Dickinson’s Advanced Ceramics and Conservation Biology courses teamed up to create an art installation at the Carlisle Arts Learning Center (CALC) titled Common Ground, which featured interactive art pieces that highlighted biological concerns around the world.

Students from both the art course and the environmental studies course began working together on their pieces once a week about a month before spring break. One of the pieces, showing a ceramic coral reef with a bowl of lollipops next to it, invited guests to take a lollipop and place the wrapper somewhere in the ceramic reef to exemplify the destruction of coral reefs worldwide.

Guests were also invited to try their hand at copying clay sculptures made by students. “I had a great time seeing the work of the students. I made a clay statue of a bird which was a blast,” said Ellie Doblin ’21.

Conservation Biology student Nicola Durham ’20, who is an earth sciences and environmental studies major, enjoyed getting to express her passion for environmental justice through art. “I really enjoyed working on this art piece because I believe art is a powerful tool to convey environmental issues to the public,” she said.

Meggie Bromberg ’20 is an art & art history major in the Advanced Ceramics class, and enjoyed the opportunity to explore art outside of her usual classes and projects. “As a studio art student, my academic day is normally filled with art, art and more art. Having the opportunity to collaborate with this class was an extremely interesting experience. It gave me the chance to dabble with another topic that I am not as familiar with and allowed me to incorporate a little bit of something different into my daily art routine,” she said.

English and environmental studies major Cat Bohner ’20, another Conservation Biology student, enjoyed the creativity of a project that combined environmental issues and art. “Having to create an interactive art piece that incorporated elements of environmental science was a fun challenge,” she said.

Students enjoyed the unique take on art and environmental justice, and the ability to have guests engage directly with the artwork. “As an earth science major, it was really cool to see some of the stuff I have studied in classes at Dickinson reflected in sculptures and pieces of art,” said Emily Greaves ’21.

Common Ground took place on April 9 at 5 p.m. at CALC.