Christopher X J. Jensen
Associate Professor, Pratt Institute

STEAMplant project brings local primary school kids to Pratt’s Textile Dye Garden

Posted 30 Nov 2022 / 0

I am excited about having participated in a wonderful STEAMplant project headed up by Art and Design Education graduate student Ana Codorean. The project focused on how to get local public school students thinking about interdependence and the ways in which natural dyes can be used in creative work. Encompassing an impressive breadth of scientific Read More

A Major Post, Art & Design, Coevolution, Community Ecology, Competition, Department of Mathematics & Science, Ecology, Ecology Education, Fashion, Green Design, Interactions, Mutualism, Pollination, Pratt Institute, Public Outreach, Reciprocity, Science in Art & Design, STEAMplant, Sustainability, Teaching

My interview with Ardis DeFreece has been published in SciArt Magazine

Posted 15 Feb 2019 / 0

Ardis DeFreece creating the “Curiosity” installation at the Hatfield Marine Science Center I am very excited that my interview with painter and draftswoman Ardis DeFreece has been published in SciArtMagazine. You can read the interview, “Ardis DeFreece: Curiosity at the Intersection Between Art and Science“, for free. I met Ardis at the 2017 Ecological Society of Read More

A Major Post, Anthropogenic Change, Art & Design, Ecology, Ethics, Public Art, Science (General), Science in Art & Design, STEAMplant

Why Artists & Designers need Scientists: Exhibit A

Posted 22 Oct 2017 / 1

I have always had a prediliction to root for the little guy, but sometimes you actually need to be the little guy to see how little guys are treated. And at Pratt, a behemouth of art and design, science is the little guy (or if you prefer, gal… in our department our most presigious scientists Read More

A Minor Post, Adaptation, Art & Design, Behavior, Cognitive Bias, Cultural Evolution, Evolution, Evolutionary Psychology, Fashion, Gene-Culture Coevolution, Genetics, Happiness, Human Evolution, Industrial Design, Pratt Institute, Psychological Adaptation, Science in Art & Design

Interdisciplinary artist Ellie Irons to speak at Pratt Institute on November 9th

Posted 20 Oct 2017 / 0

I am very excited to announce that artist Ellie Irons will speak at Pratt Institute on November 9th, 2017 at 6 pm in ARC Building Room E-02. Her talk is entitled Public Fieldwork & Weedy Resistance: Practicing Social-Ecological Art in the (so-called) Anthropocene and will provide a tour of her diverse individual and collaborative works of Read More

A Major Post, Activism, Adaptation, Biodiversity Loss, Climate Change, Commensalism, Community Ecology, Competition, Department of Mathematics & Science, Ecological Restoration, Ecology, Ecosystem Services, Grasslands, Habitat Destruction, Habitat Fragmentation, Invasive Species, Mutualism, Pollination, Pollution, Pratt Academic Senate, Public Art, Public Outreach, Resilience, Science in Art & Design, Sustainability, Sustainable Urban Design, Temperate Forest, Urban Ecology, Urban Planning

Who was the first to catalog color? Hint: it wasn’t designers!

Posted 23 Sep 2017 / 0

Pantone color book image courtesy of Carlos Paes via Wikimedia Commons Allison Meier has a very illuminating short piece on where the Pantone color system came from: Hyperallergic “The Bird-Based Color System that Eventually Became Pantone“ What I find interesting about this history is the convergent need of people in vastly different areas of science Read More

A Minor Post, Art & Design, Birds, Methods, Science in Art & Design, Web

Like boats & science?… this might be the artist’s residency for you!

Posted 13 Feb 2017 / 0

Image courtesy of the Schmidt Ocean Institute Artists with an interest in marine biology and oceanography might want to apply for this residency: https://schmidtocean.org/apply/artist-residency-program/ The deadline is February 24th, 2017, so if you are interested apply now! These sorts of science/art collaborations are becoming more and more common and represent a great way to adventurously Read More

A Minor Post, Conservation Biology, Ecology, Experiments (General), Marine Ecosystems, Public Outreach, Science in Art & Design

Science and art in dialogue: Pratt Manhattan Gallery hosts Dr. Rachael Winfree

Posted 02 Feb 2017 / 0

I am proud to have contributed to an exciting event happening next Thursday, February 9th, 2017 at 6 pm at Pratt Manhattan Gallery. For the past two months this prominent on-campus gallery has featured a show called Nectar: War upon the Bees. The show contains a great variety of works that engage questions of agricultural sustainability, human Read More

A Minor Post, Anthropogenic Change, Art & Design, Biodiversity Loss, Community Ecology, Film & Video, Food, Habitat Destruction, Habitat Fragmentation, Hymenoptera, Installation Art, Interactions, Mutualism, Photography, Pollination, Pollution, Pratt Institute, Science in Art & Design, Sculpture, Sustainability, Sustainable Agriculture

Skeptoid podcast on Colony Collapse Disorder

Posted 05 Jan 2017 / 0

CCD infographic courtesy of Giulia De Rossi, DensityDesign Research Lab via Wikimedia Commons Interesting to consider how the information in this image jives with the information in the podcast below! For the various papers and projects that I have assigned over the years in my Ecology course, no topic has been as popular as colony collapse disorder (CCD). The idea Read More

A Minor Post, Biodiversity Loss, Climate Change, Conservation Biology, Habitat Destruction, Invasive Species, Pollination, Pollution, Public Outreach, Radio & Podcasts, Risk & Uncertainty, Science in Art & Design

Julia Buntaine explores the potential power of art and science collaborations

Posted 18 Nov 2016 / 0

Last year, Pratt Professor Ágnes Mócsy started a new speaker series at Pratt called Art.Sci Affair. The series is designed to foster conversations about what Mócsy referred to as “scientists who dip into art” and “artists who dip into science”. This semester’s speaker was Julia Buntaine, an artist with a background and continuing interest in neuroscience. Buntaine Read More

A Major Post, Art & Design, Collaborative Art, Department of Mathematics & Science, Green Design, Industrial Design, Installation Art, Neuroscience, Public Art, Public Outreach, Resilience, Science (General), Science in Art & Design, Sculpture, Sustainability, Sustainable Agriculture, Sustainable Urban Design, Talks & Seminars

Biophotovoltaics: a promising design innovation, or a great example of lack of quantitative design?

Posted 27 May 2016 / 0

Moss image courtesy Dick Mudde via Wikimedia Commons GreenFabLab Barcelona “Moss Voltaics” A student in my Ecology for Architects class pointed me towards this design project, which creates a building facade system designed to pull electrical current from small growth chambers containing moss. The technology — dubbed a biophotovoltaic — turns the energy captured by photosynthesis Read More

A Minor Post, Biodiversity Loss, Climate Change, Green Design, MSCI-271, Ecology for Architects, Quantitative Analysis, Science in Art & Design, Sustainability, Sustainable Energy, Sustainable Urban Design, Web