Arts Initiatives Fund awards eight grants

Displaying cells as art and studying Galveston Island as science and art are two of the eight proposals that have been awarded Arts Initiatives Fund grants for the academic year 2013-14.

This example of cell artwork, in which the outline of a human face emerges from images of human cortical neurons and neural precursor cells taken at 400 times their original size, will be used by Amina Qutub and Allison Hunter for their Art Initiatives Fund proposal. Nancy Qutub, an independent artist and photographer, created this image and others for the proposal.

“The Arts Initiatives Fund aims to stimulate experimentation and collaboration in creativity and the arts across the entire campus,” said Caroline Levander, vice provost for interdisciplinary initiatives.

The awardees were chosen by an external committee of reviewers drawn from universities across the nation, with input from the Provost’s and President’s offices.

Selection criteria for the grants included contributions to developing arts experimentation, collaboration and innovation across the campus and/or within Houston; quality, significance and potential impact of the project; and enrichment of opportunities for students and faculty to integrate arts making and experimentation into university life. The awards range from $5,000 to $25,000.

The awardees are listed below.

Joseph Campana

Timothy Morton

Joseph Campana and Timothy Morton aim to create innovative programming, curriculum and research around the way artists, artistic media and social media reflect and shape people’s thinking about energy, ecology and sustainability, especially in Houston. Campana is an assistant professor of English literature; Morton is the Rita Shea Guffey Chair in English.

Reto Geiser

In light of the shift from the printing of books to digital delivery, Reto Geiser plans to promote discussion of new models of scholarly dissemination and the changing definitions of authorship and intellectual property through a seminar, two colloquia and a publication project. Geiser is the Wortham Assistant Professor of Architecture.

Allison Hunter

Allison Hunter will bring her advanced digital photography students into Rice’s Chevron Visualization Laboratory to view innovative high-resolution digital art photographs on the bank of monitors that feature 32-megapixel resolution. Hunter is an artist in residence in the Department of Visual and Dramatic Arts.

Matthew Wettergreen

Ann Saterbak

Maria Oden

Maria Oden, Ann Saterbak and Matthew Wettergreen are developing an Oshman Engineering Design Internship that gives students in social sciences, humanities, arts and engineering a chance to collaborate on relevant client-based innovative projects with social impact. Oden is a professor in the practice of engineering and director of the Oshman Engineering Design Kitchen; Saterbak is a professor in the practice of bioengineering education; Wettergreen is a lecturer in bioengineering and assistant director of the Rapid Prototyping Design Program for the School Science and Technology Program.

Kirsten Ostherr

Kirsten Ostherr plans to create a Medical Media Arts Hub where Rice undergraduates with arts and media skills work with physicians and public health practitioners in the Texas Medical Center who need help visualizing information for patient education or other forms of health communication. Ostherr is an associate professor of English.

Amina Qutub

Amina Qutub and Allison Hunter will integrate biomedical imaging, art, digital photography, visual arts and novel visualization to showcase the beauty and architecture of human cells in classrooms, labs, museums and schools. Qutub is an assistant professor of bioengineering; Hunter is an artist in residence in the Department of Visual and Dramatic Arts.

Kurt Stallmann

Kurt Stallmann will curate a series of experimental events in the James Turrell “Twilight Epiphany” Skyspace that bring together creative people from all around campus and Houston organizations to explore the technical resources of the space and use it as a performance venue. Stallmann is an associate professor of composition and theory and director of the Rice Electroacoustic Music Labs.

Adrian Lenardic

Geoff Winningham

Geoff Winningham and Adrian Lenardic plan to develop an interdisciplinary undergraduate course that combines Earth science and visual art in a study of the landscape of Galveston Island and its adjacent wetlands and bays. Winningham is a professor of visual arts; Lenardic is a professor of Earth science.