Immersive Teaching & Learning
UCSC Art students. Photograph by Edgar Cruz.
UCSC Art students at Big Creek Reserve. Course led by Prof. Karolina Karlic and Prof. Norman Locks.
Artwork by UCSC Art student: Natalie Del Castillo
Unseen California fosters exchange learning opportunities for a diverse demographic undergraduate student group in the arts + sciences and is directly in conversation with the UCSC MFA in Environmental Arts and Social Practice. Topics of art + ecology are integrated with an undergraduate and graduate curriculum, that encourages field study based art research projects and offers students the experience of an outdoor classroom through hands-on training, active participation in data collection, and fieldwork opportunities. Learning is enhanced by research opportunities that provide an education committed to creating socially engaged work, in and around environmentally and socially engaged subjects. These include urgent topics such as: climate change, technology, land use, public policy, health, and ecology.
Artwork by UCSC Art student: Natalie Del Castillo
Undergraduate and Graduate participation will inform and be informed by site specific reserve and art questions of scholarly interest, enhancing curriculum. This research initiative enables faculty to develop relationships with students that contribute to the way students interface with traditional classroom material, curriculum development, providing a deeper understanding of research based art practice by moving the classroom outdoors.
Students gain a working familiarity with California’s diverse ecosystems while immersed in the NRS’s classrooms without walls, providing a unique experience to public education in California and beyond.
UCSC Art & Environmental Studies student, Edgar Cruz, at Big Creek Reserve. Course led by Prof. Karolina Karlic
“The photography research trips led by Karolina Karlic and Norman Locks were one of the most impactful experiences in my undergraduate studies at UCSC. Studying both Art and Environmental Studies, these trips guided me towards an interdisciplinary research approach to photography.
I was introduced to the UC Natural Reserve System, during my first photo research in the spring quarter of my second year, visiting the Big Creek Natural Reserve. I went in not knowing anyone at all, but by the end of it, I felt so loved and welcomed by my fellow art majors. This was the beginning of the community I built throughout my time in the art department. I was able to build a relationship with my photo professors, actively meeting with them one on one, and become an active member of the community.
As an artist, these trips were really important in helping me question and explore the ideas behind my work, which was new for me at the time.”
UCSC Art students. Photograph by Edgar Cruz.
“Through my exposure to the UC NRS, I learned so much about how they can be utilized by artists and not just research scientists. As a recent graduate, I hope to continue using the UC Natural Reserves as critical resources for my artistic research. Using unique landscapes throughout California, I wish to use the reserves as a resource for my current investigations on alternative photographic printing processes. I think it is important to educate young and emerging artists on how to become researchers and utilize the opportunities that are otherwise thought to be for scientists.”
- Edgar Cruz
UCSC Art students at Big Creek Reserve. Course led by Prof. Karolina Karlic and Prof. Norman Locks.
UCSC Art student, Mallory Mahon, at Big Creek Reserve. Course led by Prof. Karolina Karlic and Prof. Norman Locks.
“I went into the UCSC Art Major as a Freshman in 2016 and graduated in 2020. I knew of the photo field trips to the UC Natural Reserves (Mojave and Big Sur), but never actually went on one until my third year of college. I wish I had gone sooner! I had never felt a stronger sense of community within the art department until I attended my first photo field trip. Spending a couple days living, exploring, eating together, and creating with people who have similar creative interests as you is a powerful learning experience. As a photographer, the world is my place to learn--not a classroom. The photo field trips to UC Natural Reserves were the most important part of my college education (this includes the summer photo field research quarter created by Jack Chapman that I was lucky enough to be a part of) because they provided an opportunity to experience real field work; something I may not have had otherwise.”
- Mallory Mahon
UCSC Art students, Granite Mountain Reserve. Course led by Prof. Karolina Karlic and Prof. Norman Locks.
Artwork by UCSC Art student: Edgar Cruz.
Artwork by UCSC Art student: Edgar Cruz.
UCSC Art students, Big Creek Reserve. Course led by Prof. Karolina Karlic and Prof. Norman Locks.
“I attended UCSC as an Art Major from 2017-2019. In 2018 I attended the UC Reserve photography research trip to Big Sur led by Karolina Karlic and Norman Locks. As someone who comes from a long background of art and environmental education, it pleases me to say it was the kind of educational experience I thrive on.
Exploring Big Sur, we discussed the local native flora/fauna and we put our recently acquired college-level art skills to use. Each person sharing their unique perspectives and techniques quickly created an enriching and welcoming environment. Dinners were especially joyous, everyone coming together as a family despite the little time we had together.
These kinds of trips are essential for artists. Art is not always about the studio. There is some inspiration that only can be found out in the world.”
-Brian Young
UCSC Art student, Emma McWaid loading film at Big Creek Reserve. Course led by Prof. Karolina Karlic
“The photography research trips led by Karolina Karlic and Norman Locks are truly life changing opportunities for students at UC Santa Cruz. Through visiting the Big Creek Natural Reserve during spring quarter 2019, I was able to not only explore the essential role of travel and research more thoroughly within my art practices, something I had not considered immensely beforehand, but also develop stronger connections with my peers and professors as a double major in art and film and digital media. I had the privilege to have such memorable experiences of bonding with my peers and discussing our different perspectives and approaches to art based on our different backgrounds, deepening my sense of relationship to the community present within the art department. These memories and conversations helped me realize the interrelation of art and film to me despite my different approaches to these mediums. Through being in a less institutional, more natural environment, I was able to reflect on my identity and the influences of my experiences and memories to my photographs, moving images, paintings, and prints. I grew to more strongly understand the importance of my environment and overall surrounding atmosphere to my work. I was inspired to delve more into my art practices and using mixed media. This photography research trip was extremely valuable to my education as an art student and truly helped shape the rest of my career and opportunities I took as a UC Santa Cruz undergraduate, including studying abroad and working independently more with faculty members.”
-Alicia Persaud
Artwork by UCSC Art student: Edgar Cruz.
UCSC Art students at UC NRS Granite Mountains visiting the Kelso Sand Dunes. Course led by Prof. Karolina Karlic.
Immersive Arts Field Research Courses
More information about courses Art 157 (undergraduate) and Art 257 (graduate) offered at UCSC is available by contacting:
Prof. Karolina Karlic in the UCSC Visual Art Department:
kkarlic@ucsc.edu
In these hybrid art courses (online research + out-in-the-field research) students are immersed in site specific field research over the span of a 5 day (24 hours/overnight) out-in-the-field trip utilizing the public land of California, via the UC Natural Reserve System. Students are prompted to engage and relate to a specific place while exploring concepts of site-specificity and develop their own new inquiries about a place by experiencing it physically and by learning about contemporary art concepts through topics of land and site.
Students will explore and reflect upon the multiple factors that constitute a “site” and how they present possibilities for creative engagement. Students learn research method skills and approaches that are unique to each site historically, politically, culturally, and environmentally; thus creating a place for arts research projects that freely diverge and challenge overarching concepts such as “nature” and “landscape” and address urgent arts discourse around California land use, access, and equity in the 21st Century.