Art Competition

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Climate Science Art Competition

American Chemical Society

Presidential Climate Science Challenge Grant Proposal

What is the Climate Science Art Competition?

Participants will create works of art that illustrate or publicize information found in the online Climate Science Toolkit released by the American Chemical Society (ACS) in 2012 (www.acs.org/climatescience).   

At the start of the competition, local scientists will visit each involved art classroom or art group, and do a short presentation on the Climate Science Toolkit (Energy Balance and Planetary Temperature, Atmospheric Warming, Greenhouse Gases, and Oceans, Ice and Rocks).  Scientists can also provide phone, online or email support and can serve as ongoing advisors if questions arise during the artistic creation process.

The competition will culminate in an art opening in the spring of 2014.  Contestants, their families, legislators, and members of the public will be invited to the gala event, where the final chosen works will be displayed.  Interactive climate science activities will also be provided at the event.  The project will be further disseminated on the NWV ACS website and by presentations at national meetings in the art and chemistry communities.

When is the competition?

The competition kicks off in September, 2013.  Entry submission date is January 31, 2014.

Who can participate?

Artists and art students from the north central West Virginia region are invited to compete at the following levels:

• Elementary: K-4
• Middle School:  5-8
• High School : 9-12
• College
• Professional/Adult artists 

What are the guidelines for submissions?

• Entries must be submitted in Morgantown, WV.
• Artist statements accompanying submitted works will discuss the piece and the creation process, including how information from the Climate Science Toolkit was used to inform the process.
• Entries will specify the level (Elementary, Middle School, etc.).
• Group entries are allowed.
• Judges will score the projects on specified criteria, including effective use of the Toolkit and accuracy of scientific content as well as artistic merit and creativity.
• Participants will create works of visual art in any medium (poetry envisioned as visual art could be submitted, for example.)

What are the benefits?

• Prizes for winners in the competition will include a combination of donated and locally-purchased and/or eco-friendly items, items from local businesses and eating establishments, and sustainably-produced t-shirts (with the design coming from the competition). 
• Gift certificates and t-shirts will be provided for art teachers who involve their classrooms in this activity.
• Visibility for the artwork (see next section.)
• Classroom-specific benefits:
  • Common Core and West Virginia Content Standards and Objectives for science and art at each grade level have been mapped to the project, so teachers can bring the competition to the attention of their students as a way to meet important standards for science and art.
    • WV Art Standards mapping
    • WV Science Standards mapping
    • Common Core Science Standards mapping
  • Teachers and artist groups get the opportunity to have a Climate Science Toolkit presentation in the classroom and to work with an area of highly relevant scientific concern.
  • This project provides a great opportunity to enjoy the way the arts and other disciplines support each other.  We encourage collaboration between science and art teachers in a given school and will invite interested science teachers to be part of the group that presents the Climate Science Toolkit information to artists and art classes.

Where will the works be exhibited?

• Winners will have the opportunity to:
  • be featured in an art show in Morgantown in March, 2014
  • have reproductions of their work and artist statements linked from the Northern West Virginia American Chemical Society section website
  • have their work presented at the Biennial Conference on Chemical Education in the summer of 2014
• Highly successful pieces will be submitted to the national ACS for possible further development and/or inclusion in publications or on their website. 

What will happen at the Climate Science Art Opening?

Contestants, their families, and members of the public will be invited to a gala art opening in Morgantown in March, 2014, where the final chosen works and artist statements will be displayed.  Interactive climate change activities will also be provided at the event (e.g. climate science-oriented chemistry demonstrations performed by American Chemical Society Student Affiliates groups from colleges and universities in the local ACS section.) Students from PopShop WV, a community-minded music education program in Morgantown, WV, will be invited to provide musical entertainment with ties to climate science.