at the world through a different lens. The animations can be whimsical, poetic, and abstract, they may use metaphor, but all within some form of scientific rigor.
What community members are involved in your work and in what ways?
Based on the success of our astro-animation class we are looking for funding to get this experience out of the classroom. We want to create an astro-animation exhibition to be displayed in unexpected locations such as public markets, train stations, and music festivals so that the work can meet a broader, underrepresented audience. Our pilot location would be the Pratt Library, and they are very supportive of the idea.
This exhibition project will be a collaboration between MICA’s Exhibitions Department, UMBC (for the STEM research aspect), and community partners. In addition to the Pratt Library, Lexington Market has expressed a strong interest in our project.
If we get the funding, we want to involve MICA students as interns in the research and fabrication process. Our exhibition will also propose hands-on animation and science activities to the audience. So far, we have received a small grant from the Maryland Space Business Roundtable to initiate development and test our activities with a small group of school-age students and educators from the Baltimore School for the Arts.
What are the challenges and the rewards of conducting a course that incorporates sponsored research?
Conducting a course such as our astro-animation class at MICA can be challenging. As a six-credit course, it sits between two different departments with their own vision and demands. Scheduling is complicated as it does not really fit into the traditional class grid. “Integrated teaching” being treated as two classes happening one after the other one, does not really reflect how we need to interact and work together. That said, we have very creative faculty here and some unconventional classes are still happening. This is what makes MICA unique and appealing to potential students. It is also exciting to see something that started as a small class project develop into a six-credit course with the participation of NASA scientists. NASA has recognized Robin’s participation in this project as an exceptional achievement of outreach and the City of Baltimore has recognized our collaboration between scientists and animators. All of this has led to the NEA grant and several papers published with conference invitations and hopefully more to come!
What has been your experience working with the Office of Research?
Working with the Office of Research is a key element of this project. Developing a proposal that involves two different institutions and a complex budget can be overwhelming. Putting together a National Science Foundation (NSF) proposal feels like an obstacle course. The OOR team has been very supportive through each step, even making themselves available after hours in certain cases to keep up with major deadlines. The "Grant Writing for Creatives Workshop" is a great opportunity to learn the basics and meet other faculty.