Soil connectivity makes
university social responsibility practice in Taiwan
(藉由土壤的關懷，展現臺灣的大學對社會責任之實踐)
Abstract
This paper describes examples of actions taken for the connectivity
between soil and society to inspire soil awareness in Taiwan, particularly by
the practices of university social responsibility (USR) including workshops of
soil survey education in Taiwan (WOSSET) carried out from 2015 to 2019, the
Farmers Academy, soil profiles diagnoses for crop growth, the soil museum, and soil
art applications. In the WOSSET, the students learned the skills of soil
description, classification and interpretation on the impacts of soil
management, suitability classes of crop production and land uses. The students
considered the experience from the WOSSET as positive impacts on their
professional careers making them “seed-spreaders” for soil connectivity between
scientists and the general public by promoting their dedication to future
practices of USR. In the program of the Farmers Academy, soil concepts related to
soil properties, fertilizer, plant nutrition, compost and soil management have
been taught by speakers from university faculties; thus the trained young
farmers are able to obtain new knowledge of soil science even through the
simple observation of soil profile morphology, which are helpful links among
crop root growth, soil management and climate change. Inspired by the visual
impact from the visits to soil museum in the university, soil was applied as
pigments by artists on artistic practices such as painting and fabric. The
actions of soil connectivity enable the general public and students to
understand soil functions and soil security as well as construct the knowledge
foundation of communication on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
期刊摘錄
Art application based on soil knowledge
Soils are the consequence of the interactions of parent materials,
climate, biota, topography, and time. As aforementioned, through soil science
courses within universities, workshops of soil survey education and
agricultural practices, the connotation of soil science can be passed on within
scientific community and society. On the other hand, instead of digging into
scientific theories, crafts people and artists emphasize the esthetic
properties of soils and visualized pedogenic processes with an intuitive
approach, i.e., utilization as artistic media in visual arts (Toland and
Wessolek, 2014).
The application of soils as pigments in artworks is one of their most
common roles in artistic practices throughout history (van Breemen, 2010). For
instance, Austronesian Taiwanese paint “ipanitika” (a traditional wooden
fishing vessel) is made with autochthonous red soils of the Orchid Island, an
offshore island of Taiwan. In the systematic records of painting materials,
there is a specific database The Color of Art Pigment Database which archived
the Color index Number of all pigments (Gottsegen, 1993). Soil pigments or
earth pigments are classified as nature pigments, which include inorganic
mineral/earth pigments made out of minerals or rocks and organic lake soil
pigments made out of soils which were dyed by biological effects. Usually, the
first code of their color index numbers is N representing the word natural. For
instance, the color index number of NBr8 (Van Dyke Brown) is a brown pigment
made of peat soils (Myers, 2016). Nevertheless, numerous pigments have been
used considerably throughout history which do not use N in their color index
numbers. Some examples include: PW19 (Kaolin) is a white pigment made of
kaolinite, PG23 (Terre Verte) is a green pigment made out of celadonite and
glauconite (both minerals from mica group), PR102 (Terra di Sienna) is a red
pigment made out of soils with high iron oxides level and PY43 (Yellow Ochre)
is a yellow pigment made out of limonite (Myers, 2016).
Dr. Hao-Lun Hung, one of authors in this paper, a local artist and
experienced art educator, has been inspired by the diverse appearance of soils
and created a series of high-chroma soil pigments using soils collected
throughout Taiwan (Fig. 5a). For example, he made a brownish pigment out of
soils with andic soil properties from Yangmingshan National Park, Taipei, a
pale green pigment out of soils with periodic waterlogging from paddy fields in
Ilan, a crimson pigment out of soils with high iron oxides content from a
lowland montane in Nantou, a black pigment out of Mollisols from Taitung. In
addition to his artistic practices, Dr. Hung is also trying to raise awareness
about soils among the university students by giving lectures on how to produce
soil paints for various purposes (e.g., oil painting, watercolor painting, ink
washing painting, Nihonga, pastel painting, and encaustic painting) (Fig. 5b),
and by introducing different visual arts and soil paints along with specific
painting skills (Fig. 5c). For example, the egg tempera, a painting medium
which was prevalent in renaissance period using soils as pigments to provide
colors, can be applied to teach the cross-hatching painting skill. Moreover,
students supervised by Dr. Hung have developed a series of products using soils
as the main ingredient, such as dyes, nail polishes, crayons, and watercolors
basing on their sensory comprehension of soil properties. It is worth
mentioning that the watercolors product “Knowing Our Land And Its Colors“,
which were made out of eight types of soils with different colors collected
around Taiwan, has won the recognition from the Red Dot Award 2021.
Yun-Chu Chen, a local
fabric-dyeing artist, applies Dr. Hung's the knowledge of soil pigments with
resist dyeing techniques such as tie-dye and ikat using rope and/or clips and
created a series of earth-tone soil-dyeing fabric. Through workshops and
lectures of soil art and artistic commodification, contemporary artists invent
innovative approaches to introduce the rich connotation of soil science outside
of scientific community and create the opportunities of social engagement in
soil science education.
