Entwining Art, Science & Aesthetics

Whitewater Room, Idaho Commons

Presenter:
Gerri Sayler - Mixed Media and Installation Artist

Abstract 
Is it possible that art inspired by science is redefining art, as well as the concept of aesthetics, too? The popularization of science-inspired art in recent years suggests this is so. As disciplines, art and science are amazingly similar in how individuals seek to know about our world and contribute in some way to the understanding of it. Sayler will briefly discuss her artwork within this milieu, in which the locus of magic for her dwells somewhere between the physical and metaphysical. She will also provide a glimpse of the ways modern science is shaping the expression of other contemporary artists, who are driven by its beauty, complexity and mystery.


Biographies
During the past six years, Gerri Sayler has created site-specific installations for museums and galleries using fibers as sculptural media. Inspired by the region’s landscapes and natural history, her work draws on textures, line and repetition to explore cycles of nature and the nature of time. Her solo exhibit history includes Suyama Space/Seattle, Boise Art Museum, Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture, University of Wyoming Art Museum and Missoula Art Museum. She has been commissioned to create a large-scale installation in January inspired by the cataclysmic history of the Yellowstone Caldera. The artist graduated from the University of Idaho in 2007 with a B.F.A in Studio Art summa cum laude; she also holds a B.S. in Journalism from the University of North Dakota.