On Friday, students and employees within the College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences are putting on an art show to display all the ways they practice creativity outside of the classroom and laboratory.
Photos are by Quinn Mackay, first-year Ph.D. student in CEOAS who uses computational techniques to study the past climate utilizing ice cores from Antarctica.
The 2025 CEOAS Art Show takes place from 3-5 p.m. on Friday, May 30, in the Burt Hall courtyard near the intersection of NW Johnson Avenue and NW 27th Street.
Along with photography and painting, the artists in the show are bringing stained glass, live music, painted miniatures, nail art, fiber arts and more. Everyone in the college was invited to participate, and the final roster includes grad students, staff and faculty.
“I hope that it is inspiring for people to come and see all the different kinds of things people are up to,” said event organizer Olivia Williams, a fifth-year Ph.D. student focusing on geology and ice core research. “Whether it’s related to their science or not, I hope it inspires people to make some room for art in their own lives, whether creating or just appreciating it.”
Photo: Williams holds up one of the embroidery pieces she’ll be sharing at the CEOAS Art Show.
Williams got the idea for the art show last year when she was president of the CEOAS Association of Graduate Students (CAGS). She’d been talking with other students about some kind of art event for years before deciding to bite the bullet and make it happen herself, as personal projects are encouraged within CAGS leadership.
More than 40 people responded to her initial email proposing the show. After several months of nailing down logistics, advertising and a snack budget, CAGS hosted the event outdoors last June with around 10 artists.
“The feedback was so positive,” Williams remembers. “People had a great time doing it, and then a lot of people who came said it was so cool to see what folks are up to outside of work and what their hobbies are. So I knew it should happen again this year.”
Williams is serving as vice president and treasurer of CAGS this year, and said she plans to hand over copious notes to her successors to ensure the event can continue in future years.
One of the main challenges is displaying such a wide variety of art, especially in an outdoor space. There aren’t gallery walls for artists to hang their pieces, so everything must be displayed on tables, and there’s always the risk of rain — though Williams said the contingency plan is to move indoors to one of Burt Hall’s large hallways.
But then, if the event were indoors, it probably couldn’t showcase the “freakbike” designed by senior faculty research assistant David Neiman, whose modified bicycle includes a bucket that spins when the bike is pedaled and creates colorful spin art with acrylic paint.
Photo: David Neiman and his modified “freakbike” ready to make spin art. Neiman is a senior faculty research assistant in the Ocean Observatories Initiative.
The art show isn’t the only benefit CAGS has brought to the college, Williams said. Every Friday, the group hosts a college-wide coffee hour called “Fika Fridays,” named for the Swedish tradition of taking a casual break or “fika” during the workday to enjoy coffee and treats with colleagues. The weekly hangouts started after a CEOAS grad student returned from Sweden with the idea.
“If we really want to create a scientific field that’s a more inclusive and welcoming place, it’s important to celebrate the whole person behind the scientist, as well, and celebrate that we have different things we love to do and different hobbies,” Williams said. “Those are important aspects of ourselves as people — we’re not pure-reason, scientific robots.”
Photo: Two stained glass pieces by Meghan Sharp, a third-year geophysics Ph.D. student specializing in glaciology.
Photo: Stained glass snail by Kate Kouba, faculty research assistant for PacWave.
By Molly Rosbach
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