ZEN AND THE ART OF SCIENTIFIC OCEAN DRILLING: CREATIVELY SHOWCASING SUB-SEAFLOOR RESEARCH TO THE PUBLIC

In the late 1950s, most geoscientists were looking up. At the height of the space race, the most pressing questions were What’s out there? How can we get there? How can we get there FIRST? But a small cadre of innovators recognized that our own Planet Earth was still shrouded in mystery; namely, they wondered What can we find at the bottom of the ocean? What can the ocean floor tell us about our world? And so, the Deep Sea Drilling Project (precursor to the International Ocean Discovery Program, or IODP) was born.

The very first ocean drilling expedition sailed in 1961 with several scientists, an intrepid crew, and the first ever onboard outreach officer, the well-known author of classic works of fiction and nonfiction, John Steinbeck. His role was to observe and document, through creative nonfiction, this previously unimaginable feat of engineering and share the exciting story of scientific ocean drilling with the world. In the years since, IODP education and outreach has grown to include at least one outreach officer aboard the drilling vessel JOIDES Resolution per expedition, each responsible for contributing to a rich library of educational and artistic resources that bring this complex research to the public eye. These products include photojournalism, watercolor illustration, video montage, poetry, children’s books, quilts, graphic novels, and more, all freely available online, many on the JOIDES Resolution website (https://joidesreoslution.org; https://www.sciodquilts.studio/).

This art has been displayed at museums, conferences, schools, libraries, and professional development workshops, with the aim of helping stakeholders from all audience sectors connect with scientific ocean drilling content and learn more about geoscience in general. In this presentation, we will explore the intersection of art and ocean expeditions, share stories of creation and dissemination, and bring participants on a journey to the bottom of the sea and back.