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Todd Siler | |
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 Todd Siler inTartu (2011) | |
| Born | (1953-08-23)August 23, 1953 (age 71) |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Massachusetts Institute of Technology (PhD) |
| Awards | Leonardo da Vinci World Award of Arts (2011) |
| Website | toddsilerart |
Todd Siler (born August 23, 1953) is an American multimedia artist, author, educator, and inventor. A graduate ofBowdoin College, he became the first visual artist to be granted a PhD fromMIT (interdisciplinary studies in Psychology and Art, 1986). Siler began advocating the full integration of the arts and sciences in the 1970s and is the founder of the ArtScience Program and movement.
In the early 1980s, Siler made an extensive study of genius across numerous disciplines to see what, if anything, such highly creative people asAlbert Einstein andSergei Rachmaninoff have, or more importantly do, in common. Although such inquiries are standard, Siler's work went further than any work before or since in examining how methods used by highly creative people might work on the neurological and cellular level. "Creativity is any unconditioned response," is typical of Siler's approach, which both validates and challenges the work of luminaries in the field such asHoward Gardner,Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi andRobert Root-Bernstein (Encyclopedia of Creativity, 1999). These theories were elaborated in two books,Breaking The Mind Barrier: The ArtScience of Neurocosmology (Simon & Schuster, 1990; Touchstone Books, 1992), which is largely intended for scholars, andThink Like A Genius (Bantam Books, 1997; Transworld, 1998) written for the general reader. Siler has developed these theories into proprietary programs which are used extensively in schools and corporations.
The son of an aspiring concert pianist and bio-medical researcher, as a child, Siler was a prodigy in the fine arts, often using highly detailed drawings to express his ideas on integrating the arts and sciences. He studied art as an undergraduate, spending a year "apprenticed" in the studio of American artistLeonard Baskin. In his 20s Siler was part of the same SoHo art scene which launchedJulian Schnabel,Francesco Clemente andDavid Salle. Today, Siler's artworks are in numerous public collections including theSolomon R. Guggenheim Museum, TheMetropolitan Museum of Art (20th Century Collection), TheMuseum of Modern Art in New York City, thePushkin Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow, and TheIsrael Museum in Jerusalem.
In 2006, Siler's multimedia exhibition at New York's Ronald Feldman Gallery showed off his artwork relating to what he described as a nature-inspired "Fractal Reactor", a nuclear fusion reactor based onfractal geometry.[1]
As an artist who has championed the study of science, Siler worked[when?] with the Cherry Creek School District (Colorado) to pioneer experiential learning methodologies based on the understanding and creation of systems of metaphor.
Siler was instrumental in developing the interdisciplinary curriculum for TheIsrael Arts and Science Academy (IASA) in Jerusalem.
These programs have become popular withFortune 500 companies as a way of promoting out-of-the-box thinking.
In addition to being an artist and scholar, Siler holds a number of patents on a wide range of inventions, including a widely used computer-graphics input device and textile printing machinery.
In 2011, Siler received theLeonardo da Vinci World Award of Arts in recognition of his contributions to contemporary and visual arts, for stimulating creativity, inspiring innovation, and uniting art and science to enrich the experience of creative learning.[2]
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