 Hi, I'm Maureen Feynman. I'm an associate research professor in the Department of Geosciences at Penn State. Hi, I'm Heather McEwen-Broon. I'm an assistant teaching professor in the Department of Art History at Penn State. So a couple of years ago, Penn State started a new general education initiative where they asked the faculty to come together for integrative studies in general education. So bringing together inter-domain learning, for example, bringing together arts and sciences. And shortly thereafter, I got a phone call from Heather McEwen-Broon sitting next to me here who asked if I would be interested in putting together a class where we took rocks and minerals and geosciences and art history and looked at how the two really kind of evolved together. And she kind of brought me in by telling me an interesting story about a trip she took with her family. So for me, the inspiration for this course ultimately came from a family trip to Utah. And you'll get to see a larger version of this image on your screen. We went to Dinosaur National Monument, which is kind of on the border of northern Utah and Colorado. And I was really interested in seeing the fossils there. But what I didn't know until we got there was that it's also a really important site for Native American rock art. So there are pictographs and petroglyphs. And some of these are painted. Some of them are sort of carved into the walls. And when I looked at them, I had this incredible aha moment because I realized that all around me in the landscape were the materials that were used for painting the painted images. I was seeing ochre all around on the ground. And because of my experience with art history, I knew it was an important material. But this was the first time I'd ever seen the work and the material right there. And so I came back and I was looking for a way that I could work on this. The new mandate for general education came along. And so I spent a little bit of time combing through the Geosciences website until I found some candidates of faculty members who looked like they might be interested in a collaboration. And I was lucky that Maureen answered the phone. So Heather and I met for coffee and we shared some stories and ideas about some of our favorite rocks and minerals, some of our favorite artworks and places. And from there we began to lay out the design for this class, which you are about to embark upon with us. So welcome to Art History 107, also Geosciences 107, Rocks, Minerals, and the History of Art. I hope you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed making it.