UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — From 5-7 p.m. on Sept. 6 in the Woskob Family Gallery, Aaron Knochel, associate professor of art education, will host an opening workshop for the show “Caretelling: Stories to Sustain Ourselves,” an interdisciplinary group exhibition on display through December that explores the intersection of storytelling and caregiving through collaborative art-making, video installations and graphic narratives.
During the opening workshop, Knochel, the curator of the show, will host a “caretelling” session focused on expressing our self-assessment of care and our capacity to support different dimensions of caring relationships. The session involves art-making, discussion about the ethics of care, and contributions to the new group exhibit.
“Stories are fundamental to how we nurture and support one another,” Knochel said. “By sharing our experiences, we create bonds that sustain our collective humanity and deepen our capacity for care.”
The exhibition is part of a larger research project titled “Expanding Capacities of Care: Methodological and Pedagogical Opportunities in Narrative Ethics and Creative Inquiry for Nursing Education and Professional Development,” which is led by an interdisciplinary team of Penn State faculty members from the College of Arts and Architecture, Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, and Graphic Mundi, an imprint of the Penn State University Press.
The project has many different activity streams from developing art exhibitions to workshops engaging creative practice and resilience for health care and educational professionals.
There is a blossoming understanding of the impact of the arts on the health and well-being of our communities and institutions, Knochel explained. Emerging research and creative practice investigate narrative inquiry and ethics of care as opportunities to understand the broader impact the arts have on health care.
Whether it be in the medical humanities or advances in neuroscience and the impact of the arts (or neuroarts), there is a growing need to understand how our creativity and need to share stories may impact our care giving and receiving, he added.
Contributors to the exhibition include:
Knochel, a mixed methods researcher and artist with interests in transdisciplinary learning, critical social theory and software studies. Knochel has worked in various learning spaces including schools, museums and community centers. Current funded research pursuits include investigating generative artificial intelligence in art and design and impacts of creative inquiry within health care systems.
Daryl Branford, director of Science-Art Initiatives at the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences. He incorporates 3D visualization, spatial design, sound synthesis and live performance to bring research to life. Branford’s years of experience as a multi-instrumentalist musician and artist enable him to explore relationships within the arts and sciences.
Talley Fisher, senior research artist for Huck SciArt, a dual position with the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences and the Institutes of Energy and the Environment at Penn State. Fisher is an internationally known sculptor specializing in large-scale suspended sculptures for health care facilities, airports, hotels, companies and private residences.
Parisa Farjamfar, a graduate student at Penn State who specializes in illustration and animation with a focus on the history and culture of Iran. Farjamfar contributes to the Huck Institute as a part-time graphic designer, where she creates visual elements such as figures and infographics to support scientific research.
Ann Holt, assistant professor of art education at Penn State. She also is an adviser and artist teacher with Arts Action Group, an international community-based collective committed to facilitating socially engaged arts initiatives with children and youth in conflict-affected environments. Her research, teaching and writing encompass social justice issues involving archives and marginalized histories, as well as the roles of arts and culture in global development practices towards social transformation and healing.