{"39636":{"#nid":"39636","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Research Serves as Basis for Art Exhibit","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EA Tech professor\u0027s research into sugar production in South Africa serves as the inspiration for an artist.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EMinnesota artist and educator Susan Armington recently visited Atlanta to work on a project with her longtime friend, Industrial and Systems Engineering Associate Professor Valerie Thomas. Armington, a roster artist of the Minnesota State Arts Board, directs the Talking Suitcases project, which is billed as an arts-based process for exploring questions and processes. She primarily uses the project in education and community building, exploring topics such as immigration, racism, grief and other \u0022life-transitional\u0022 issues. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022[The works] are suitcases filled with hand-made objects that tell a story.\u0022 While visiting Atlanta and Georgia Tech, she and Thomas collaborated on a suitcase that tells the lifecycle of sugar, from the ground to the refinery. The duo is working together to tell the story of 40 grams of sugar, the USDA\u0027s recommended daily limit.  \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022We calculated how much of each item it takes to produce this amount of sugar,\u0022 Armington said. Items used in the project \u0022Sugar: Lifecycle Inventory in a Box,\u0022 include a 10-inch square representing the land area of ground required to produce 40 grams of sugar, the sugarcane fiber that is used to power the sugar factory, some water, some diesel fuel, a small amount of coal, etc. \u0022The project breaks it down to the basic ingredients for that small amount of sugar.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThis particular project, \u0022Making Concepts Visible,\u0022 was precipitated by Thomas\u0027 research with University of Johannesburg Professor Charles Mbohwa and graduate student Livison Mashoko, under a grant from the South African National Research Foundation on the environmental impacts of renewable fuel options in South Africa. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022Sugarcane is a promising biofuel feedstock for southern Africa, and our first research step has been to evaluate the environmental impacts of the current sugar-production systems in South Africa.. While their work and research are rooted in sustainability, it\u0027s not just about the carbon footprint, Thomas says. They also can show ways to improve the process. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThomas says that research into the lifecycles of products typically breaks the processes down to their basic components, detailing every step in their creation. \u0022I do this all the time, checking the numbers,\u0022 she said. \u0022Our work is justified not only by having intellectual merit, in advancing the science, but also by having broader impact for society.. With [this project], we can take this research to local high schools. The artistic aspect translates the work to show the broader impact.\u0022 \u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EAs a companion piece, Armington wanted to also illustrate not only ingredients used in the front-end creation, but also the connections and relationships created by the sugar business. \u0022It takes 34 people buying sugar to pay [daily wages] for one South African worker.\u0022 \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EArmington says her idea is to create objects that make visible the relationship between parts of the lifecycle, to aid people in reflecting on it. The objects are designed to help everyone, not just scientists, to see better what\u0027s going on.  \u0022It\u0027s not good, it\u0027s not bad. You can draw your own conclusions.\u0022 \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EFor her process, Armington creates prototypes before delving into the full project. \u0022[Valerie and I] work on stuff together,\u0022 said Armington, who attended graduate school at Cornell with Thomas. \u0022I\u0027ll take what I\u0027ve completed, and leave some of it to be used by her. I\u0027m always looking to work in places I haven\u0027t been yet,\u0022 Armington said. \u0022I like to grow; I like to collaborate and work with people in other cultures and disciplines.\u0022 \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022It was nice that she cared to listen to my ideas,\u0022 said Thomas, who shares a joint appointment in the School of Public Policy. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EArmington said this project has opened up other \u0022lifecycle inventories\u0022 in her mind. \u0022I would love to have a project on the lifecycle of petroleum,\u0022 she said. \u0022Once you start to do these things, you want to keep looking into other items.\u0022 Her new work, inspired by explorations with Thomas, will be part of the upcoming show, \u0022Art Explores Science,\u0022  May 2010 at the Phipps Center for the Arts, in Hudson, Wisconsin.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"Georgia Tech ISyE Associate Professor Valerie Thomas research assists Minnesota artist Susan Armington with her Talking Suitcases art project.","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Professor assists with sustainable artwork"}],"uid":"27191","created_gmt":"2009-08-26 00:00:00","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:01:25","author":"Robert Nesmith","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2009-08-26T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2009-08-26T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"39637":{"id":"39637","type":"image","title":"Georgia Tech ISyE Associate Professor Valerie Thom","body":null,"created":"1449174110","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 20:21:50","changed":"1475894263","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:37:43","alt":"Georgia Tech ISyE Associate Professor Valerie Thom","file":{"fid":"189692","name":"tfq02079.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/tfq02079_2.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/tfq02079_2.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":140206,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/tfq02079_2.jpg?itok=XwZHLwJu"}},"39638":{"id":"39638","type":"image","title":"Work created by Minnesota artist Susan Armington","body":null,"created":"1449174110","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 20:21:50","changed":"1475894263","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:37:43","alt":"Work created by Minnesota artist Susan Armington","file":{"fid":"189691","name":"tiu02079.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/tiu02079_2.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/tiu02079_2.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":11387,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/tiu02079_2.jpg?itok=7hNSck3t"}}},"media_ids":["39637","39638"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.susanarmington.com-a.googlepages.com\/index.htm","title":"Susan Armington"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.isye.gatech.edu\/faculty-staff\/profile.php?entry=vt34","title":"Valerie Thomas"}],"groups":[{"id":"1183","name":"Home"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"},{"id":"144","name":"Energy"},{"id":"145","name":"Engineering"},{"id":"154","name":"Environment"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"1431","name":"industrial and systems engineering"},{"id":"170778","name":"Susan Armington"},{"id":"1867","name":"Talking Suitcases"},{"id":"1135","name":"valerie thomas"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cstrong\u003EBarbara Christopher\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EIndustrial and Systems Engineering\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.gatech.edu\/contact\/index.html?id=bt3\u0022\u003EContact Barbara Christopher\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E404.385.3102\u003C\/strong\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["bchristopher@isye.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}