Art is cool.

I wish that I had known more about art earlier. A lack of talent (really) and a few bad teachers in middle and high school turned me off art pretty early, but the class that I'm teaching this semester focuses on science and art (it deals with both through the lens of human creativity), and I've learned so much about different types of art.

I highly recommend checking these out:

Chris Jordan does art involving environmental issues.
www.chrisjordan.com - specifically check out the "Running the numbers" series. You have to click on the paintings to get the full effect. These images are pretty memory-heavy- slow internet might take a while.

Theo Jansen creates animals that move using wind as a power source. Why aren't we using this technology for cars? This is seriously amazing.
http://www.strandbeest.com/ This is his website.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b694exl_oZo This is his TED talk - it explains how his art works.

Alexis Rockman is a painter who created an exhibit called A Fable for Tomorrow that's on exhibit at the American Art Museum. Here's some more info:
http://americanart.si.edu/exhibitions/archive/2010/rockman/
This exhibit is SO powerful.

Maya Lin is an architect and artist who created the Vietnam War Memorial in DC. She also created this amazing website:
http://www.whatismissing.net/#/home
It shows sounds, images, and information about endangered species.

Andy Goldsworthy is an artist who creates pieces from items found in nature. The documentary Rivers and Tides talks about his work and is TOTALLY worth watching but you can also see some pieces here:
http://www.rwc.uc.edu/artcomm/web/w2005_2006/maria_Goldsworthy/TEST/index.html

Right now at this very moment, Andy Goldsworthy is my favorite. Theo Jansen and Chris Jordan alternate with him, though. All of their work is SO COOL.

All of these people, and the class in general, has totally inspired me. Maybe a painting class is in my future...

What to call your teacher

I always start the semester by telling my students to call me Stephanie. Dr. Le**ard-Pi!on is a mouthful, and before I had the PhD Professor Le**ard-Pi!on was a mouthful too. I've told my students they can call me "Professor" if Stephanie's too informal for them, but to please not call me Mrs. Pi!on (my grandmother), Mrs. Le**ard (my other grandmother), Miss Stephanie (oh, where do I begin, for goodness' sake I'm not a kindergarten teacher), or just, perhaps most annoyingly, "Miss".

Here's what my students call me (from assignments and in class):

Mrs. Pi!!on
Mrs. Le**ard
Mrs. Li!!ard-Pi!on
Mrs. Stephanie
Miss
Miss Stephanie
Miss Professor
Prof Steph (I think I like this one best)
Prof Mrs. Le**ard-Pi!on (um)
Professor (I really have no problem with this)
Ummmmmmm...
Le**ard
Ma'am (ack! what did I do to deserve this?!)

I do get it- professors are intimidating, but I mean, come on. Can you at least try to learn my name? I know all of their names!

Stream Macroinvertebrates!

For the class I've been teaching this semester we did a stream quality assessment using stream invertebrate populations. I'd forgotten how much fun it is to ID aquatic insects! These are some drawings I made for my students!