This Week in Virology Art

The most recent guest on This Week in Virology (or TWiV) is none other than our own Michele Banks. Michele welcomes host Vincent Racaniello of Columbia University into her home for an extended conversation about the hows and whys of her science-inspired art.

For those of you who are not regular readers of Michele’s Art of Science series, what I have always found fascinating about discussing art and the process of creation with Michele, is her engagement with the current art world and the history of art, with an honesty and clarity that is quite brave – when so many artists armor themselves (like scientists) against public judgment in overly complex jargon.

I can’t send Michele to everyone’s living room to have that conversation with you; but, thanks to TWiV, I can send Michele’s living room to you.


Filed under: The Art of Science Tagged: American Society for Microbiology, Artologica, Linkonomicon, Michele Banks, sciart, This Week in Virology, TWiV, Vincent Racaniello

Art of Science: Send Me to the Arctic, for Science and Art

Help support my art-science residency in Finland and this Reindeer Moss could be yours.

Help support my art-science residency in Finland and this Reindeer Moss could be yours.

I have been writing about the intersection of science and art here at The Finch & Pea for the past 3 years. I’ve been painting cells, bacteria, viruses and more for even longer, but I’ve never had the opportunity to work with real scientists in a lab – until now! I’ve been selected to be the Artist-in-Residence at the Kilpisjärvi Biological Station in Finland in October and November 2015.

This is Kilpisjärvi. Photo by Tea Karvinen

This is Kilpisjärvi. Photo by Tea Karvinen

I’m very excited about this opportunity and I’m asking for your help to make it happen. I just launched an Indiegogo campaign to help pay my expenses for this amazing experience.

Installation view of Culture Dishes at AAAS, 2014

Installation view of Culture Dishes at AAAS, 2014

The Ars Bioarctica Residency Program is a joint project of the Finnish Bioart Society and Kilpisjärvi Biological Station in sub-Arctic Lapland. The residency has an emphasis on the Arctic environment and art-science collaboration. I’ll have access to the station’s lab and equipment and I’ll be working side-by-side with scientists conducting research on vegetation, local fauna, and soil chemistry. izzyscarffinland2Kilpisjärvi’s location near the Arctic Circle puts it on the front lines of climate change, a subject of much of my recent art.

Like most art residencies, this one is unfunded. I hope to raise enough money through Indiegogo to cover my travel and room and board and to buy some art supplies. To thank you for your support, I’ve come up with an array of amazing perks, including a scarf and print based on Reindeer Moss, a lichen native to the region.

There’s lots more information about the residency on my Indiegogo page. Please look, click, spread the word, and support sciart!

UPDATE: As of 5pm on May 14, this project is fully funded! Thank you so much for your support.


Filed under: The Art of Science Tagged: Artologica, IndieGoGo, Kilpisjarvi, Michele Banks, science art

Science Caturday: All the Artz

hoominartMichele is busy this weekend presenting her art to “hoomins” at Artscape (18-20 July in Baltimore). Your regular Science Caturday service will resume next week.


Filed under: Science Caturday Tagged: Art, Artologica, Artscape

Artscape

Screenshot 2014-07-17 22.05.33

If you are in the Baltimore want to see Michele Banks and her fabulous science art in person, you can visit her at Artscape tomorrow through the rest of the weekend (18-20 July). Remember, our artists can’t support themselves.

RYBG Blood Cells by Michele Banks

 


Filed under: The Art of Science Tagged: Artologica, Artscape, Michele Banks

Art in Situ

photo (12)photo (9)We were rehanging some of our art from Michele Banks today. The first is on a wall in our family room. The second is on the wall of our downstairs, guest bathroom, which we just repainted.

Where is yours? You do have some “Artologica” Art, don’t you?

If not, go here as quickly as possible to correct that situation.


Filed under: The Art of Science Tagged: Art, Artologica, etsy, science art

Mitochondrial Royalty

front-matterOur own Michele Banks provided the cover art for a mitochondria themed issue of Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B (B is for Biological Sciences). The Royal Society traces its roots back to 1660. Philosophical Transactions dates back to 1665 and the splitting into and dates to 1887

We could not be prouder of Michele for contributing to the merger of art with this long scientific tradition, nor could we be prouder of the Royal Society for showing excellent taste.


Filed under: The Art of Science Tagged: Artologica, cover art, Michele Banks, mitochondria, Royal Society, The Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B

Happy Birthday, Flying Trilobite & Artologica

©Glendon Mellow. (All Rights Reserved; Used with Permission)

One of my favorite science artists and people, Glendon Mellow, is celebrating his birthday by launching his new website, glendonmellow.com. In addition to being a fabulous artist in a variety of media (including tattoo design), Glendon helps run the Symbiartic blog at Scientific American and is a tireless advocate for both the positive use of art in science communication and supporting the creators of such content.

It is also our own Michele Banks’ birthday. You can celebrate with her by asking her to send you an aesthetically pleasing gift from her Etsy shop. I understand that some of her work from the collaborative art show Voyage of Discovery is being made available too.


Filed under: The Art of Science Tagged: Art, Artologica, Flying Trilobite, Glendon Mellow, Michele Banks, sciart, science art, Scientific American, Symbiartic, voyage of discovery

Must read of the week: For Better Science Meetings, Invite an Artist The Finch and Pea

Art by @artologica in my living room
This is just such a good idea: For Better Science Meetings, Invite an Artist | The Finch and Pea.  Michelle Banks, also known as artologica, writing at The Finch and the Pea, goes through a detailed argument, with examples, of why one should invite artists to science meetings.

I have been inspired by Michele at many meetings.  And I have been inspired by her art with a science theme (see for example the posts listed below).


I have written a bit here and there about the mixing of science and art.  See for example


But if you read one thing about science and art - read Michele's new post.  Or, even better, start inviting artists to any science conference you have any role in.




The Art of Science: A Portrait in Cells

Portrait of a Human, 2011

Portrait of a Human 

In 2011, I was starting to plan for an exhibit at the Cafritz Arts Center in Maryland, based around the theme of cells. I knew that I didn’t want to just paint a bunch of various cells – I wanted to use them to express some thoughts about how humans relate to each other.

In my painting From the Cells to the Stars, I told the story of how my friend Cathy’s bone marrow went bad and stopped producing healthy blood cells. Her illness linked her to Carl Sagan, who had the same disease, Myelodysplastic Syndrome, or MDS.  And as Sagan famously told us, we are all made of star stuff, so we are all connected in that cosmic way.  (I told this story in greater detail here)

This piece, Portrait of a Human, explores that theme of connection from another angle. A lot of art focuses on individuality and personal identity, emphasizing the differences between people.  I wanted to make something that used science to get across the idea of our commonality, how humans, while each unique, are at the same time essentially the same. I did this by painting a series of normal human cells.

In my Portrait of a Human, each of the 16 panels depicts a normal type of cell found in the human body – blood, bone, brain, eye, hair, skin and muscle cells, to name a few.  Only one panel has two cell types – the egg and sperm, which were meeting at the time. I consider this the “baby picture” of my emblematic human.  I could extend this portrait, adding many more cell types. This human could use some kidneys and a digestive system, in particular.  I would also love to paint a similar piece of a human microbiome, but that might fill several galleries.

This picture is of you. Or me. Or your neighbor, or a guy from Uzbekistan that you’ve never met. If you are a generally healthy human being, this is what your cells look like, except that yours are much less colorful. I love that this piece is a self-portrait, as well as a picture of everyone I know, and millions of others that I don’t.  It’s a simple trick of viewpoint: take a step back and see humans as a species, one of many sharing the planet. Or take a step closer and see the cellular characteristics that unite us. Either way, it’s a new look at you.

You can see lots more of my work here.