Descriptions of arts and humanities projects at LTER sites.

LTEaRTS at Florida Coastal Everglades (FCE)

Just Below the Surface: 1915 (The Founding of Miami Beach) by Xavier Cortada, 2015

FCE LTEaRTs has an ongoing partnership with artist Xavier Cortada, the Tropical Botanic Artists Collective, and the AIRIE program (Artist in Residence in Everglades). Artists have worked with FCE scientists to produce over 20 exhibits since 2012 and professional development for teachers.

Inaugural LTER Idea Cafe Generates Innovative Pitches

The All-Scientists’ Meeting only happens every 3 years. The workshops offer an amazing smorgasbord of fresh results, new theory, tools, and opportunities to make progress on old challenges. But as the organizing committee contemplated the 2018 All Scientists’ Meeting, we also wanted to create a space for the Network to look toward the future–a way… Read more »

After the Burn – Making Art out of Grassland Fires

Fire is a natural force that has shaped grasslands for millennia, and it remains crucial for managing and conserving tallgrass prairie today. Fire also inspires and captivates the human spirit. Can grassland fires also be used to produce art? Erin Wiersma, Associate Professor of Art at Kansas State University, is exploring how recently burned prairie… Read more »

LTER Road Trip: Coweeta Listening Project

Jason Meador of the Land Trust for the Little Tennessee talks to ICON students in Cat Creek.

I flip open my copy of The Franklin Press while sipping coffee at a field station, and there, in a bi-monthly column, is an article by Coweeta Hydrologic Lab staff, answering the scientific questions of local citizens. The column is just one part of the Coweeta Listening Project (CLP), an initiative of the Coweeta LTER.

LTER Road Trip: Hemlock Hospice

The hemlock is a native tree species that was once common from northern Alabama to Nova Scotia. Stretching tall with thick needles, the hemlock creates an entire ecosystem beneath its large branches. In the Smoky Mountains, its shade used to cool streams just enough to allow the eastern brook trout to thrive. Unfortunately, these hemlocks are in dramatic decline.

LTER Road Trip: Music and Art Meets Science at Hubbard Brook

WaterViz artistically represents a live-stream of data from Hubbard Brook.

Envisioning Data at Hubbard Brook It’s not every day that you walk into a forest and find musical instruments set up carefully next to a gurgling stream.  Yet melding art and science together is a regular part of the day-to-day operations at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest. Imagine the way that scientific data is normally… Read more »

Art and Humanities LTER Programs Build Empathy for Nature

Winged dancer leaps over a field of milkweed

Do arts and humanities programs at LTER sites further the Network’s mission? Recent research posits that art-humanities-science collaborations generate empathy – and associated emotions like inspiration, awe, and wonder – for the natural world. This empathy then drives society to engage with and care more broadly about nature.

Rot: The Afterlife of Trees

Mossy log with id tag

For artists participating in the multimedia exhibit “Rot: The Afterlife of Trees” at the Corvallis Arts Center, rotting trees are inspiration.