Matt Shilan
From A+D Life Wiki
About Matt Shilan...
"I was trained as a paper engineer, received my BFA from Alfred University in 2002, and my MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art in 2006. Currently I am working with scientists as a visiting research scholar at the University of Michigan, teaching "Energy, Light and the Science of Visualization" at the University of Michigan as an adjunct professor, teaching a 3d design course rooted in the Joseph Albers school of design at Washtenaw Community College, and preparing for a solo show opening January 24th at the Gallery One in Ann Arbor.
Beginning my relationship with the University of Michigan in March 2006, I was invited by Dr. David Martin to give a presentation of my work to the Macromolecular Science Department. Dr. Martin's lab deals with the interface between biology and engineering. Dr. Martin recognized the parallel between my sculptural work and his research. Visiting the labs, I spoke with his students about microscopic surfaces and ways to increase surface area for better conductivity. They made their incredibly complex ideas comprehensible, and I understood them by using paper folding as a means of translation.
Currently, I work closely with Professor Max Shtein and his material science lab. I attend weekly group meetings to interact and share ideas with his students. Professor Shtein and I collaborated on the visual outreach component of his National Science Foundation Grant dealing with negative index refraction. We are currently working with the Hands-on Museum in Ann Arbor to manifest this outreach component.
Professor Shtein and I team teach the class, "Energy, Light and the Science of Visualization." Our students are engineers, artists, and architects ranging from undergraduate juniors to fourth year graduate students. The aim is to unite these historically disparate disciplines by collaboration in projects. Within this intersection, issues of energy harvesting and light combine artistic and scientific methods, which seek to improve the design of energy systems. Specific course projects include utilizing bio-mimicry as a design principle, creating new multifunctional textiles (e.g. structural application combined with energy harvesting & lighting) and controlling potential and kinetic energy using modular unit systems.
MIT professor, Victor Weisskopf, wrote in an essay entitled 'Teaching Science' that, "In science we must always begin by asking questions, not giving answers. In this way we contribute to the joy of insight. For science is the opposite of knowledge. Science is curiosity."
The enthusiasm of my students often finds its way into my studio practice. Seeking sources from diverse backgrounds, I have realized that when different approaches collide, remarkable results occur. The lab and the studio share a symbiotic relationship. Rooted in both print media and the book arts, my methodology has grown to include science and technology among its main influences. The act of folding lends itself to a creative and impulsive process as well as a calculated one. In my studio the fold is the starting point, the place where energy is transferred and from the initial fold to subsequent ones, sculptures develop. In the lab the fold is used for both representation and research. Bio-mimicry, the act of extrapolating design principles from nature, fuels my work. Protein mis-folding, the root cause of Alzheimer's and cystic fibrosis, is mapped on a human scale from paper to gain understanding of structural problems. Solar cells woven into textiles become flexible and using paper engineering techniques we can better understand the complex issues of "micro-origami" and the problems inherent in scaling our folds to a nanoscale.
My approach to making art is intuitive, absurd and unorthodox. Finished pieces may appear preplanned, and to an extent some are. Often I begin with a vision and at a particular moment the material takes over. I am now faced with a crossroads: do I force my initial vision or do I listen to the work and follow it? My work is made because I cannot visualize its final realization; I make my work by finding it."
