Organizers of the inaugural Dr. E. T. and Vam C. York, Jr. Art and Agriculture Competition have selected two teams of University of Florida students to share top honors. Each team will receive $5,000 to complete projects showcasing the collaborative power of art and science.
“We had planned to select a single winner, but we were so impressed by two of the proposals we received,” said competition organizer Dina Liebowitz, director of the plant science program and faculty in the UF/IFAS horticultural sciences department. “And the two winning teams took very different approaches.”
“In the Fields” was created by students Rosemary Springer of the UF College of the Arts and Jason Dossett, Madison Dyment and Cassandra Goff of the UF/IFAS College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. It employs alfalfa hay bales wrapped in text and images to tell the stories of farmers and ranchers in Florida and Missouri. Part of the University Galleries’ “Shifting Ground: Master of Fine Arts Candidates Exhibition I,” the project will be celebrated April 4 during a reception at the galleries and subsequently available for view through April 11. The students are supported by Katerie Gladdys, College of the Arts associate professor.
The second project, “Marvelous Mollusks: A Mutual Flourishing of Art and Science,” was proposed by students Abigail Waldhauer of the UF School of Art and Art History and Luis Torres Jr. of the UF department of geological sciences. It consists of a series of foot-tall sculptures, diagrams, illustrations and puzzles that provide an up-close view of ecologically vital but often-overlooked marine creatures like clams and snails. The students plan to finish their work by December. They’re supported by Michal Kowalewski, chair of invertebrate paleontology at the Florida Museum of Natural History.
“This has been a fantastic opportunity for us to work collaboratively with UF/IFAS to demonstrate what’s possible when you reach across disciplinary boundaries,” said competition organizer Jennifer Setlow, College of the Arts interim dean and associate professor.
The competition was inspired by “Revival Field,” a garden at a superfund site in St. Paul, Minnesota. Conceptual visual artist Mel Chin and environmental remediation scientist Rufus Chaney partnered to create the space, which uses plants known as “hyperaccumulators” to extract heavy metals from the soil. They shared the history of the project during a York Distinguished Lecturer Series event in September.
Like the lecture series, the student competition is funded by the family of E. T. York, Jr., the founder of UF/IFAS, and his wife, Vam C. York.
“We want to thank the York family and their foundation for continuing to support creative collaborations like these that help bring visibility to important scientific fields and provide a platform to elevate art,” Liebowitz said.
Related: UF student competition intersects left-brain, right-brain thinking
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ABOUT UF/IFAS
The mission of the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) is to develop knowledge relevant to agricultural, human and natural resources and to make that knowledge available to sustain and enhance the quality of human life. With more than a dozen research facilities, 67 county Extension offices, and award-winning students and faculty in the UF College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, UF/IFAS brings science-based solutions to the state’s agricultural and natural resources industries, and all Florida residents.
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