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Who said that engineering was all about calculus and things we don’t understand? Students from the art-engineering club organized various art pieces that exemplified their talents and creativity in the club’s fourth-annual art exhibit. Pieces included a five-foot pepper grinder, an enlarged photograph of snowflakes and art already made by the students in previous classes.
Engineering professors Will Manion and Edward Nagy started the show to recognize and promote the creativity that the engineering profession requires. “The engineering curriculum focuses primarily on the technical skills required to be an engineer, but it is well known that creative problem solving is one of the skills that separates the really good engineers,” Nagy said, adding that those skills aren’t necessarily taught in the general engineering curriculum.
The exhibit gave students the chance to meet with sponsoring companies. Company Woodard and Curran, an environmental engineering consulting firm, sponsored the prize for Best Environmentally Sponsored Art. This year, SEA consulting is sponsoring Most Daring. Other sponsored categories included the University of Maine pick given out from the UMaine foundation, Geographically Inspired Art bestowed by Pen Bay Media, Art by a Woman in Engineering given out by the UMaine Bookstore and the most Sustainable Art based on the use of recycled materials.
UMaine graduate Robert Fisher won three awards, including Most Daring for “Paul Bunyan’s Pepper Mill.” The pepper grinder was constructed with discarded materials. Fisher used a lathe to design curves into the wood and put the grinder, which included a long metal rod through the post attached to a metal duck, which grinds the pepper. Fisher says that he loves the challenge of putting something together – especially from someone else’s garbage. Fisher also won Most Sustainable Art with “Busted Chair,” a constructed coffee table made from scrapped wood, good enough for your living room.
Gerard Gagnon, studying for his doctorate at UMaine in chemical engineering won, the What They Liked Best award, by the UMaine Foundation, for “Some Snowflakes.” The framed photograph displayed enlarged snowflakes. Gagnon had used a microscope slide to reflect light and a high focus lens to display the complex symmetry of snowflakes.
Clarissa Livingston, a second-year civil and environmental student won the Art by a Woman in Engineering award and an honorable mention for her piece “Parisian Curb on a Dewy February Morning.”
Mike Nickerson, a fourth-year civil environmental engineer presented a work he made in highschool, “There must be more to life,” which was a drawing of a solitary man at a bar.
Tessa Roscoe, a third-year civil and environmental engineering student was runner-up in the recycled materials category for her piece “Windstorm,” a collage of items you would see on the street during a windy day. She was also the runner up for the Art by a Woman in Engineering for her photograph “Finger Weeder.” Roscoe, an aspiring architect, also majors in Mandarin Chinese. One of her pieces centered on the life and world of the Chinese people whom she took on a trip. One of Roscoe’s favorite hobbies is photography.
Ravikiran Bettadapum, an electrical engineering major, presented several breathtaking photographs of nature. One included a majestic shot of a waterfall from his home country. He won the award for one of his photographs, “Exponential Curve,” which displayed a near perfect rising curve of the tree line along the Stillwater river.
Julie Faloon, a fourth-year engineering student and art minor, used the exhibit to display art made in other classes. Her art included two self-portraits, etched pictures and a beautifully drawn, black and white painting of a sailboat’s silhouette against a sunset. Faloon was also awarded with the runner up for Most Daring for “Disguise,” and scored second place for her etched picture of dragonflies soaring around ripples in “Dragonfly Summer.” Faloon hopes to enter architecture school.
The art presented in the show marks a great achievement in the school of engineering. As the Dean of the School of Engineering, Dan Humphrey, said, “This exhibit is an example of how engineers use their talents to solve Earth’s problems and look at the world. The profession of engineering is very creative. Engineering was created by artists like Leonardo Da Vinci. This exhibit deepens my appreciation for engineering and this school.”
