SCIENCE AND ART

A CLOSE ALLIANCE 
Art and Science

Earth's Atmosphere has little friction which allows stars and planets to move freely along their path….from google image, for education only

I have always thought music and math had an affinity for one another and visual art was more closely aligned with science.  Dali thought so as well.  He met often with the brightest scientific minds of his day.  He was mesmerized with the concept of DNA.  The new Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida has stairs that are designed after a helix.

Dali Museum, St. Petersburg, Florida

Originally there were to be a double helix, but the building design did not allow for it.  The building it self is a hexagon. The same architectural firm that designed the triangle addition to the Louvre. 
For more information on Dali and the Dali Museum contact Peter Tush, Education Director.

Dali Museum with Hexagon Shapes on outside of building

A celestial storm                        from google image for education only

My Mother was a science teacher and I think it was her love of nature and science that influenced me to become an artist.

She taught us about the constellations, fossils, and the call of birds.  We opened geodes to find the crystalline beauty within, and we pieced together bones of ancient peoples who once lived on the coastal regions of Florida.  

Geodes like the ones we found on Ballest Point, Tampa

We looked through microscopes 
a
and telescopes to learn about the world around us. We had chemistry kits, and made light come alive without plugs, and volcanoes erupt with baking soda, and learned how apples

and onions can taste alike if ones nose is pinched. Life was a constant wonder and the exploration of our world fascinating.  I think growing up with my Mother was like one big science class in continual flux. 

The beauty of the world under the microscope…

Even the most deadly of diseases can look beautiful under the microscope  from google of education only

I ran across this article on the contribution of artists to science and found it very interesting…here is a section for you to read below for the full article just hit link.  It is a wonderful piece about the value of art to science.
The Contribution of the Artist to the Scientific Visualization

a paper given by Vibeke Sorensen

in a talk at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California 1987

"An artist is many things, but generally it could be said that artists are individuals who are working towards a deeper understanding go the world in and around them.  Artists are acutely sensitive to the environment, organizers of large amounts of data into an aesthetic expression of his or her world.  Artists are the explainers and representers, pattern matchers, people who find unusual relationships between events and images.  Artists are creative interdisciplinarians.  They rework and integrate information subject to functions and tests, render or give data shape, express essence and make clear.  They help us to see in new ways and understand that which is difficult to see, making the invisible visible.

Artists are idea people, creators, and conceptualizers, predictors, people with ideas connected to the future.  They are people who create something completely original and new, something beyond the known boundaries of the information base.  By using or inventing tools, they show new uses and applications that synergize and synthesize fields.  Artist push the limits of technologies, bringing them to previously unattained goals.  They see the next steps, make leaps, put together elements in new and powerful ways.

Artists are bridges to the rest of the world. They understand perception and know how to communicate information.  They know the technologies and language of media.  Their work is linked to the general population as their inventions and ideas translate directly, often seen as improvements in understanding and the quality of life, improvements upon less efficient and more laborious methods of working, becoming mainstream as society discovers their work and catches up."

I can also remember when I was first introduced to the Scientific Method and thought someone had handed me a key to the universe! I thought oh what a practical way to make sense of solving any problems or questions one has.  It occurred to me how similar it is to the artistic process. 

The exploration of our world our space, the sensitivity to all of its nuances and connection make science and art natural partners. Check out the first link I provided for you on artists who use science in their work and then for fun track the space station live as it moves around the Earth!

Below are two sites for you to enjoy..one links you to artist using science in art work and the other to the Space Station live as it rotates around the world.

Artists who Use Science in Their Work 

The Space Station Live.  

LANDFILL GAS TO RUN KILNS!? CRAZY SMART!

GREEN ART STUDIO'S? YES, I MEAN GREEN, ECO FRIENDLY KINDA GREEN!!

 EnergyXchange Studio's                  Google

In Western North Carolina there is a unique art studio that is built on a land fill and utilizes the land fill gas for firing its kilns.  The concept seems like science fiction, or the future coming true far sooner than we would believe.  These "crazy out of box thinking" artists have come up with an impossible idea and made it work.

Kiln firing with landfill gases               Google image  

Yancey and Mitchell counties are two of the most rural counties in North Carolina.  There are many areas of note; Penland School of Arts and Craft, Maryland Community College and Mount Mitchell, the highest peak East of the Mississippi River.

from google image

 
There was a landfill in the area that was closed in 1994.  It seemed like a good idea to figure out how to make use of the potential energy so local leaders researched ideas for possible use.  They created the EnergyXchange which is a craft incubator studio that supports development of artists and greenhouses that cultivate endangered flora while using the landfill gas..more on this article.

This article makes one think of all the possibilities that are out there, what else that could be done, it the right leadership, creativity and visionary minds come together. What could be done in your area, how could we re-use our waste, our thrown away products and goods, and how can we use the Earth's energy that would other wise be wasted?  Creative individuals like artists can think and brain storm like no one else, so a partnership with science and engineers would make a winning team would it not?

Joy Tanner   Tea Pot    EnergyXchange Studio's

What are your ideas?  How can we be smarter about energy and support the arts at the same time?  Post your ideas here under comment or send to me at Rabbits5@aol.com and I will post them for you.  Lets come with more solutions like the EnergyXchange!

THE DNA OF ART

WHERE ART AND SCIENCE MEET

Leonardo Da Vinci      from google for educational purposes only

Artists have used science and science has used art for hundreds of years, it is almost a symbiotic relationship. We just are not always aware that is so and has been so for ions.  

Leonardo Da Vinci invented not only the thought processes that led to helicopters, airplanes, machine guns and other technology, but he also invented techniques and applications of art that were new to his time. Have you ever noticed when you view the Mona Lisa she seems to follow you where ever you are standing in the room? It is the way in which he painted her eyes that helped achieve that end. Sfmato was another technique Leonardo invented, which blurs the background to the image. His use of complex perspective allowed us to see art more dimensionally that we ever had previously.  Have you ever noticed how Dali used the double helix in his symbology in his paintings. Dali was friends with the brightest scientific geniuses of his time.   Paints in tubes took artists outdoors and enabled them to do plein air painting for the first time.  New paints changed the color pallet artist had available. 

To See a time line of art innovations click below
Time Line of New Techniques in Art...read more(<click here)

• ARTIST WHO USES DNA TO PRODUCE PORTRAITS!

Dewey-Hagborg’s odd habit has a larger purpose. The 30-year-old PhD student, studying electronic arts at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, extracts DNA from each piece of evidence she collects and enters this data into a computer program, which churns out a model of the face of the person who left the hair, fingernail, cigarette or gum behind.

Dewey  Hagborg Dna portraits    from google for educational purposes only

It gets creepier.

From those facial models, she then produces actual sculptures using a 3D printer. When she shows the series, called “Stranger Visions,” she hangs the life-sized portraits, like life masks, on gallery walls. Oftentimes, beside a portrait, is a Victorian-style wooden box with various compartments holding the original sample, data about it and a photograph of where it was found.

Read more: http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/artscience/2013/05/creepy-or-cool-portraits-derived-from-the-dna-in-hair-and-gum-found-in-public-places/#ixzz2SLyqjN62 
Follow us: @SmithsonianMag on Twitter

Solar 3D Printing with Sand

This is amazing to watch and this new technology will offer artists a new pallet to create upon.  When science and art meet it is always an exciting event.

I can only imagine what sculptures, installations, and movie sets will come from this. If you are an artist, how would you use this new idea?

The Man Who Controlled the Weather: ART AND SCIENCE

 Berndnaut Smilde 

Recently a friend sent me a forward about an artist that I was not aware of, who had created a cloud in his studio.  By controlling humidity and temperature in a controlled environment Berndnaut was able to create a cloud that was sustainable.  Now this brings up the relationship that I have thought about all my years as an artist, that of science and art.  First lets look closer at Berndnaut and his art work. Below is a video from you tube that shows his process of creating and documenting a cloud as art work.  It is fascinating to watch.  

from you tube

Smilde is interested in the transient nature of things which he documents through photography. He uses a fog machine and moisture and lighting to create a floating cloud indoors. 

“I imagined walking into a museum hall with just empty walls. The place even looked deserted. On the one hand I wanted to create an ominous situation. You could see the cloud as a sign of misfortune. You could also read it as an element out of the Dutch landscape paintings in a physical form in a classical museum hall" 

Smilde Berndnaut      Creation of a Cloud                                                   from  google image for educational purposes only

I have long thought as an art teacher and artist that there is a direct correlation between science and art, as there is with music and mathematics.  I think my own interest in art came from my Mother who was a science teacher and creative thinker.  The scientific theory calls for experimentation and inquisitive thinking.  I can remember in middle school when I was introduced to the scientific theory, it was like a magic formula to me.  I thought with this I can do anything, it makes so much sense.  As an artist I discovered the artistic process is identical..it calls for discover, experimentation, and trial and error.  If one thinks about it art and science are natural compatibles...color theory in art and science, how light effects color, the chemical make up of the world and materials, the re-creation of visual elements, the creation of the idea of perspective, and the experimentation of thought processes in a visual way.

Dali was friends with the most accomplished scientists of his day.  His art often includes scientific theory and thought.  The double helix is in many of his works of art and the inner design of the stairs at the new Dali Museum in Florida.  

Photo by Elizabeth Gordon    Dali Museum,  St. Petersburg, Florida

photo by Elizabeth Gordon             Dali Museum