Rebecca Kamen’s copy of “The Sense of Wonder,” a book published in 1965 by the famous environmentalist Rachel Carson, is unlike any other edition. Its unique quality comes from the inscription inside from her mother and father: “12/18/65. We hope you never lose your sense of wonder.”

Sixty years after receiving that book, it is safe to say Kamen’s sense of wonder remains. The Chestnut Hill resident is a world-renowned sculptor and lecturer whose works are informed by the intersection of art and science.

Her resume includes projects and residencies at esteemed schools and institutions (the Center for Astrophysics at Harvard University, the Kavli Institute at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, National Institutes of Health, and more), exhibitions and lectures around the world (China, Egypt, Spain, Australia, to name a few), and many awards and fellowships (including a Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Professional Fellowship, two Strauss Fellowships, and a travel grant from the Chemical Heritage Foundation).

Kamen is a professor emeritus of art at Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA), where she taught for 35 years. She also currently serves as an artist in residence at the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Pennsylvania.

Mary Grace Wahl, associate director of collections and exhibitions at the American Philosophical Society, collaborated with Kamen in 2023 on a show called “Pursuit & Persistence: 300 Years of Women in Science.”

In an interview with the Local, Wahl praised Kamen’s curiosity. “[Kamen] has no ego,” Wahl said. “She just wants to share the excitement and the wonder of science with everyone. I think the thing about her is that she’s so excited about the unknown and the things we learn and begin to understand about the world. Not everybody appreciates the wonder that is science. She really does.”

‘Not college material’

Kamen grew up in Mt. Airy in a rowhouse on Temple Road and attended Franklin S. Edmonds Elementary School and Germantown High School. She dreamed of attending college, but struggled with her grades and SAT scores. Kamen’s parents convinced her principal to contact Penn State Abington (then called Ogontz), where she was finally accepted on probation. Telling this story now, Kamen smiles.

“I couldn’t even get into Philadelphia Community College,” Kamen said. “My parents never told me this, but [Penn State Abington] called my parents in and said, ‘We don’t know why you’re wasting money on your daughter to go to college. She’s not college material.’ That was not shared with me until I was a college professor.”

Years later — after receiving an art education degree from Penn State because it didn’t require math classes — Kamen discovered the reason behind her academic struggles: dyslexia. The diagnosis was a lightbulb moment. Now, she lectures and advocates for those facing similar challenges, highlighting the unique ways in which neurodivergent brains can process information.

“Bringing things together that might not feel like they connect … that’s the gift of dyslexia,” Kamen said. “This is what ‘isn’t college material’ looks like.”

Overcoming obstacles

Despite her prolific career, Kamen has faced significant obstacles. In addition to her early academic troubles, another challenge arose right before the COVID-19 pandemic. After experiencing sudden vertigo on a visit to Washington, D.C., Kamen was rushed to the hospital, where a CAT scan revealed a brain tumor.

“The brain was something I loved to research, and here I am being told I have a brain tumor,” Kamen recalled. “It was terrifying to say the least.”

After enduring surgery, Kamen thought she was in the clear until roughly a year later, when she felt something on her head. It turned out to be “hardware” poking through the skin. On her birthday, Kamen was wheeled back into the operating room. As a result of that second surgery, she experienced double vision. Rather than wallow over this side effect, Kamen used it as inspiration, completing 30 paintings based on what she saw.

“Every crisis is a potential opportunity,” Kamen said. “Sometimes there are a lot of obstacles that are put in front of us, but I feel that those obstacles enable us to have a vision that we would not under any other circumstance.”

Current endeavors

Kamen’s current project brings her to Westtown School in West Chester as the McLear Artist in Residence. According to Chris Wills, assistant head of school for program and community at Westtown, every year an artist helps develop a project along with the upper grades. The program ends with a spring exhibition.

Kamen’s idea for the residency is based on the work of Barbara McClintock, a Nobel Prize-winning scientist who studied the mosaic color patterns on generations of corn and discovered genes could “jump” to different locations on chromosomes. Wills said this project should inspire students not just to understand the career of an artist, but also gain appreciation for the 600-acre campus.

Wills said, “One of the things I’m really hopeful for is [Kamen] helping to foster connections between students and the land that we have here on campus. Having that deeper sense of groundedness into something that is bigger than the individual. … This is the thing Rebecca said really nicely, ‘We are a part of the natural world and not apart from it.’”

On Sept. 18, Kamen will also receive an Alumni Award from the College of Arts and Architecture at Penn State University.

“I am just floored and humbled,” Kamen said.

A sense of wonder

On a recent day in Chestnut Hill — a community Kamen “loves” — she ran into a group of local fourth graders and their teacher walking to a poetry reading at Hilltop Books. Kamen’s sense of wonder prevailed; she asked to join.

“I lecture about it now; it was that moving. I love the fact that you can just be out in your neighborhood, in Chestnut Hill, walking down a hill, and run into a group of young people, the future of our world, and they’re poets,” Kamen said. “I wanted these students to see what’s possible. Even just walking down the street, you never know how your life can change.”

Learn more at rebeccakamen.com. Maggie Dougherty can be reached at Margaret@chestnuthilllocal.com.