Artist Profile: Emmanuelle Vital
02/01/2024 03:51PM ● By Casey Hopkins
Steamboat Springs, CO - The word “art” probably doesn’t immediately make you think of the word “science,” and vice versa – unless you’re Emmanuelle Vital, someone whose vast career has earned her several titles over the years: student, consultant, engineer, ecologist, designer, and artist, among others.
Beginning today and continuing through the end of February, Emmanuelle is bringing her vision of “scientific art” to Bliss Hall at the Depot Art Center. “I love the outdoors,” Emmanuelle says. The immersive exhibition, titled ‘Bois & Vie,’ which is French for ‘Wood & Life,’ will include sounds, sights and smells you might find in a forest. “My show is really, really focused on nature, the interaction with nature and the interaction among people and forming better connections with each other.”
One of Bois & Vie’s main recurring themes is collaboration, not only between the artists she has worked with on a few of the exhibition pieces, but also between art and science, specifically fractals, or geometrical curves or figures that have the same shape and characteristics of their larger whole. “I used to teach math and I’ve always been intrigued by [them]; the repeated patterns we see not only in mathematical formulas but also in nature,” Emmanuelle says. She also used artificial intelligence programs to create different fractal images by inputting different wordings in mathematical formulas. “Every piece I have in this show is unique.”
Beginning today and continuing through the end of February, Emmanuelle is bringing her vision of “scientific art” to Bliss Hall at the Depot Art Center. “I love the outdoors,” Emmanuelle says. The immersive exhibition, titled ‘Bois & Vie,’ which is French for ‘Wood & Life,’ will include sounds, sights and smells you might find in a forest. “My show is really, really focused on nature, the interaction with nature and the interaction among people and forming better connections with each other.”
One of Bois & Vie’s main recurring themes is collaboration, not only between the artists she has worked with on a few of the exhibition pieces, but also between art and science, specifically fractals, or geometrical curves or figures that have the same shape and characteristics of their larger whole. “I used to teach math and I’ve always been intrigued by [them]; the repeated patterns we see not only in mathematical formulas but also in nature,” Emmanuelle says. She also used artificial intelligence programs to create different fractal images by inputting different wordings in mathematical formulas. “Every piece I have in this show is unique.”
Emmanuelle hopes that people will leave her exhibition with a greater appreciation of science and nature, and consider their impact on the two locally and globally. “I hope people look at a piece of the world at a fractal level all the way to landscape and realize what it means to be connected to nature and what our impact is as humans,” she says.
‘Bois & Vie’ is open and available for viewing to the public Tuesday through Friday from 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. until the end of February, as well as tonight's First Friday ArtWalk from 5 - 8 p.m., at the Depot Art Center, located at 1001 13th St.