If you have ever questioned whether science is art or how it inspires art, then you need to visit the Curfman Gallery in the newly renovated Lory Student Center.

From March 3-27, the gallery is displaying the Art & Science Exhibition. The ninth annual show features images, sculptures and other works of art produced by CSU faculty, staff and students.  All of the pieces either represent science or are somehow inspired by science.

The annual show is sponsored by the College of Natural Sciences and the College of Liberal Arts, and was created to show the intersection between art and science.

“We receive an exciting variety of submissions from many different areas across campus,” said Lisa Dysleski, assistant dean in the College of Natural Sciences.  “It’s a way for us all to explore how the two areas really do overlap.”

“Kindred spirits”

Each year, the colleges solicit entries from the CSU community and have a juried panel evaluate and select the pieces that appear in the exhibit. This year’s jurors were Jan Nerger, dean of the College of Natural Sciences; Gary Voss, chair of the Department of Art; and Doug Sink, who manages the Curfman Gallery.

Haley Bates, a professor of art who has helped coordinate the exhibition since its inception, said a variety of pieces have been submitted over the years – jewelry, fiber pieces, scientific models, ceramics, sculpture, microscope photos, scientific drawings and even terrariums.

“It’s always exciting to see what comes in from everyone, especially the researchers,” she said.

Bates said the exhibition helps illustrate the similarities from what appear to be two very different fields and brings people together from across CSU who might not otherwise meet.

“Artists and scientists are very kindred spirits,” she said. “They have a lot in common. Both have to be very creative and there is a high degree of rigor associated with both fields. They really are two side of the same coin.”