Drawing the Canada-Wide Science Fair : Christine Clark

Drawing the Canada-Wide Science Fair is a collective of sixteen artists who have come together to interpret and play with the spectacle of a national science fair through visual language. By drawing on-site during the Canada-Wide Science Fair, the artists will create and immediately broadcast drawings of selected projects on display. The idea is to expand the notion of drawing around science themes to include the potentials of visual priority, cross-disciplinary work, collaborative drawing, multi-perspectival drawing, non-precious drawing, interactions with people, live tweeting, 5-second-delay blogging, and other unexpected possibilities. Here’s an introduction to Christine Clark, Canada-Wide Science Fair Artist.

Christine Clark is a MFA – New Media Candidate (’14) at the University of Lethbridge. Her graduate research explores complex information design, visualization, interactivity, and their application to public interest research initiatives. She is currently involved in several research projects as a research assistant, including Complex Social Change: teaching, performing, exhibiting, designing, mapping, The E-book of New Media Research and Practice, and RAVE: Reaching Audiences through Virtual Entryways. Christine has also been working as a freelance creative since 2010, designing and developing projects for small businesses. Her portfolio can be found at chrisclarkcreative.com.

ComplexSocialChange.ca

Question: Do you know any scientists? What are they like?

My roommate is a computational chemistry graduate student. He creates beautiful interactive 3D models of protein molecules and animations of their chemical reactions. I have also seen him make vibrant gradient maps to visualize formula patterns. I am constantly looking over his shoulder to see his latest work of computational art. When asked what drives his design choices, his answer is always science.

Outside of his studies, scientific method is evident in everything he does, from cooking to politics to catching the bus, always experimenting and analyzing. I have come to rely on him for valuable advice and daily factoids, which he enthusiastically shares. It is like living with a hybrid of Google, Quora, and little bit of Reddit.

Overall, the experience has been nothing but positive. He has inspired me artistically and methodologically. I would highly recommend living with, or simply befriending, a scientist.