鈥淔usion: A STEAM Gallery鈥� is the name of the new gallery space on the science center鈥檚 third-floor mezzanine that will be filled with artwork from the university. The STEAM name combines the STEM acronym of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics with the 鈥淎鈥� to represent Art.

鈥淚t is so important that our students do not separate the sciences and arts in their learning experience,鈥� said art professor Carla Poindexter and curator of the exhibits. 鈥淪cience and the arts have always been interwoven. Our students in the SVAD gain so much when they know more about science, and the reverse is true聽with the STEM students.鈥�

Yulia Tikhonova, 麻豆原创 Art Gallery director, worked with the science center to develop the idea of hosting paintings, sculptures, animations, graphic designs and other 麻豆原创 artworks among the center鈥檚 dinosaur bones, telescopic views of the stars and hands-on exhibits.

There will be four planned exhibits a year to engage visitors with visual interpretations of scientific concepts, Poindexter said. Artists also will show how STEM has influenced their work and showcase the similarities between art and science.

鈥淚magination and creativity are at the heart of both art and science,鈥� said Jeff Stanford, vice president of marketing at the science center. 鈥淚t is very important to use art to provide a new perspective on science. Artists and scientists use several of the same skills in pursuit of their goals, including critical thinking and problem solving, communication and collaboration, flexibility and adaptability, and social and cross-cultural skills. These skill sets are essential for success in both fields.鈥�

Both institutions hope that exhibit visitors leave with a better understanding of the synergy between art and science. More than half of the 535,000 who visited the center in 2015 were under 17 years old, Tikhonova said.

鈥淏oth 麻豆原创 and OSC play key roles in creating the next generation of STEM professionals鈥斅槎乖� in higher education and OSC through youth engagement in hands-on science, technology and engineering activities,鈥� she said.

Stanford added: 鈥淲e hope the gallery ignites the scientific curiosity in art lovers and stimulates a newfound respect for art in the science-minded. For the science center, it鈥檚 a very exciting opportunity to work with artists on exhibitions that display how science and technology have influenced their work while bringing to light the similarities between these two disciplines.鈥�

The artists whose works will be featured through June 24 are Clayton Dunklin, a bachelor鈥檚 of fine art major, and Forrest DeBloi, who is working on his master鈥檚 of fine art. Both contributed art on the themes of animals and Earth Day. Some of DeBlois鈥� work can be seen on public and private buildings in Florida showing endangered and extinct animals.

Fusion: A STEAM Gallery is included with admission to the Orlando Science Center, 777 E. Princeton St.

Grant recipients around the country pick their own books to feature. To celebrate the 125th anniversary of author Zora Neale Hurston鈥檚 birth, beginning in January the college will partner with the Seminole County Public Library to host six weeks of events focusing on her book 鈥淭heir Eyes Were Watching God.鈥� Events will include an art exhibit, lectures, film screenings, theatrical performances and other programs.

Keri Watson, an assistant professor in the School of Visual Arts & Design, wrote the NEA matching grant for a total of $30,000 to support the project.

鈥淏ecause of our location and the anniversary, it鈥檚 a good tie-in for the community,鈥� said Watson.

Hurston was born in 1891 in Notasulga, Ala., but her family moved to Eatonville when she was a child. She later lived a brief time in Sanford, where she wrote her first book, “Jonah鈥檚 Gourd Vine,” published in 1934.

Of her four novels and more than 50 short stories, plays and essays, her best known work was the 1937 “Their Eyes Were Watching God.” The author, folklorist and anthropologist died in 1960.

Watson said the 麻豆原创 project will be complementary to the annual Zora! Festival in Eatonville on Jan. 23-31, which also is also celebrating the author鈥檚 125th birthday in January.

Only three other grants were given in Florida for different books to be featured in The Big Read 鈥� Broward Public Library Foundation in Fort Lauderdale, Miami Dade College, and Volusia County Public Library. Participants pick one of 35 featured novels for their programs.

Kicking off the Hurston series will be a reception and art exhibit in the 麻豆原创 Art Gallery featuring the work of Boston conceptual artist Eric Gottesman and the students and faculty of the 麻豆原创 School of Visual Arts and Design and their colleagues at Rollins College. The exhibit, 鈥淭he Encounter: Baalu Girma and Zora Neale Hurston,鈥� will be Jan. 11-Feb. 18 and present a fictional encounter between the two writers. Girma was an Ethiopian novelist and journalist who died in 1984.

鈥淭hough the two writers overlapped in time, but not in place, Gottesman was inspired to create a work of art that would imagine a meeting between these two important African diaspora public intellectuals,鈥� said gallery director Yulia Tikhonova.

A reception at the gallery to kickoff the series will be 6-8 p.m. Jan. 14.

The other events in the free series are:

Events are still being added to The Big Read. For the up-do-date schedule, check back at http://bigread.cah.ucf.edu/.

Watson said she plans to apply for another grant next year for The Big Read with a different book.

Just like the oversold promises of carnival barkers of the past, these midway icons of yesteryear may not actually be present, but you can see images of them at the 麻豆原创 Art Gallery’s聽鈥淪tep Right Up: Art of the Sideshow鈥� exhibit of original painted banners, photographs, sculptures and films.

Featured in the July 16-Aug. 29 exhibit in the Visual Arts Building are some of the huge signs used to entice spectators to see whatever was inside, whether an anatomical wonder, scientific anomaly or colorful carnival character.

The most common size of the era鈥檚 historic sideshow banners was 10 feet wide and 8 feet high, but one exhibited 50-by-22-foot painting of funhouse clowns will take up one whole wall at the gallery.

鈥淚 bought it many years ago and believe it or not have never seen the whole thing. I never had a place large enough to display it,鈥� said Howard Marks, a local attorney and art collector whose banners are on loan for the show.

Marks鈥� banners date back to the 1920s and all have a Florida connection because Gibsonton near Tampa was the summer home of circus performers and painters.

鈥淭he clown banner is stunning because of its size, the number of characters, and its condition,鈥� said Keri Watson, a 麻豆原创 assistant professor of art history who curated the show. 鈥淚 also am a fan of the Bearded Lady; she is quite fetching.鈥�

The banners in Marks鈥� collection by some of the leading painters of the 20th century 鈥� Fred Johnson, Snap Wyatt, Jack Sigler and Johnny Meah 鈥� are an important part of Americana, she said.

鈥淐ircuses, state fairs and sideshow attractions were popular forms of leisure and entertainment from the 1840s through the 1950s. Offering the ultimate escape from the day-to-day, the sideshow was an area of the fair where for an additional five or ten cents viewers could see extraordinary people billed as exotic wonders.鈥�

The brightly painted signs of this disappearing art style generally were created by commercial artists working for tent and awning companies.

鈥淭hese artists used their imaginations, fine art, and popular culture for inspiration,鈥� Watson said, 鈥渁nd they employed a variety of techniques to emphasize and exaggerate the contrast between the unusual and the normative.鈥�

But today with printing companies and digital technology, signs are rarely painted by hand, and with the decline of traveling circuses and sideshows there is little commercial demand for sideshow banners.

Other works in the exhibit are fair photographs by Reginald Marsh, Marion Post Wolcott, Jack Delano, Russell Lee, Ben Shahn and 麻豆原创 photography professor Layne Wyatt; contemporary paintings by Arnold Mesches; sculptures by Rigoberto Torres and 麻豆原创 students; and a video/sculptural installation by Carl Knickerbocker of Oviedo. Two documentary shorts (鈥淛ohnny Meah, The Czar of Bizarre鈥� and 鈥淲ard Hall, King of the Sideshow,鈥� made by 麻豆原创 film students Milos Ajdinovis and Yson Dickson) will be on a continuous video loop at the gallery.

The free exhibit will have an opening reception from 6-8 p.m. on Thursday, July 16, and will then be open during the gallery鈥檚 regular hours 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Yulia Tikhonova, gallery directory, has lined up some additional free collaborations for the six-week exhibit:

• Aug. 25, 6 to 8 p.m. 鈥� Film screening of the 1932 cult classic聽鈥淔reaks,鈥� featuring Harry and Daisy Earles, Daisy and Violet Hilton, Johnny Eck, Prince Randian, and Frances O鈥機onnor.聽In the film, the carnival “freaks” are inherently trusting and honorable people, while the real monsters are two of the “normal” members of the circus who are part of a conspiracy. The film will be screened next door to the gallery in Visual Arts Building Room 132.
• Aug. 26, 6 to 8 p.m. 鈥� Film screening of the 1999 documentary聽鈥淪ideshow:聽Alive on the Inside.鈥漈his film looks at the world of the circus and carnival sideshows, and how the headliners found happiness in their careers. Also shown in VAB 132.
• Aug. 27, 6 to 8 p.m. 鈥� Closing reception in the gallery with guest appearances by Johnny Meah, one of the last banner painters and a veteran sideshow performer, and impresario Ward Hall, both featured in the documentary shorts to be shown at the gallery. There will be cotton candy, corn dogs and catering by 4Rivers Smokehouse.
• Aug. 29, 4 p.m. 鈥� 鈥淎 Look at the Sideshow,鈥� a performance piece in the gallery written and directed by 麻豆原创鈥檚 Be Boyd and John Shafer. The play portrays the challenging lives of real sideshow performers such as John Merrick, The Elephant Man; Annie Jones, The Bearded Lady; Francesco A. Lentini, The Three-legged Wonder; and Grady Stiles, Lobster Boy.