In this episode of Art &, we catch up with designer Char McCurdy and biochemist Aaron Straight about The Giving Tree, an upcoming Stanford IntroSem being taught this fall that will start with a single tree from campus and asks students to explore what can be made from as much of it as possible.

Developed through Stanford Arts Institute's Arts Catalyst Fellowship, the course incorporates design, organic materials, sustainability, and hands-on making. Char and Aaron discuss how their collaboration started from a chance conversation about furniture into an adventurous class about materials, climate change, biodiversity, risk-taking, and problem-solving. Along the way, they reflect on what happens when students and faculty learn directly from the natural world, embrace uncertainty, and develop the agency that comes from making from the abundant source of wonder standing all around us: trees!

Featured Guests: Char McCurdy & Aaron Straight

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Credits

Host: Ellen Oh