ART AND THE OSMOSIS OF THE INTANGIBLE.

Osmosis is, ‘a process by which molecules of a solvent tend to pass through a semipermeable membrane from a less concentrated solution into a more concentrated one, thus equalizing the concentrations on each side of the membrane.’(1) Sanding alone, the description of this biological process is confusing and difficult to put into context.

The visual guide allows the exact same language to be broken up, to highlight important points and make the ‘big picture’ of the definition more palatable. Art often acts as a tool of engagement and explanation, allowing viewers to tackle concepts or perspectives that may be out of their comfort zone, aiding in the absorption of the material.

Out of the biological context, osmosis can also be defined as, ‘the process of gradual or unconscious assimilation of ideas, knowledge.’(1) Art often encapsulates this definition, working osmotically to share emotion, history, stories and experience— stimulating our senses, hearts and brains in a way that many other mediums can not. We accept this idea easily enough in a gallery, allowing the works to whisk us away to battles past, excite us with the danger of secret affairs, and even feel the warmth of a summer day in the garden. Artists reach out to us with color and line, through time and eras to reinforce those unchangeable aspects of our human emotions and share new or foreign concepts as well.

Standing on a winters day in the Art Institute of Chicago, I can share in the midday breeze, the warm patches of sunlight, and the subtle social nuances of a Sunday in a park in France. I am able to take in so much detail of a place I have never traveled to, through only the painter’s marks. Yet, in the context of education, especially in the STEM fields, we forget this powerful tool— dismiss it.

We encounter art often in academic books, accompanying heavy swaths of text, aiding in the elaboration of the verbal information provided and acting as a visual respite between paragraphs. These graphics, illustrations and diagrams are incredibly important in contextualizing the material we are taking in, but the two subjects remain largely separate in our minds and in practice. Why, if we so often use visual aids in the learning and sharing of ideas, do we not jump to acknowledge art and education as a collaborating pair? Or question how each may aid in the evolution of the other?

In early development, children often use picture books, coloring activities and other visual tools to learn a variety of subjects. The images help to foster understanding, can provide insight as to what topics are to come, and encourage the user to think about the presented material in various contexts. Yet as we grow older and continue in our education, the availability of these tools becomes less and our relationship to the process of learning constricts.

It may be argued that as the amount of material we take in increases, and our fields become more specific, the incorporation of visual or artistic aid is made more difficult; or that some subjects don’t lend themselves to any feasible artistic crossover. While it may be that no one has yet found a way to illustrate the Pythagorean theorem for example, descriptive arts (diagrams, models, charts) are not the only way that art works as an osmotic tool.

Recently, there has been a surge in the use of coloring books— mandalas that help us feel calm, ocean scenes that take us beneath the bubbles— moments where we can engage with a work, a feeling, an adventure in an active role. By allowing the user to choose their own colors, medium and style, they become partial authors of that narrative. Within this act of creating, one is able to engage with the material in a more intimate way than by simply viewing an image in a book.

Interested in exploring the power and utility of coloring books as interactive learning tools, I created Paso por Paso, an experiential guide to my time as a Fulbright Student in Mexico. The book contains lessons in the Mayan and Spanish languages, cultural traditions, history, food, festivals and day to day activities. These pages have been used as teaching tools to share my experiences with students as well as offer insights to different aspects of travel and life abroad. Each page is aided by illustrated notes that supplement the material displayed in the piece, but what is most engaging is the users ability to be a main contributor to the final product. I hope to continue in the exploration of these projects and many others, to promote the use of art as a tool in the acquisition of knowledge and advocate for this interdisciplinary pedagogy.

“Everything can be understood through art but that understanding is incomplete. Everything can be understood through science but that understanding is incomplete.”(2)

“The acute problems of the world can be solved only by whole men [and women], not by people who refuse to be, publicly, anything more than a technologist, or a pure scientist, or an artist. In the world of today, you have got to be everything or you are going to be nothing”

- Conrad Hal Waddington, biologist, philosopher, artist and historian (3)

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1. New Oxford American Dictionary.

2. Brown, A., Root-Bernstein, B., Siler, T., Snelson, K. (2011). ArtScience: Integrative Collaboration to Create a Sustainable Future. Leonardo. 44, 192.

3. Bartlett, V., Bennett, J., Froggett, L., Muller, L. (2015). Understanding Third Space: Evaluating Art-Science Collaboration. Talk.