At the last meeting of the Art and Science of the Mohawk River Watershed class, students put finishing touches on their art projects.
Kailee Tomas ’26 flicked on a lighter to melt torn plastic into waves on a pair of collages.
Justin Chen ’24 painted the edges of a canvas black to set off an abstract data visualization in oranges and yellows representing bird species and conservation status.
Jacob Duffles ’24 glued aqua-blue rhinestones to a vinyl-covered corset. A length of tube filled with creek water sat nearby, soon to adorn the water-themed garment.
Making this type of art was a first for most of these students, mostly environment and sustainability majors.
Anna Davidson, senior research associate and lecturer in natural resources in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, designed this capstone course to intertwine art, science and culture in the study of the Mohawk River, which travels through central New York and the capitol region. Marrying these typically disparate disciplines helped students deeply study a complex natural system, she said. They looked at the region through a variety of perspectives and used multiple methods and tools, from cartography to hydrophones.
She received funding from the David M. Einhorn Center for Community Engagement and from the New York State Water Resources Institute to support this class.