PHX Reporter

Paradise Valley Community College (PVCC) recently announced the winners of its inaugural STEAM Art competition. The event aimed to bridge the gap between science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM), and art by showcasing works that reflect this intersection. Fourteen submissions from nine students, faculty, and staff members competed for top honors.

David Bradley, a PVCC art faculty member, stated: "The STEAM committee’s hope for this competition was to motivate students, faculty and staff on our campus to create visual depictions of STEAM concepts. These works of art will be used in the classrooms and labs to help students who might struggle to understand concepts by providing these visual examples. The submissions are creative and informative and represent a wide range of perspectives of science, technology, engineering, and math."

Top awards of $200 each were given to William Ruff for his piece 'Banana Calculus' and Cheryl Chlebowski for 'Fibonacci in Nature 1.' Ruff's work demonstrated how integrals are used to find the volume of solids in calculus using a banana as an example. "It is not a normal solid and has curves," Ruff explained, noting that it helped demonstrate the concept more effectively.

Chlebowski focused on how the Fibonacci sequence appears in nature. She found inspiration from photography professor Kip Sudduth. “I initially found the STEAM concept and competition challenging to understand," she said. "But when photography professor Kip Sudduth told me about the Fibonacci sequence, the possibilities were endless." Chlebowski submitted four entries in total.

Honorable mentions with awards of $50 each went to Yiinyuy for 'Microbial Majesty,' Katerina Socio Garcia for 'Mind, Body and Soul,' Cheryl Chlebowski for 'Environmental Impact,' and Shoshanna Landis for 'Surreal Pigments.'

Merit awards worth $25 each were presented to Jovin Killpack for 'Molecule Diagram,' Cheryl Chlebowski for both 'Architecture' and 'Non-visual Fibonacci,' Lainie Ermann for 'Microbiology Network,' Caron Sada for both 'We Are Unique/We Are the Same' and 'Four Goals of Psychology,' Newton Copp for both 'Empiricism: Walking Towards Dawn' and 'Life Cycle: Concept of Biological Cycles in the Biosphere.'

Bradley emphasized that "this competition was more than just a contest; it was a celebration of creativity, critical thinking, and the powerful synergy between art and science." He expressed hope that it would become an annual event.

For further details on PVCC’s STEAM programs, interested parties can visit their website.