This is the last in a series of stories on NCSSM’s January Term (J-Term), a special four-week break from NCSSM’s usual class schedule that allows students to delve deeply into a project or special interest. This year, nearly 150 courses are offered across the school’s Durham and Morganton campuses and around the world. Opportunities range from intensive lab experiences to classroom explorations and local field trips to travel to places like the western and northern United States, Central and South America, East Asia, the South Pacific, North Africa and Europe.

It was cold out, but the late January sun was shining clear and bright where NCSSM-Morganton junior Levi Peacock sat on one of the long concrete benches in the amphitheater at NCSSM-Morganton. A clear and bright sun was all Levi needed. Resting flat on the concrete beside him was a cyanotype he had just put together a few minutes earlier as part of a J-Term course in Morganton called Light Lab: Cyanotypes & the Chemistry of Sunlight.

A cyanotype is a photographic printing process that, in Levi’s case, uses sunlight and a light-sensitive iron solution (usually ferric ammonium citrate or ferric ammonium oxalate, and potassium ferricyanide) to create images. A surface such as paper is painted with the light-sensitive solution, objects are laid on top of the paper after the “paint” has dried, and then the entire piece is exposed to sunlight which causes the area exposed to the light to assume a beautiful, blue hue. Once the objects are removed from the piece, what’s left is the white impression of those objects. Simple water is used to wash away any remaining chemicals and “fix” the image.

Levi, a resident of Valdese who came to Morganton from East Burke High School, enrolled in the course mainly due to his interest in chemistry. That he could use chemistry to create images was an added bonus.

“I really like chemistry and I’ve always wanted to delve more into the light aspect of it,” he said. “So, I picked this one [but] I didn’t really know that we were doing stuff like this. It’s really cool though.”

Not far away, junior Marlena Cuellar also waited on her cyanotype to dry in the sun. Marlena came to Morganton from Lake Norman High School in Mooresville. Inspired by art and intrigued by what light is and how it works, the course was the perfect combination of her interests. Most appealing, however, was the uncertain nature of the process.

“You can’t really control how the art turns out,” she says of the cyanotype process. “Letting the natural element control the art makes it even more beautiful because you can position things how you want them to be, but you can’t perfect it. It’s one-and-done with the chemical reactions of the sunlight, but I just think that’s beautiful.”

Isaac Stewart, a chemistry teacher at NCSSM-Morganton, led the course. Stewart’s wife is an artist and educator, and through her he became interested in the chemistry behind cyanography. That, combined with an interest in the outdoors, led to the creation of the course.

“One of the things that I think about is where is the intersection of science and nature and of art? And this just kind of fell into that category perfectly.”

Not far away, a number of NCSSM’s students were engaged in another type of creative endeavor in the school’s new pottery studio. Carson Forbes, a junior from the school’s Durham campus, was one of the students getting their hands dirty as part of Morganton’s Handmade Pottery Tableware J-Term, where students get to create functional items for everyday use such as plates and bowls and platters. 

While similar courses were available in Durham, Carson – who came to NCSSM from STEM Early College at NC A&T in Greensboro – wanted to expand his exposure to NCSSM and its students, so he chose to head west from Durham to check out the sister campus.

“It has given me a broader perspective on life,” Carson says of his experience in the foothills. “I’ve met a lot of new people here, and it has been very eye-opening for me as I got to learn a lot more about people from other cultures and people that have different experiences from all over North Carolina.”

While definitely a math and science kind of guy, Carson is also a creative talent who loves to work with his hands, with hobbies that include digital illustration and wood carving. The pottery course provided him with the chance to step back from the robotics and engineering that usually dominate his thoughts and engage in something different.

“I am a lifelong maker,” Carson says. “I’ve been making things since I was three years old, which is probably why I came to NCSSM. I figured, why not explore a different medium for J-Term?”

Like Carson, Morganton senior Griffin Terry – from Hertford County Early College High School in Ahoskie – is a hands-on kind of guy. He’s also an avid outdoor sportsman. The pottery course is a continuation of courses where Griffin got to either spend time outdoors (he did an orienteering class his first year at NCSSM) or create things from scratch in J-Term classes like woodworking with hand tools and glassblowing. 

“I’ve enjoyed J-term a lot,” Griffin says. “I’m a big fan of making stuff for people back at home. In glassblowing I made ornaments for all my grandparents and I made some for my mom and I’m probably going to end up giving some more away as Christmas presents next year. And with the pottery stuff I made some dinner plates for my mom and I made a few other pieces for my grandmother, and in the woodworking one, I made boxes and little things for people to have at home.”

Back by the amphitheater, the sun has finished its magic on Levi’s cyanotype. While some students used flowers, ferns, and feathers to create works almost abstract in nature, Levi chose more practical items: two long, slender straps, and a handful of orthodontic rubber bands. Though not indicative of art in and of themselves, once Levi removed them from the paper, he was left with clear, white imprints upon a field of prussian blue. The small circles where the rubber bands had been create a striking contrast to the sharp, linear edges of the straps. 

The entire creative process was something of a metaphor for the NCSSM experience, and the J-Term experience, neither of which is like anything Levi has ever experienced before. “This,” he says, “is definitely unique to Science and Math.”

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