Kristen Lear, PhD
Bat Conservationist & Science Communicator
National Geographic Explorer
AAAS IF/THEN Ambassador
© K. Lear, 2019
Art + Science
Art has a lot to contribute to science (and vice versa!). As a scientist who loves to engage with the public, I have been seeking new ways to stimulate interest in the sciences and STEM among the general public. I am by no means an artist, but I have enjoyed flexing my creativity muscles and trying to expand my horizons to capture some of the beauty (and struggles) of science, as well as what it's like to be a scientist.
Bat/Nature Fashion!
Fashion is a great way to spread awareness of nature and wildlife! I have created my own line of clothing showcasing images of bats, agaves, and other fun nature/science designs from my field work over the years. Check it out on my shop: https://www.redbubble.com/people/batsforlife/shop All proceeds from the sales go towards my bat outreach efforts, so shop away!
Art of STEM Competition
2019, University of Georgia
Piece Title: Channeling Andy Warhol for Bat Conservation
*Received a Special Merit Award
Statement: These bats (captured with thermal and infrared cameras) are making a home in bat houses I built as part of my research on species preferences for bat house design. By understanding what types of houses different species prefer, we can provide the best roosting options for each species. The need for bat conservation efforts, like installing bat houses, has never been greater. A fungal disease called White-Nose Syndrome is decimating bats across North America. Loss of bats puts our economy at risk, since bats consume numerous crop pests and save the U.S. agricultural industry at least $3 billion a year in insecticide application. By researching bats’ roosting needs and spreading awareness of bats among the public, I hope to contribute to conservation of these needlessly maligned animals. For a glimpse of Athens’ bats, check out the bat houses we installed around campus with a Campus Sustainability Grant!
© K. Lear, 2019
Lake Herrick Eco-Art Festival
2019, Athens, Georgia
As part of the first Eco-Art Festival in Athens, Georgia, I partnered with a local wildlife artist, Will Eskridge, to create a fun, interactive bat display for kids and adults. Will painted a gorgeous Silver-haired bat painting and created a shadow box of a Mexican long-nosed bat pollinating an agave plant that people could peep into. By combining art and science, we were able to highlight the beauty of bats and paint them in a positive light for the public.
Exploring Research as Craft: A One-Day Pop-Up Exhibition
2019, Athens, Georgia
Exhibition Info: This exhibition sought to disrupt traditional disciplinary divides and open ways for art, science, and personal experience to engage with each other. The exhibition was comprised of pieces by both artists and scientists who explored ways that we can disrupt the strict and disciplined understandings of science, art, research, and craft.
Piece Title: Personalizing the Depersonalized
Statement: Fieldwork and scientific research in general are inherently embodied practices, but in the transitions from planning fieldwork, doing the fieldwork and collecting data, analyzing the data, and writing up the results for publication, the personal is removed, or more accurately, not even considered in the first place. With this piece I explore this process of de-personalization in an attempt to put the personal back into my own research.
I look back on my field notebooks from my four summers researching bat conservation in northeast Mexico, with the many days (and nights) of monitoring nectar-feeding bat foraging at agave flowers, doing agave surveys, and interviewing local community members. From my often barely-legible notes scribbled in bumpy off-road truck rides or late at night, I pull out quotations that exemplify just how personal the research process is, bringing to light my myriad feelings of excitement, pride, giddiness, anticipation, laziness, exhaustion, mental fatigue, social isolation, trepidation, depression, and doubt. These slips of feelings and thoughts are laid next to photos from the field that provide a glimpse into the physical embodiedness of fieldwork, and the physical and mental struggles that go into it. The jumbled display of the notebooks, quotations, and photos speaks to the personal, messy, and non-linear nature of fieldwork.
These three elements, representing the personal, are juxtaposed with formalized text intended for grant proposals or scientific journal publication. This text is framed and elevated to signify the importance that formal interpretations of research are given within academia. The personal, the experiences and feelings, have been removed, and the writing distilled to the basic “what was done” format. The text describes fieldwork that had no roadblocks, no bumps, no deviations from the plan. None of my struggles are there. None of my mental and personal growth. None of the “Ah ha!” moments, or the moments of deep doubt about the importance or usefulness of the work.
By visually representing this depersonalization of such a personal thing as fieldwork, I hope to show both other researchers and non-academics how we can become more aware of the very personal process that is scientific research.
© K. Lear, 2019
© K. Lear, 2019
© K. Lear, 2019
Warnell Featured Artist
2017, Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of Georgia
Every month the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources selects a student or faculty member to display their natural resource-related artwork in the department's lobby. In 2017 I was showcased some of the photographs I have taken of bats, agaves, and other cool finds in the field.
© K. Lear, 2017