US Students Visit SAIC and Field Museum

On Thursday, May 11, 15 Upper School students and four science faculty members from each division visited Dr. Mika Tosca at the School of Art Institute of Chicago and the Field Museum.

Tosca, Parker’s 2022–23 Pritzker Visiting Scientist•Inventor•Engineer in Residence, is a faculty member at SAIC. Parker students and faculty visited SAIC classes, working studios and gardens. We had interesting conversations with students in faculty member Sara Black’s Knowledge Lab class about the intersection of art and science and the connections between people, art and the natural world. Students also heard from student artists Havi Millar and Yousif Alzayed about their work, lives and inspirations.

We visited the Field Museum and had a behind-the-scenes tour of its bird collection thanks to artist and MFA student Jen Lobo. The highlight of the tour was the visit to the smelly “beatles’ room” where the Dermestid beetles are busy at work in reducing carcasses to bones. In the Field Museum library, students were able to admire some of the oldest scientific books in the world. Even the hallway exhibits and maps are full of wonder and excitement for the students.

Tosca showed the students that artists can be scientists, too, and vice versa. Tosca will be back at Parker again before the end of the school year.

Click here for photos.