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This SSHRC-funded project is a unique collaboration between researchers at Dalhousie and NSCAD University. Skills related to representational drawing from observation are at the core of most art, craft and design education. The research being conducted at NSCAD's drawing laboratory seeks to determine whether the notion of the 'good eye' is more than a metaphor.
The methodology employed involves quantifying, mapping and comparing, for the first time, patterns of eye-movement, within the context of drawing directly from observation.
The Drawing Lab for measuring eye movements. Photo by Steve Farmer.
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| A student participating in the Drawing Lab project. Photo by Steve Farmer. | Eye-tracking equipment records the student's eye movements as he draws. Photo by Steve Farmer |
The project is being conducted by Professor Bryan Maycock, an artist, faculty member and chair of the Foundation program at NSCAD in collaboration with Dr. Raymond Klein, a world class researcher in attention and eye movements from Dalhousie University's Department of Psychology.
Working closely with Environment Canada, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and the Nova Scotia Department of Environment, Assistant Professor (Product Design) Glen Hougan and Saint Mary’s researcher Dr. Catherine Conrad will collaborate in the development of a community water quality monitoring tool-kit.
Funded by a Canadian Environmental Issues Public Outreach Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), the project aims to provide a standardized training and certification program and tool kit for the more than 50 community-based watershed stewardship organizations in Nova Scotia, whose efforts, according to Dr. Conrad, are often frustrated by a lack of user-friendly monitoring tools, training manuals and workshops and a lack of integration into a decision-making or management structure.
With the support of this grant from SSHRC, the researchers hope to reduce those obstacles and help community volunteers work more closely and effectively with the government agencies responsible for water quality in the province and to provide a model of integrated water monitoring and management that may serve as an example to other parts of the country.
This SSHRC-funded project focuses on a new generation of reflexive, kinetic experimental architecture. The work will examine responsive systems, using lightweight structures and interactive technology. A specialized series of architectural installations will propose a new kind of surface for the earth. The creations and research program involves a progressive sequence of workshops, seminars and studios that will progressively expand and deepen the theoretical context in parallel with creation of three new generations of architectural installations.
The three year research/creation initiative will support concentrated development and exchanges between several institutions, led by visual artist and architect Philip Beesley with collaborators: cultural historian and architect Sarah Bonnemaison (Dalhousie), sculptor and craft expert Neil Forrest (NSCAD), mechatronics expert Rob Gorbet (Waterloo), industrial component design expert Michael Stacey (Nottingham), graduate research assistants and numerous graduate student participants.