Weather & Environment class uses Dorsky exhibition to model cloud identification methods

SUNY New Paltz courses in Weather and Environment visited the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art (SDMA) with an eye on the “Jervis McEntee: Painter-Poet of the Hudson River School” exhibition of paintings by McEntee, the nineteenth-century artist of Hudson Valley landscapes and other natural scenes.

Associate Professor of Geological Sciences Alvin Konigsberg took the opportunity afforded by the McEntee exhibition, which runs until Dec. 13 at the Dorsky, to introduce new ways of thinking about the relationship between science and art to his lab students.

“The students were happy to be in an art museum, rather than just looking at the sky,” Konigsberg said. “Science classes don’t often find ways to incorporate art, but I think doing so opens up the possibility of some really unique lessons and lab experiences.”

The course focuses on basic principles of weather, forecasting and the weather’s impact on human life. For this lesson Konigsberg challenged his students to use the context created by the Dorsky exhibition to practice identifying clouds as rendered by McEntee.

McEntee’s work documents the natural beauty of the Hudson Valley and demonstrate a particular infatuation with late fall, meaning the students who took part in this exercise were able to put it to use immediately upon leaving the Dorsky.

“I think this lab provided an interesting perspective on science, as viewed through a different medium,” said Madeline del Caño ’19 (French). “It’s beneficial to give us ways of applying what we learn outside the lab setting.”

“I really liked getting out of the classroom setting for a more hands-on approach, especially since I’m an art major myself” said Jenny Zavala ’17 (Visual Arts).

“I like when professors switch up their routine lectures and labs,” said Brianna DeNisco ’17 (Geology). “It was easier to picture and identify the clouds when viewing them face-on.”

More information about Geology at SUNY New Paltz and about the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art is available online.