SMILE Meets Pop ART


howtosmile logo as Warhol
“STEAM capitalizes on artistic interest to help spread STEM to a wider audience,” says Brad Peroney, Program Development Coordinator for Pittsburgh's Carnegie Science Center. Peroney is collaborating with staff at Pittsburgh’s Andy Warhol Museum. In fall 2013, they will launch new afterschool programs where elementary learners can explore the science in Warhol's artworks and artistic process. Programs will be held at libraries, community centers and other sites around Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. One of the world's most famous pop artists, Warhol used photography, multimedia, color and chemistry to create pieces that changed the face of modern art. The Warhol STEAM project will likely use Howtosmile.org's Secret Goldenrod Messages activity, where learners write invisible messages on goldenrod paper, then use different acids and bases to make the messages appear and disappear. Other activities on Peroney's Warhol STEAM list at Howtosmile.org include Seeing 3D, The Primary Colors of Light , and Radial Chomatography. When choosing SMILE activities, Peroney looks at estimated cost of materials, age ranges, and keywords—for the Warhol project keywords include color, spectrum, perception, light, materials and seeing. Peroney first discovered Howtosmile.org at the Association of Science-Technology Centers conference. Whether he's planning programs around a theme of art, guitars, evolution, or flight, one of the biggest draws for Peronehy is that with SMILE, “We’re not reinventing the wheel.” Note: For this post, Brad Peroney created the Andy Warhol stye SMILE logo at http://www.lunapic.com/editor/?action=warhol. Try it yourself, by uploading any image you want!