University of Vermont Professor of Medicine Jason Bates, Ph.D., develops computer models and devices to help better understand, and in some cases improve, lung function. Nationally-known artist David Stromeyer creates soaring sculptures out of steel. Although they work in vastly different fields, the two men recently hosted a conversation at Cold Hollow Sculpture Park in Enosburg Falls about how their work in science and art frequently intersects.

The Walking Conversations at Cold Hollow Sculpture Park series brought to the park a variety of experts, and paired them with sculptor David Stromeyer for a talk and a stroll through more than 50 sculptures, all conceived and created by Stromeyer, on display in the rolling fields outside Enosburg Falls. Previous guests for the Walking Conversations series have included a composer, poet, and museum curator. One of the goals for the series, said Program Developer Rosie Branson Gill at the start of the October 3 event, is to invite guests to see the park in different ways, and to think about the creative process from multiple angles. Bates’ and Stromeyer’s talk was the last of the annual series’ events.

For Bates and Stromeyer, the conversation touched on the creative process and more. They also discussed the genesis of an idea and how it develops, delved into questions of motivation for artists and scientists, and considered questions about how modeling plays into their work.

Bates, a bioengineer who holds multiple patents, characterized the computer models he develops as much more than “abstract equations.”

“You have to have a picture in your mind,” he says. “The model is your hypothesis.”

For Stromeyer, models of his sculptures are built on the scale of one inch to one foot, allowing him to visualize the sculpture in space. At this stage, he says he rules out questions about material and transport, and focuses on the vision. He’ll put the models on a Lazy Susan to see it as viewers would as they walk around it. Like Bates, he says there is an element of visualization to his work, to the point that his state of mind can be almost subconscious or “half asleep” as he brings shape to an idea.

The two men started with a strong interest in the other’s chosen field: Bates trained as a classical pianist and had a “keen interest in composing.” Stromeyer considered majoring in mathematics. This brought up questions of vocation, and how science and art may draw out similar qualities in their practitioners.

“There’s a space of unknown out there,” Bates said of his work as a scientist. “I’m trying to pick out pieces.”

“My progress is not necessarily linear, but it is connected,” said Stromeyer of his more than four decades as a sculptor. “My style – I hope – keeps moving and changing.”

Stromeyer and his wife purchased the 200-acre property where the sculpture park is located in 1970, and he creates his pieces in a fabrication facility on-site. The couple opened the park to the public in 2014. Stromeyer’s work has been in exhibitions across the country, including the Hamilton Gallery of Contemporary Art in New York, the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., and Dougherty Arts Center in Austin, Texas.

PUBLISHED

10-13-2015
Erin E Post