When Assistant Professor of Art History Paula Burleigh realized that a student was working on two monumental paintings that combined the disciplines of both art and science, she was excited. “Wow,” she thought to herself. “These paintings could actually be a really good fit.”
Allison Crouch, ’23, designed her senior comprehensive project to combine her two areas of study, art and biology, as well as her identity as a queer artist. By December, Allegheny had installed Crouch’s paintings on the second floor of the Steffee Hall of Life Sciences, where they would stay for a minimum of two years to inspire other young scientists.
“I wanted to make the pieces from the point of view of a scientist, a researcher,” Crouch said. “I wanted them to start conversations about the highs and lows of research, the flaws and how great it can be that humans really do come together to help other humans in times of need and explore these universal truths for the benefit of other humans.”
When Crouch first set out to begin her project, she felt it was finally time to combine her disciplines as an art major and biology and chemistry double minor.
Crouch’s paintings — two massive canvases covering an entire wall in Steffee — portrayed that connection between art and science through an abstract design with a rich, dark palette.
The ideas first began to take form when she found inspiration from artist Xavier Cortada. Specifically, Crouch identified with Cortada’s series of works depicting the experiments involved in the discovery of the Higgs boson — sometimes called “the God particle.”
“I was trying to take the inspiration I saw from that piece and apply it to my own interests,” Crouch said.
Before starting on her senior project, Crouch had completed works in her junior seminar on her identity as a lesbian and as a queer painter. Her initial goal was to somehow connect that identity with her interest in both medicine and painting. From there, in the fall 2022 semester, Crouch found herself diving into biomedical research from the 1980s working towards antiretroviral therapy for HIV and AIDS. Crouch had a personal interest in current research for vaccines and the evolution of the science.
“When I started really digging into it and starting at the beginning, it developed from there,” Crouch said. “I was really interested in the genesis of the search for therapies and treatments for AIDS.”
By the spring, Crouch had set to creating her paintings, and on April 25, 2023, they were hung in the college’s art gallery.
By then, Crouch’s art had already caught the eye of Burleigh, who knew that the biology department had been looking to modernize the art on display in Steffee.
According to Chair and Associate Professor of Biology Brad Hersh, the existing art in Steffee had been there for more than 20 years.
“I kind of made that decision that we needed some updating and then we had a conversation with all of the members of the department,” Hersh said. “There was general consensus that, yeah, it would be nice to have something that would be notable and different. We weren’t looking for graphic representations of hard science; we wanted something that was more broad and spoke to the broadness of the students and the Allegheny community.”
Hersh had reached out to Burleigh, the curator of the art galleries on campus, to see if there would be a student who was interested in creating a piece as part of an independent study.
“It wasn’t something that necessarily had to be representative art in the sense of being a clear representation of biological organisms,” Hersh said. “It was pretty open.”
Burleigh had worked with Crouch on the research aspect of her project and was a second reader on her senior project. She mentioned Crouch’s paintings could be a good fit for Steffee, particularly because of their interdisciplinary aspect.
“There weren’t any works of art that were immediately coming to mind when Brad reached out to me,” Burleigh said. “But then Allison was working on this project where she was making these pretty monumentally-scaled paintings that were directly related to her practice as a scientist.
“It’s a project that reflects what’s unique about Allegheny — which is the way that we encourage and foster interdisciplinary exchanges,” she added.
Burleigh, Hersh and Crouch got together to decide where the paintings would go after Crouch graduated.
The conclusion reached was that the paintings would stay at Allegheny for a minimum of two years as a loan from Crouch.
Burleigh said that the thought process behind the two-year loan was that it justified the time and expense required to install the paintings. Installing the paintings required Physical Plant to paint the existing walls in Steffee so as not to clash with the art, as well as the actual process of safely transporting them.
“It was really unexpected and such a huge compliment that they wanted them to live there,” Crouch said.
When Crouch was creating the paintings, she envisioned them hanging in research centers and academic buildings where work on HIV treatments is actively happening.
“I wanted them to be a talking point and educational,” Crouch said. “Which is why I think it’s really important that they live in this academic building. I think it’s great that scientists walk by these pieces as well as the lay person or an artist, and can engage with the art.”
After graduating from Allegheny, Crouch moved to Washington, D.C. where she works as a postbaccalaureate research fellow at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. Crouch also continues to paint in her free time.
Her paintings will hang on the second floor of Steffee Hall to continue to encourage students in their studies.
“It was fantastic to see that come to fruition in a way that now lives on in this visible place for prosperity for at least some period of time,” Burleigh said.
Hersh was inclined to agree.
“We are so, so thrilled to have them hanging in the building, and Allison agreeing to contribute them,” Hersh said. “‘There’s not always a recognition of how much science and art can overlap. They do, in some really robust ways. I’m glad that we’re able to demonstrate that.”