Painting on a Petri Dish

As a self-proclaimed scientist, I don't usually spend a lot of my brain space on art, especially before this class, though I consider myself kind of versed in art. I mean, I'm not ignorant, I've looked at art.. but not really thought about art. I just had a passive stance, but now I've been really noticing art -- and how it affects things -- more frequently. I was reminded of this fact recently, when a girl whom I work with in lab, was talking about "painting" with RFP (red florescent protein). Shine a UV light on bacteria, and wherever the grow- they light up! She "paints" phylogenetic trees" on petri dishes -- they look so neat! I didn't have a picture of one of her trees, but I did find this picture of a beach!

The artist/scientist, Nathan Shaner, made this "living painting" of San Diego in 2006. He used the E. coli to express florescent proteins GFP, BFP, mTFP1, Emerald, Citrine, mOrange, mApple, mCherry, and mGrape. I think this is a great example of a really unique form of art, it's active art -- transient (those bacteria wont live forever on that plate), sciencey, and all kinds of goodness.

ENJOY!

Final Comments on Visual Essays

I wanted to make a final post on the visual essays that were presented in class; sort of as a before and after. When we were first beginning, like I said in my first post about the visual essays, I was pretty concerned/trepidatious about the whole project in general, how it was going to progress, and how it was going to turn out.

One of the things that was mentioned in another post, and in a response in class was how interesting it was that the projects presented a lot of the same pictures (naturally since we are on Tech's campus), but presented different perspectives of the same element of art: for example the interactive nature as well as the impermanent nature of side walk chalk art around campus. Or, for example, the campanile, and how it was a memorial, or the height of it, et cetera.

The one statue on campus that was highlighted the most, I think, was the statue of Dean Griffin, shown here. I found another picture online, and liked how there was actually an element of visual art in it: someone has put a flower in his breast pocket!

Visual Essay

I am really glad that I signed up on Tuesday -- because I had never had to present a visual essay before, I was really unsure how to even go about it. The "picking your own theme" concept was especially daunting to me! I had no idea how to go about it, but I found that once I started taking pictures and was out in the city, the theme came pretty easily.

I was also worried about the pecha kucha style, too. I tend to talk a lot and in circles, too, and was worried that I was going to talk too much. But, especially after seeing some of the other presentations, I think the pecha kucha style is really effective. My mind tends to wander during presentations, but I was attentive for everyone's presentation, they were short enough to hold my attention. Everyone did a great job on choosing themes, too, and some of the pictures were really nice!

I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the presentations today, and even though I was really unsure about the project in the beginning, I think they're all turning out really well, and I think the assignment is a good one. Really unique, interesting, and informative.

Good luck to everyone who hasn't gone, yet!

This is Not Graffiti

When I was touring around the city looking for good examples of public art and trying to come up with a theme for our projects, I kept coming across buildings (particularly all up and down Ponce) whose owners had commissioned graffiti artists to paint signs on the buildings. The signs for the buildings or advertisements were all done in graffiti-style, but they were clearly something that traditional graffiti is often not: purposeful.

I really enjoyed seeing artists incorporation of their own style into traditional building signs. I feel like it gave all of the buildings I viewed a sense of uniqueness and originality. I even found an old Kodak building whose sign had been painted long long ago!

Public Art - Bellagio Fountains

The Bellagio Fountains

When thinking about public art in class, I was reminded of the Bellagio Fountains in Las Vegas. The whole city is so alive and full of color and light, things to do, things to see. I had seen "water shows" before, but nothing like what the Bellagio puts on (multiple times a day I might add). The way they are able to manipulate technology and water in a way to create such a meaningful display of public art is really awesome. Because they have it all synchronized with music, there is a key auditory component, as well as visual, while integrating within it an additional sense of "performance" art. While many (if not most) things in Vegas can be viewed as public art -- the buildings, shows, performances, light displays -- I think the Bellagio Fountains are one of the most overt displays of public art. If you ever travel there, definitely stop by!

Laranda Photography

Laranda Photography
I'd like to take a moment to completely brag on my little sister.
She's a photographer, and I think she's awesome!
We just got back from spending the weekend at the Georgia Marble Festival, where she had a couple of pieces in a gallery, and where she also sold some prints at a booth. I was helping her "man" the booth all weekend, and it was so much fun. There is so much behind trying to be an "artist" than just doing the art. I never really imagined how much business skill an artist could need.
Anyway, I had a great weekend with her, and I can't wait to see how far she takes her art.

How to Write Consistently Boring...

I have to admit that this past assignment (Rhetorical Analysis of a Painting) was a great deal harder than I anticipated it to be. I took AP English in high school, like most of the class probably did, and I also took English 1101 when I was a second year, but had to withdraw from school.
So, here I am, a FIFTH year in an English 1101 class. At first I thought, Well, I'll be older than most of the other students, and this will be a breeze. I can crank out a paper fast. NOT SO! This was one of the most difficult papers I've written at Tech, EVEN WITH the rough draft process! It made me realize that while I HAVE been spending a great deal of writing, the KIND of writing I've been doing is totally different: scientific writing and lab reports! All past tense! Impersonal. etc. etc. etc. I know a lot of you know what I'm talking about. Anyway, I just wanted to say how funny I thought it was that I had such an unexpectedly hard time cranking out the paper, but it feels good to get that side of my brain working again.
I found a great paper talking about scientific writing, that pretty much summed up how I felt about the whole "art" of it all!
http://192.38.112.111/write/How_write.pdf