Pacific Scribes :: What's Happening

What's Happening

Art, Chemistry and Madness
Annual Holiday Card Exchange

Art, Chemistry and Madness

Pacific Scribes member Sara Loesch Frank is teaming up with her husband, Curt Frank, who is on the Stanford faculty, to teach Art, Chemistry and Madness: The Science of Art Materials. This course is part of the Sophomore Introductory Seminars Series, which includes a wide range of courses designed to expand the horizons of Stanford undergraduates. Ideally, the course enrollment will allow formation of two-person teams having an artist paired with a scientist/engineer. The teams will be exposed to lecture material on the technical features of several painting media (frescoes, oils, acrylics) as well as inks and ceramic glazes. Team projects will allow hands-on exploration of lecture topics, with room for experimentation. Aspects of chemical safety will be woven into all aspects of the class, with discussion on the evolution of materials over the period from cave paintings to the present.

Annual Holiday Card Exchange

Every December since 1990, Pacific Scribes has had a holiday card exchange and social evening. Members may sign up to make cards for the others who wish to do so (slightly over two dozen in 2006); they also make an extra card which is on display during the evening before being placed in our Library collection. All members and friends are welcome to come to the pot luck, visit with old friends and new, and admire the cards on the display table.

Here are four of the cards from the 2006 exchange.

Louise Keating -- Original design scanned and printed on HP printer.

Lucia Rothgeb -– Print of original acrylic painting.

Nancy Hansen -– Multimedia collaged pull-out card.

Anna Lum – Homage to 16th century model, scanned and printed on HP printer.