Friday Inspiration - Bioartography

I'm always fascinated by artwork that re-creates scientific work.  The meeting of art and science seems like such a good fit - both fields work at interpreting our world, explaining how it works, and looking at our human experiences.  So when I found the Bioartography website, I was very excited!

Bioartography is a program out of the University of Michigan's Center for Organogenesis, bringing together scientists from different fields to work together studying organ formation, function, and disease.  Sounds pretty straight forward medical to this point, doesn't it?  In the process of these studies, tissue is examined microscopically, sometimes with various stains to highlight certain areas.  While the aim is scientific, the resulting images can be quite beautiful.  The Bioartography program makes high quality copies of these images and sells the prints as fine art, with proceeds supporting research.  Their website has gorgeous images - and you can read about what the image is and what type of research is being done.  And buy images, if you should so desire!

These images would have been enough to make my day, but on top of that, a group of fiber artists (Fiber Artists @Loose Ends) took twelve images and interpreted them through quilting, embroidery, dye, thread painting ... you name it.  Below, I have one example to whet your curiosity - be sure to look at the exhibit's website to see the other eleven.  And then look around and see what might inspire you to create art!

Thistle by Maria Morrell, Phd

To the right is a micrograph of neural stem cells from research by Maria Morrell, PhD.  Dr. Morrel is studying the potential for neural stem cells repair after central nervous system injury.

Thistle by Barbara Hollinger

Fiber artist Barbara Hollinger was inspired by the micrograph to create a piece from multiple layers of sheer fabric, threads, and dye, capturing flashes of color and light as electricity pulses between the neural cells.







Happy Creating!  Deborah