The More-Than-Human World, Awe section header: a delicate, realistic drawing of a grayscale blue jay and blue porcelain berries and leaves, isolated on a white background

Terry Irwin

Gestures

macro photo of withering purple tulip petals on a dry stem

macro photo of withering purple tulip petals and leaf with shallow depth of field

macro photo of withering purple tulip petals and dull yellow pistil covered with pollen

macro photo of a withering purple tulip flower with a thin, curling stem snaking through the top of the image

macro photo of withering purple tulips with a shallow depth of field

The writer and poet Wolfgang von Goethe was also a dedicated scientist who was fascinated by the “wholeness of nature.” He developed an approach to the study of natural organisms that sought to understand something about their essence that was separate and independent from humans and the built world. His approach emphasized the dynamic relationship between wholes and parts without imposing our experience or judgement on them.

Terry Irwin is a Professor in the School of Design and Director of the Transition Design Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh. She has been teaching design at the university level since 1986 and was a founding partner of the international design firm MetaDesign. Terry holds an MFA in design from the Basel School of Design, Switzerland, an MSc in holistic science from Schumacher College/Plymouth University, England, and doctoral research at The University of Dundee, Scotland. She is a co-originator of Transition Design, a new area of transdisciplinary research, study and practice, and for the past several years she has used macro photography to explore forms in the natural world. In 2019 Terry was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Design from Emily Carr University, Canada, the AIGA Medal in 2021, and in September 2023 will be made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Arts, London.

@tirwin_livingsystems
https://transitiondesignseminarcmu.net/

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