Mudflat: The Aesthetics of a Marine Biologist’s Engagement with Her Work

Abstract

This article offers two edited/shaped pieces of conversation between a retired marine biologist and her daughter. The first conversation takes place on a Florida mudflat, the second in a North Carolina kitchen. These conversations suggest the biologist's "intimacy with the environment of the mudflat," a lifetime of discovery and surprise in relation to that environment, and the role of aesthetic response in her motivation for scientific work. They affirm Eisner and Powell's (2002) assertion in "Art in Science?" that the work of science has a deep relation with aesthetic response.Time: Low tide. A Saturday in May 1998. Place: On the mudflat at the end of 14th Street, St. Petersburg, Florida.My mother, who lives on the coast of North Carolina, is a retired marine biologist, an expert in estuarine invertebrates. This is the first time she has been on a mudflat since her stroke, her quadruple bypass, her surgeries for carpel tunnel, and the reconstructions of her knees. Her mobility is impaired and her balance is not trustworthy. She walks onto the mud with a cane. I come beside her with a shovel and a shallow plastic pan. I have a tape recorder in my pocket. She is eager. We are both eager. At the point where we enter this segment of our mudflat conversation, I have picked up a small mollusk. I ask her what it is.

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“…Nalini Nadkarni studies forest canopy biota and establishes connections with nonscientific audiences and artists for the purposes of heightening awareness of canopy ecology (Nadkarni 2004(Nadkarni , 2007(Nadkarni , 2008. Other scientists manage to merge an interest in aesthetics and science (e.g., Sullivan and McCrary 2002). Some UK and Australian scientific organizations have hosted artists in residence who have created works that were inspired by, or were a response to, science.…”

Using the Arts to Raise Awareness and Communicate Environmental Information in the Extension Context

“…Other scientists merge an interest in aesthetics and science (e.g. Sullivan and McCrary, 2002;Pope, 2005), and some UK and Australian scientific organizations have had artist-in-residencies where artists have created artworks that were inspired by, or were a response to, the science. Williams (2001: 3) gave two examples of art being used to bring science to a wider public: an exhibition by the artist John Wolseley who brought to life the Wallace Line and 'exposed a broad audience to a discovery that has changed the way we view the world', and the work of Annie Franklin who did a painting that captured the philosophy underlying the Native Vegetation Research and Development Program of Land and Water Australia.…”