Exploring the Intertwined Roots of Early Art and Science

FAIN: FW-50229-10

Kay Etheridge
Gettysburg College (Gettysburg, PA 17325-1483)

The proposed project will improve the content and broaden the context of a first-year seminar titled Creativity in Art and Science by adding a course component on the interrelationship of early art and science (defined here as 600 BC to 1300 AD). To date course content has been limited largely to western European art and science beginning just before the Renaissance, but the seminar would be greatly enhanced by beginning with an earlier and more cross-cultural view. I am proposing to examine the connections between art and science by focusing study on images of astronomic phenomena, plants and/or animals. Additionally, I will restructure the remaining material from the Renaissance through the early modern period to continue to examine images of these subjects. This will not preclude discussion of other types of images, but weaving these threads throughout the seminar will add to its coherence.