NASA, CERN, and the magic of a cloud chamber
PLUS: speaking at Milligan College, thoughts on AI and creativity, and a list of things I'm reading/watching/listening to
Hello there! It's Jocelyn Mathewes from my studio in Appalachia. And for this newsletter, I’m going to talk to you about I got to visit CERN and the Kennedy Space Center within 4 months of each other.
But first a reminder: paid subscriber mail bundles are going out later this month!
Now onto my fixation with science, space, and particles—
My husband and I took a fabulous trip to Paris and Geneva for our 20th anniversary last year. One of the many highlights of that European trip was visiting the site of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. In addition to the educational exhibits about the collider and its discoveries about the universe, they have an exhibit wing that highlights commissions and creations through their arts program.
Here is one of the pieces in that exhibit, Chroma VII, in action, by artist Yunchul Kim—
I felt especially inspired by this piece and by Round About Four Dimensions (a “real-world tesseract”).
Unexpectedly, I found myself in tears when I came across a cloud chamber at one of the exhibits. It took me back to my childhood visiting the Museum of Science in Boston, where I happily pressed my nose against a similar chamber. To me, it was proof that invisible things could be real, and that they absolutely mattered. Watching particles dart through that cloud chamber as a child was a core grounding experience that left me forever altered.
I also found myself in tears in front of the new heat shield materials for the latest spacecraft at the Kennedy Space Center’s Deep Space Launch exhibit. The remarkable combination of ceramics (one of our oldest human innovations) with other solutions protecting us as we throwing ourselves into the vacuum of space was simply astounding.
My childhood fascinations with NASA, science, and investigations into what the universe is made of are integral to my thinking, my faith, and inform the way I create my work. At this moment in my work, I believe Symptoms/Side-Effects best exemplifies that connection.
P.S. By far the most exciting experience design I’ve had of late was seeing the historic space shuttle Atlantis. Highly recommend.
in the studio
Lately, I’ve been destroying old work that is taking up space and that I no longer care for. It’s rather cathartic and helps me to hone in on what I think is valuable and lasting.
Textile work continues (I talked about the new direction for my quilts in the last paid newsletter), especially as we’ve been snowed-in here in the mountains of East Tennessee—
I’m feeling itchy to get outside to print more cyanotypes and dig up weeds, but for now I’m mostly bundling up with a snow shovel or walking the dog.
in the community
Last week I stood in front of an auditorium of students and professors at Milligan College and talked about my artwork, EAT/ART space, and Local Artist Meetup. Here’s a moment my youngest daughter captured as I explained my thinking behind the piece Symptoms/Side-Effects.
I think the best part of any speaking experience I’ve had is the questions afterwards. That’s the opportunity I get to understand what my audience is preoccupied with, and if they connected to anything I said in particular.
Artificial Intelligence and creativity came up in a question phrased something like, “Do you think artificial intelligence enhances creativity or diminishes creativity?” My answer was “Artificial intelligence has nothing to do with creativity.” It wasn’t the nuanced answer I would have liked to give, but more a way for me to get out of to the binary framework of the question.
I define creativity as a property that can be applied to humans and non-humans, but I see it as a thread that originates somewhere other than within Artificial Intelligence. I believe that Artificial intelligence is only as “smart” or “creative” as what we have put into it. We’ve put a lot into it (and there’s a lot to say about whether that was done ethically or not), but I see it as a conduit/tool, and a bit of a funhouse mirror.
Continuing to respond to the student I emphasized Artificial intelligence as a tool. With any new process, technology, or tool, you choose to embrace the assumptions of the process or the tool’s construction. “Artists need to carefully choose their tools to ensure their work is fully their own.”
I hope my answer gave the students a sense of agency, regardless of whether or not they choose to make use of AI tools.
Many thanks to Professors Art Brown and V. Kelsey Ellis for bringing me to campus.
P.S. If you’re an artist, you can check to see if your work appears in one of the most popular AI models here.
P.P.S. In the spirit of fairness, here’s an opposing opinion about the validity of non-human art that I found in the process of exploring this theme for the newsletter.
in the wild
It’s the absolute best when my collectors send me photos of where they’ve hung my work. Here’s a pair of collages from Geography of Hope, a series I completed a few years back—
If you’ve collected some of my work and have it in your space somewhere, please send me a photo!
reading/watching/listening
My dear friend Elyse Durham’s debut novel, Maya & Natasha, came out this Tuesday, and I’m anxiously awaiting my pre-order to arrive. Durham studied the world of Cold War Soviet ballet before realizing she was writing the novel, and I can’t wait to read something borne out of that kind of attention and care.
Travis Goyette makes a for a wild interactive video show with Idle Tones earlier this month at Hollerhouse in Bristol, VA.
Andy J Pizza’s interview with illustrator Chris Piascik had a moment where I felt super validated as a parent — when Chris talked about influences a child had on his routine were what led to a dramatic change in his daily drawing practice and a move to a different way of working.
The 70% Rule is a great idea to help recovering perfectionists move forward with creating great work.
My latest comfort watch is the ‘90s TV show Poirot, with David Suchet as the Belgian detective.
xo,
jocelyn
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