THE GEOLOGY OF ART AS AN APPROACH TO A DEMOCRATIC CHARACTER STRUCTURE

Art may be the only endeavor that can encompass all aspects of the human condition. Within art’s creative firmament, science, religion, and all other human concerns not only coexist but they also interact to produce new insights that can excite and challenge students about the objects, principles, and concepts of geology. Not everyone has the same innate ability to see or think—to visualize nature or to conceptualize relationships in nature—but art has the potential to heighten the acuity in both realms if for no other reason than one does not expect art to be a vehicle for delivering geologic lessons. The element of surprise lends a sense of discovery and ownership to the learning process.

The study of Earth materials used in mineral pigments and in stone sculpture, the representation of mountains and canyons in landscape art, the use of weathering and erosion as elements of sculpture, and the sculpting of the earth itself in order to reclaim despoiled terrain or to remind the viewer how pristine the landscape once was all have heuristic value for teaching the properties of Earth materials, the way the Earth works, how it evolves, and the contributions geologists can make to environmental stewardship. But the prospect that interests me most deeply is the facility that art history has for illuminating the historical perspective of our science—and the manifold lessons that the aforementioned outcomes exemplify. In particular, the commonalities of art history and history of geologic thought lead to the conclusion that acceptance of evolution is fundamental to development of a democratic character structure, surely one of the most worthy goals of a liberal education.