process that was engaged in the evolution of the project.
Below is a statement discussing the development of Divining
Nature: An Elemental Garden:
Art and Science teachers learning and working
collaboratively.
Top & bottom: Artworks created by teachers
during the workshop.
In 2007 the Periodic Table entered into
my consciousness. Memory of the Table
took me back to 11th grade chemistry
class, a magical room full of mysterious
smells, test tubes, Bunsen burners and
that rigid, gridded chart of letters and
numbers hanging in the front of the room.
Now decades later, this mystifying chart
has re-entered my thoughts, demanding
another look – but this time, through the
eyes of an artist.
The genesis of this project has taken
me on the most remarkable journey.
Travels to India and Bhutan, as well
as researching rare alchemy books at
the Chemical Heritage Foundation in
Philadelphia, have informed this project
in ways I could never have imagined back
in high school. Powerful relationships
started emerging, becoming the catalyst
for exploring the Periodic Table as a
bridge between art and science.
Buddhist mandalas, representing a
cosmological view of the Universe,
inspired the layout and the concept for
an elemental garden. Because gardens
have always served both functionally and
metaphorically as an intersection of art
and science with nature, they are sites
of transformation. In these awe-inspiring
places, matter changes from one state
to another. Similar to the metamorphosis
of an atom that becomes a new element
when the number and arrangement of
its parts changes, Divining Nature: An
Elemental Garden transforms chemistry’s
Periodic Table of letters and numbers
into a garden of sculptural elements
based on geometry and atomic number.
Professor Kamen interacting with teacher-participants of the workshop.
Divining Nature: An Elemental Garden provided an opportunity
to create a large-scale installation exploring the Periodic Table
as a three-dimensional object of beauty through sculptures
inspired by the most ethereal aspect of an element – its orbital
pattern. This project also celebrates the inter-connections of
the Universe. Shapes created by these electron patterns are
based on the same principals of Sacred Geometry that have
inspired the Fibonacci spiral of the installation layout and are
found in all aspects of nature.
The master class concluded with a discussion of a new
collaborative project with scientists at the University of
Pennsylvania. Investigating curiosity, cognition and the creative
process, a data visualisation and animation shown during the
presentation, revealed the dynamic process and acquisition of
knowledge networks over time in relationship to the development
of Divining Nature: An Elemental Garden project.
For more information of Professor Kamen’s artwork, please visit: https://
rebeccakamen.com/#1
Video links for Divining Nature: An Elemental Garden:
• LINK 1
• LINK 2
View video of Professor Kamen’s masterclass HERE.
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