October Pub Talk

Science Pub: Overlapping Spectra: Art and Science Collaboration on the Palouse.
Oct 8th, 2019 | 6:00 – 7:00 p.m.
Paradise Creek Brewery’s Downtown Restaurant – 245 SE Paradise St
Free Admission – $5.00 suggested donation (all donations support the Palouse Discovery Science Center)

Sip your favorite brew, while you learn a thing or two! Science Pub is an opportunity to enjoy learning about science in an informal atmosphere; no scientific background necessary! Just bring your curiosity and a thirst to learn.

Topics and presenters are arranged by the Palouse Discovery Science Center (PDSC) and WSU’s Entrepreneurial Faculty Ambassador (EFA) Program. All Donations support PDSC. Click here for more information.

This month’s speakers:

Join Dr. Amy Nielsen, Aaron Hendricksen, Joe Hedges, Jiemei Lin and Kelsey Baker as they discuss their own work as it relates to intersections between art and science, as well as their recent collaboration working with thermochromic paints on a large public mural at the new Kamiak Elementary School in Pullman, WA.

Amy Nielsen is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry and serves as Executive Secretary of the Faculty Senate. She grew up in Rockford Illinois, home to Cheap Trick and the Rockford Peaches. (She was not a part of either group) She received a double B.S. in Chemistry and Botany from Iowa State University, where she performed research in carbohydrate chemistry with Nikki Pohl. Following her childhood dream of learning to surf, she went to California where she received her Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, researching solid-state photochemistry with Miguel Garcia-Garibay at UCLA. She discovered her love of teaching organic chemistry as a Visiting Assistant Professor at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles and joined the faculty of Washington State University in 2015. Her research interests include the synthesis of “smart” small molecule immunostimulants (in collaboration with Rock Mancini) and stimuli-responsive pigments and dyes for use in sensing and fine arts applications.

Joe Hedges is an Intermedia artist who developed an expansive practice that weaves together oil painting, new media, music and installation. Hedges recent works explore conventional approaches to rendering with oil painting that can literally and conceptually interface with new media elements, analog devices and objects to create works that are part-painting, part-installation, or sculpture. These “hypercombines” present still digital images or videos and sound juxtaposed with highly rendered paintings of landscapes and figures. Exhibitions provide opportunities for viewers to reflect on the evolution of media technologies, history of painting, and screen-based, algorithmically mediated experience of daily life in the 21st century. Hedges is currently an Assistant Professor of Painting/Intermedia at Washington State University.

Jiemei Lin is an artist, designer, and curator born in Hangzhou, China. Lin is currently living and working in the Inland Northwest of Washington. Lin works with digital and traditional media such as painting, drawing, ceramics and embroidery. Lin’s works frequently take on themes of individual and cultural identity with attention to design and color. She is committed to combating social injustice through themes explored in her work and by promoting the fine arts. As a curator, she has helped to organize a variety of exhibitions from Cincinnati, Ohio to Beijing, China.

Kelsey Baker is an interdisciplinary artist working with painting, video, and installation to harness the power of light and color to contemplate and create dreamlike spaces. She is currently living in eastern Washington and earning her master’s in fine arts from Washington State University. Her work has been featured in group and solo exhibitions throughout Texas, such as the New Texas Talent exhibition in Dallas, People’s Gallery in Austin City Hall, Woodlands High School Art Trust in the Woodlands, and Austin Art Boards Project.

Aaron Hendricksen was born and raised in Melbourne, Florida on the Space Coast. He graduated from the University of South Florida with a B.S. in Chemistry where he conducted research with Dr. Bill J. Baker in marine natural products chemistry. In 2018, he joined Dr. Rock Mancini’s Lab at Washington State University and is currently researching α,ω-Heterotelechelic polymers. His interests include music, nature, and composition.