Melanie K

Review: Cyanotype Kits

2012-02-07T12:04:00.000-08:00

Over the past few months, I have tested two different cyanotype products and wanted to share the results.
A cyanotype is a cameraless photographic printing technique (similar to the photogram) which results in a blue and white print.

The artists Elin O'Hara Slavick and Carrie Witherell inspired me to use this technique, as they have produced some beautiful work.

Carrie Witherell

Elin O'Hara Slavick

My first opportunity to make a cyanotype arose when I discovered Sunography paper, which is pre-primed paper ready to expose with sunlight.

I was not impressed with the Sunography paper for a few reasons:

- It cost £12 for six small sheets of paper.

- The paper was rubbish quality, and fell apart during a wash (which is necessary to fix the image).

- The instructions told me to expose my print to sunlight for up to half an hour at the most, which was misleading as it depends on the brightness of each day. To get a successful print, I judged the development by eye and ended up leaving my print in the sunlight for around three hours.

This paltry image is my best result from the Sunography paper kit. You can see that the paper has a similar texture to that of a paper towel!

I wasn't ready to give up, so I made a visit to Silverprint in London to buy the Silverprint Cyanotype Kit.

The kit comes with:

- specialized Arches Platine art paper.
- a foam coating brush.
- protective vinyl gloves.
- a black storage bag to keep paper away from ultraviolet light.
- a storage box which also doubles up as a tray for mixing chemicals / washing the paper to fix.
- 2 vials of Potassium Ferricyanide and 2 vials of Ferric Ammonium Citrate, which are already measured and ready to mix with water.
- Easy step by step instructions.

Cyanotypes are a great alternative to photograms, as you have much more control over the exposure to light. The preparation of the paper can be done using most interior lighting, as cyanotypes are exposed with ultraviolet light. Ultraviolet light usually only comes from the sun, unless you have your own ultraviolet light.
(I purchased a range of UV torches from ebay to experiment with)

I was very impressed with my Silverprint cyanotype compared to the Sunography paper, the development time seemed to be quicker, the hue was more intense and the paper was of a much better quality.

(This cyanotype was made using paint, soap bubbles and a petri dish.)

Overall, I think it's worth paying the extra money for the Silverprint Cyanotype Kit over the Sunography Paper . The quality of the prints are far superior and you have the freedom to make more than six prints, at any size you like!

Visit: Leonardo Da Vinci: Painter At The Court Of Milan at The National Gallery, London

2012-02-07T09:49:00.000-08:00

Last month, I was lucky enough to attend Leonardo da Vinci's Technical Practice conference at The National Gallery in London.

The conference lasted for two days, and I learned much about how new technologies are being used in the conservation of art. Using infrared and ultraviolet technology, conservation experts can detect minute details embedded in the work. For example, the specialists have discovered additional layers of paint, punctures, fingerprints, original drawing lines, stress from movement etc.

The Original "Madonna of the Yarnwinder"

Infrared Reflectography

Ultraviolet Analysis

(Pictures from Universal Leonardo)

In the National Gallery, the original painting did not seem to show much sign of ageing, so it is incredibly fascinating to see these images where you can see evidence of deterioration and subsequent restoration.
The infrared reflectography and ultraviolet views of "The Madonna of the Yarnwinder" seem quite ghostly, which is apt considering how many centuries have passed since Leonardo da Vinci painted the originals.

In the "Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan" exhibition, a quote from Leonardo da Vinci had been painted on the wall:

"Timewill destroy the harmony of human beauty in a few years, but thisdoes not occur with such beauty imitated by the painter, because timewill long preserve it, and the eye – will derive as much pleasurefrom depicted beauty as from the living."

During the technical conference, I wondered whether Leonardo da Vinci had intended for his paintings to be conserved for so many centuries but it is clear that the artist placed a value in longevity.

Interestingly, the anatomical drawings in the collection at The National Gallery had been allowed to decay, presumably as it is harder to restore drawings. Personally, I think there is a certain beauty to art which has been left to age. The cracks and discolourations map the passage of time.

The "Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan" exhibition at The National Gallery has been very popular, so many people have arrived at the gallery unable to get tickets.

However, there is an upcoming exhibition at The Queens Gallery at Buckingham Palace which will display Leonardo Da Vinci's anatomical drawings from May 2012.
The anatomical drawings on show are evidence of a passionate drive towards the search for scientific knowledge through art practice, so the exhibition will be a great alternative for those who have missed out.

Artist: Karina Smigla-Bobinski // Kinetic Drawing Sculpture

2012-01-04T06:05:00.000-08:00

Every once in a while, I come across a piece of work which blows me away.
The kinetic drawing sculpture that Karina Smigla-Bobinski has devised seems to me as a stroke of genius.
The concept at once seems obvious, yet none of us had thought of it.

A bespoke floating orb filled with helium has been embedded with charcoal sticks and left to float around in a pure white room.
As the sphere travels around the room reacting to the immediate environment, the sphere begins to scrape against the wall, leaving marks.

This work can not be described solely as a sculpture or a drawing
Interestingly, it seems to me that the work is an experiment of neither art nor science, floating somewhere in-between the two.

This is the kind of work which inspires me greatly, the art work is all at once playful, experimental and interactive.

Artist: Étienne Léopold Trouvelot // 19th Century Drawings Compared To Present-Day Photographs

2011-12-20T07:12:00.000-08:00

I have recently discovered the astronomical drawings of Étienne Léopold Trouvelot.

Trouvelot made a living as a portrait artist, but became increasingly interested in astronomy when sketching and observing the aurora borealis.

The Aurora Borealis.

The quality of these drawings caught the attention of the astronomers at Harvard University, who then invited Trouvelot to use their telescopes. In total, Trouvelot completed 7,000 drawings in fine detail.

These astronomical drawings were mostly completed between the years of 1870 and 1885, so I thought it would be interesting to compare what Trouvelot saw to the photographs we have now.

A drawing of the Orion Nebula.

The Orion Nebula as photographed by NASA.

The Milky Way as seen from earth.

The Milky Way photographed by Tom Lowe: Astronomy Photographer Of The Year 2010

Trouvelot's drawing of Jupiter.

Jupiter as photographed by NASA

Trouvelot's drawing of Saturn

Saturn, photographed by NASA.

A total eclipse of the Sun.

A total eclipse of the Sun, photographed by Michael Kobusch.

Sun spots as discovered by Trouvelot.

Active Region 1302 photographed by Alan Friedman.

It is interesting to compare these, as you can see where Trouvelot has added artistic flourishes.

The Trouvelot drawings fascinate me for this reason, the drawings are not true copies and light is portrayed as being quite linear.

However, the artist impressed astronomers enough to have a crater on the moon named after him!

If you consider photographs of such phenomena taken in the same time period, you begin to see why. This is the first photograph of the Orion Nebula taken in 1880 by Professor Henry Draper:

Three years later, using a long exposure, Henry Draper improved his photograph of the Orion Nebula:

The Trouvelot drawings were very up to the minute at this time, his work celebrates an era of astronomical discovery.

Slime Moulds // Heather Barnett

2011-11-30T07:28:00.001-08:00

Last week, the artist Heather Barnett came to Central St Martins to talk about her work with slime moulds.

We were introduced to her work and taught how to look after our own Slime Mould pets.

Unfortunately, my slime mould pet died instantly after an incident on the central line, which was a real shame as I was looking forward to nurturing it.

Potentially, I could have nurtured my slime mould to grow and survive for months, feeding it carbohydrates and keeping it in a dark, damp environment.

I could have conducted experiments to see which food the slime mould prefers.

This is a time lapse video which Heather Barnett made to experiment with the likes and dislikes of the slime mould.

If my slime mould had survived, I could have set a maze for the slime mould to complete.

The slime mould figures out the fastest possible route between food sources, after exploring each possible direction.

Efficiency in nature has become interesting to me as I continue to study soap bubbles and films.

Soap bubbles are similar to the slime mould if you consider efficiency, soap bubbles use the least amount of surface area in an enclosed shape (a sphere).

Both soap films and slime moulds have been known to find the quickest point from A to B, when simulating road networks.

Slime Mould Road Simulation

Soap Film Road Simulation

Interestingly, slime moulds are considered to have memory, learning to stay away / retreat from threats.

These intelligent organisms are fascinating insights in to how nature can work to achieve maximum efficiency as an end result.

Pictures by Anita, Slime mould made by Heather Barnett.

Here are some pictures taken from Slimoco, the Slime Mould collective website, where you can learn to make your own slime mould and share your experiments.

F Yeah Art & Science

2011-11-30T07:06:00.001-08:00

Analogue experimental light photography by Reciprocity on Flickr.

If you have a Tumblr account, you should follow F Yeah Art & Science, an instant way of sharing inspiring Art & Science happenings.

Artist: Pierre Cordier // Chemigram

2011-11-17T07:01:00.001-08:00

Pierre Cordier is the inventor of the "Chemigram" and a Cliche Verre practitioner.

Cordiers' definition of "Chemigram" means "to write with chemistry".

To make a Chemigram you would paint with various chemicals (Cordier used nail polish, egg, varnish, wax and oil amongst other materials), expose to light and then develop as usual.

(When using this technique myself, I found painting directly on to photosensitive paper to be problematic, as the developing chemicals get muddy. Painting on to a transparent material first would prevent this.)

The chemigram has such artistic potential, so many materials could be used to paint with.
Additionally, the painting does not need to be "stuck", a transparent container could be used to try lots of compositions with interesting chemicals.

The V&A has published a great video about Pierre Cordier and his invention, as he was part of the "Shadow Catchers" exhibition.

It is interesting to learn that though the photography world welcomed Cordier with open arms, he is still yet to be accepted as a painter.

Artist // Courtney Johnson // Contemporary Cliché Verre

2011-11-17T06:13:00.001-08:00

Cliché Verre is a traditional photography technique, where an artist usually draws upon a transparent plate (usually glass) and then exposes the result on to photographic paper.
The process of Cliché Verre straddles the boundary between photography and printmaking.

One of the most famous Cliché Verre practitioners is Camille Corot, and this is one of her prints from 1854 "Le Songeur". source.
This process has decreased in popularity since the 19th century, but it is great to see that contemporary artists are still using this technique.

Courtney Johnson has re-invented this technique for the 21st century; the artist paints on to glass, scans in the glass plate as a negative, and then prints the final piece as a photographic image.

In context, the work describes a transition of time. As time passes landscapes change, country-scapes become city-scapes. Land is bought and built upon. The re-working of the traditional Cliché Verre technique using technological advancement just serves to highlight the passage of time.

Photography was once described as the "handmaiden of science" and was once disregarded as a valid art form, due to its technicalities. The advent of the Industrial Revolution was seen as "soulless", so art-forms born out of new scientific discoveries were dismissed.

Thankfully, photography is now widely accepted as an art form, but it does prove that the history of art, science and photography is a long and complicated one.

Artist: Dev Harlan // Projection & Geometric Sculptures

2011-11-09T07:46:00.000-08:00

Dev Harlan has combined sculpture and projection to create these fantastic installations.

The sculptures that Harlan creates are both virtual and physical, 2-dimensional yet 3-dimensional.

Dev Harlan - "Parmenides I", 2011 from Dev Harlan on Vimeo.

Harlan experiments with interesting geometric shapes, including the penrose triangle.
The penrose triangle is used in Dev Harlan's work as the artist is inspired by the importance of alignment.
To view the penrose triangle as intended, you must face the sculpture head on.

Facing the sculpture from any other angle, you will not benefit from the illusion. Here is a photograph of a penrose triangle sculpture in East Perth, Australia, viewed from the "wrong" angle.

The artist likens the alignment of the sculpture and viewer, to alignment of planets. To view a full eclipse, we must be in exactly the right orbit for the moon to block light from our sun.

Harlan's multi-disciplinary approach as an artist is also mirrored in his interest in the sciences, exploring ideas of multi-dimensions, optical illusions and the orbits of our solar system.

Artist: Luke Jerram // Tōhoku Japanese Earthquake Sculpture

2011-11-08T11:43:00.000-08:00

I always find it interesting to see how other artists interpret scientific data.

For example, I recently wrote an entry on Omid Kashan who designed a timeline for the universe, which was then featured on the Information Is Beautiful website.

The work of Luke Jerram is similarly exciting. Jerram has analysed the seismograph from the recent earthquake in Japan and has represented the graph 3-dimensionally.

The sculpture was made by designing the sculpture on a 3-D rapid prototyping machine.

Jerram has recently been involved with virologists at the University Of Bristol, which led to the design of glass microbiology sculptures.

These glass sculptures will be exhibited at GV Art in London from the 2nd of December 2011 until the 18th of February 2012. Click here to download a PDF of the event.

Artist: Karl Blossfeldt

2011-11-08T10:47:00.000-08:00

Recently, I have been inspired by the work of Karl Blossfeldt.

The images you see here are magnified photographs of real plants.

Karl once said:

"The plant never lapses into mere arid functionalism; it fashions according to logic and suitability, and with its primeval force compels everything to attain the highest artistic form".

source

Karl collected botanical specimens throughout his life time, and was keen to photograph the plants in a way that expressed integral structure and natural forms. Blossfeldt photographed nothing but plants for 35 years, now that's focus!

The photographs are a great botanical learning tool, yet are strangely beautiful and compelling.
Personally, I could imagine some of these photographs re-interpreted into sculptures and placed on a Tim Burton animation set.

Artist: Daniel Rozin // Dark Matters, The Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester

2011-11-08T09:41:00.000-08:00

This weekend I went to visit my home city of Manchester, and was intrigued by the title of the exhibition "Dark Matters" at The Whitworth Art Gallery.
I have just finished reading "The 4% Universe" by Richard Panek which explores the idea of dark matter and dark energy within our universe.

The artist Daniel Rozin absolutely steals the show as the first "Dark Matters" exhibit you see on entering, is "Snow Mirror". Silk thread hangs from the ceiling and gives the impression of pretty fairy lights, it is only when you face the installation that you see yourself mirrored in the thread.

I was impressed to say the least, but my mind was blown to pieces when I saw "Peg Mirror" in the next room.

There is a camera placed in the centre of the "mirror", and the pegs oscillate to imitate the surroundings.
I can't begin to understand how Daniel Rozin has created these amazing installations, and for that reason I am absolutely fascinated with them.

If you're in Manchester before the 15th of January 2012, you should definitely check out this exhibition! If not, check out Daniel Rozin's website.

Artists: Ken & Julia Yonetani // Sugar & Salt Sculptures

2011-10-25T03:38:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, MA Art & Science took a trip to GV Art London to meet the artists Ken & Julia Yonetani and to see the "Sense Of Taste" exhibition.

"Sweet Barrier Reef"

A sculpture inspired by coral reef, made from sugar.

"Still Life"

Still life sculptures made from salt.

The exhibition title "Sense Of Taste" originates from the 17th century when explorers first set out to new lands, and brought back with them exotic new foods to the European upper class, thus starting the food importing industry. Paintings of exotic food in the still life style demonstrated wealth and extravagance.

Today, the food industry is booming and we take exotic foods for granted. We can have almost any food that we desire, and our culture is increasingly becoming addicted to sugar.

Unfortunately, harvesting sugar has an ecological impact and this has led to coral reef bleaching. Nitrogen, phosphorous and herbicides are released in to the river flow, and when this reaches the coral reef, it covers the organism and suffocates it.

On the flip side, salt can be similarly destructive to ecosystems (this is a natural occurence but is worsened by global warming). The food industry in Australia has installed pumps to divert salt water away from crops, so this is almost an exact opposite to the sugar industry problem. In this instance, the ecosystem is attacking the food industry!

The ongoing project that Ken & Julia Yonetani is interesting from an ecological perspective, but still maintains a high level of material knowledge and serene beauty. For example, the salt casting process is the artists own invention, a solution of their own invention, made when collaborating with an engineer specializing in eco-cement. The finished material is smooth and pristine-white, and can be cast in fine detail.

Sugar-craft is fairly common in decorative foods and in art (I have created sugar pigeons, for example, from following a sugar-glass tutorial on youtube), but it is very challenging to create something so beautiful and on such a large scale.

The Bubble Nebula // NGC 7635

2011-10-25T02:39:00.000-07:00

When reading Hubble: A Journey Through Space and Time the other day, I was astonished to discover that that a bubble nebula exists in the constellation Cassiopeia.

Source

The bubble has formed due to extreme stellar winds and radiation from a nearby star which is 10 times more massive than our sun. This means that the bubble itself is six light years across, that is one big bubble!

I was excited by this discovery, as I have been working with soap bubbles in my art work for about a year now. I'm interested in the universality of roundness from the micro to the macro, so of course, bubbles fascinated me for this reason.

This is a photogram I made from blowing soap bubbles on to photo-sensitive paper and exposing the paper to light for 4 seconds. The result looks astonishingly like a far-away galaxy.

I have made lots of posts on soap bubbles in art and science, here is a directory of bubble-related entries:

"Bubbles" / "A Child's World" by Sir John Everett Millais

How To Make A Photogram With Soap Bubbles

Artist: Kim Pimmell / / Soap Bubbles & Ferrofluid

Artist: Jane Thomas // Soap Bubble Experimentation

Artist: Richard Heeks // Soap Bubble Planet Photographs

Nature.com // Hurricanes On A Soap Bubble

Do Bubbles Freeze? // Emmanuel Coupe

Living Inside Your Own Bubble

BBC: Bubbles In Space

Melanie K's Bubble Planet

Artist : Pery Burge // Inksplosions & Bubbles

Soap Bubble Popping In Slow Motion

Artist: Tomas Saraceno // Bubble Sculptures

Artist: Simon Thomas // Studies Of The Soap Bubble

Bubble-Smith Sterling Johnson

Artist: Reuben Margolin // Kinetic Wave Sculptures

2011-10-24T07:49:00.000-07:00

Reuben Margolin creates sculptures that are inspired by waves in the natural world i.e. ripples on the surface of water, the movement of caterpillars, the wings of birds.
The sculptures are finely engineered, and are complex to make. If one component of the machine does not work, the entire movement of the sculpture will come to a halt.

For me, Margolin captures the elegance of the natural world, which comes from a true understanding of science and nature. Margolin draws a series of equations accompanied by sketches of his final piece, it is hard to understand where the art ends and the science starts.

The Fibonacci Sequence: Mathematics, Nature & Art

2011-10-23T21:00:00.000-07:00

In the first year of my degree at Leeds College Of Art, one of my coursemates introduced me to the Fibonacci sequence.

My friend was fascinated with the Fibonacci sequence, as this mathematical pattern occurs in nature.

I won't write in too much depth about the Fibonacci sequence, as my understanding came ultimately from pictures and diagrams.

Fibonacci Sequence In Numerical Form

0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233, 377, 610, 987

Fibonacci Numbers Placed In Diagram

If you were to draw a line from between these squares in numerical order, you would then create a spiral.

Fibonacci In Nature

The fibonacci spiral is clearly seen in this cross cut of a shell.

You can also see a fibonacci spiral looking directly on top of a pine cone or the fruit spouts of a pineapple.

Here's a fibonacci spiral you can witness right now, by merely looking closely at your finger tips.

This discovery has made my every-day experiences much more profound, and it has the same effect on mathematicians, scientists and artists alike.

For a regular dose of fibonacci inspiration, I follow Fuck Yeah Fibonacci. This page has some great art and photographs, here are some of my favourites:

This is a 1985 artwork from the artist Andy Goldsworthy:

There is also evidence of Fibonacci in Hokusai's "Great Wave".

Keep your eye out!

M. C. Escher , Michio Kaku & A Little Bit Of Muse

2011-10-23T09:00:00.000-07:00

As an AS Level art student, I was introduced to the work of M. C. Escher and he quickly became my favourite artist. Aesthetically, I am a big fan of monochrome and bright popping colours, but I was also intrigued by the skill of his drawing. How do the tessellations fit together, for example?
I can barely draw tessellations of squares!

My interest has always stayed quite strong, though I am becoming more intrigued by the work of Escher as I read Hyperspace by Michio Kaku.

For example, Michio Kaku starts "Hyperspace" by sharing a story from his childhood.

"I remember that my parents would sometimes take me to visit the famous Japanese Tea Garden in San Francisco. One of my happiest childhood memories is of crouching next to the pond, memorised by the brilliantly coloured carp swimming slowly beneath the water lilies.

In these quiet moments, I felt free to let my imagination wander. I would ask myself silly questions that only a child might ask, such as how the carp in that pond would view the world around them. I thought, What a strange world theirs must be!

Living their entire lives in the shallow pond, the carp would believe that their "universe" consisted of murky water and the lilies. Spending most of their time foraging on the bottom of the pond, they would be only dimly aware that an alien world could exist above the surface.

The nature of our world was beyond their comprehension. I was intrigued that I could sit only a few inches from the carp, yet be separated from them by an immense chasm. The carp and I spent our lives in two distinct universes, never entering each other's world, yet were separated by only the thinnest barrier, the water's surface."

Michio Kaku then goes on to explain how rain would feel to the carp. The force of the rain drops would disturb the environment of the pond, and the carp would believe that the lilies could move without being touched. Similarly, we may see evidence of forces around us, but not understand their origin.

Kaku then suggests that a human could pull a carp from the "universe" of the pool, and the carp will have experienced a new "universe". Similarly, if there is a fifth dimension, it may be possible that we may be able to experience it by being pulled up out of it.

This image was designed by Escher to make us think of dimensions; beneath the water, the surface on which the leaves are resting, and the reflection of the trees above.
However, with the addition of Michio Kaku's carp theory, the image has new meaning to me.

I began reading "Hyperspace" as I found out that it was the book that inspired Muse to call their 2nd album "Origin Of Symmetry". I hoped that the book could inspire me in my art work, but I didn't know that it would enlighten my understanding of Eschers work!

Artist Interview: Joanna Rose Tidey

2011-10-18T15:49:00.000-07:00

I became inspired by the work of Joanna Rose Tidey after visiting the Cultivate Gallery, in Vyner St, London.

What kind of materials do you use and why?
Recently I have been using nature itself in the form of insects and their produce. I feel that I need to witness and observe to gain a greater understanding. You can only read so much from text alone.

Have you always had an interest of nurturing ducks and silk worms? Where did this interest come from?

I suppose my interest in ducks came from buying ducklings at a pet shop whilst buying crickets for an ex partner’s lizards. He was allergic to fur and seemed a good idea at the time even though we both knew nothing about keeping ducks- it is amazing how you are able to buy animals such as these with such little knowledge!

This drove me to research ducks and became quite obsessive with it, I began looking at different breeds.

I then started to hatch my own ducklings from my pets as a second generation. I bought an incubator and all of the hatching equipment I needed.

When, inevitably, one of my ducks died naturally, I had to decide whether to intervene or let natural selection take its course.

I began using silk worms during my degree, extensively researching their full life cycle and their place in the textile industry.

You have been working with insects and creepy crawlies since studying BA
Fine Art, what compelled you to use insects in your art practice?

I have always been interested in nature and my family did encourage outdoor activities such as fishing, crab lining and gardening.

During my degree, I found insects would take up residence in pre-fabricated constructions.

These installations drove my curiosity with our relationship with nature.

In your work, you touch upon human intervention in naural habitats, why

does this interest you?
How has this been demonstrated in your work?

iI am interested in the persistence of nature, natural urges in animals can not be "bred out". We see this when cats bring dead prey in to our homes.

I have used nature itself in live installations such as an "Untitled" an installation which I later named "Enclosure". Each individual piece of white tack and thread was placed and hung in a controlled manor to enclose live insects. During the show Giant Silk Moth chrysalises emerged during the show.

For my piece "Global Warming", I used a NASA Ant Farm I bought out of curiosity when looking into human controlled conditions made to contain nature. The ants eventually died, but the enclosed environment inside the ant farm took on a life of its own.

In your work "Contained", you have presented your work in a similar way to
how biologists archive their specimens.
What led you to do this?

I wanted to present the household insects in a way as if they were exotic insects encased in a museum.

Why have the insects been given human names?

I began to think about how humans naturally co-exist within environments that we fabricate for ourselves. Insects, like us, have a family and are part of a colony. It has been scientifically proven that some insects have differing tolerance levels just as humans do.

Finally, what do you think about the relationship between art and science?

For me I feel both are based on exploration, research, problem solving and obsessions.

Thanks Joanna! I hope you enjoyed learning about Joanna's work as much as I did!

Artist: Ito Hirotoshi // Pleasure Of Paradox

2011-10-14T09:14:00.000-07:00

Ito Hirotoshi studied at Tokyo University Of The Arts and was then destined to take over from the family business in masonry.
From here, Ito began to experiment with materials in his spare time and took on a few metalwork courses to expand his knowledge.
The result of Ito's art education and material knowledge has resulted in these strange stone sculptures.
Ito Hirotoshi's aim is to "soften" the reputation of stone as a material, by introducing more human counterparts and manipulating the curves of each rock.

The interesting aspect of these sculptures for me, is that Ito Hirotoshi has taken a raw material straight from the landscape (stones taken from a river bank), and transformed the material in to a product of his own imagination.

To find out more, please visit Ito Hirotoshi's flickr and The Coilhouse Blog.

On The Existence Of A Supermassive Black Hole In The Milky Way

2011-10-14T08:02:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went to the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich to listen to a lecture by Dr Omar Almaini from the University Of Nottingham.

The talk covered the nature of supermassive black holes, why we think that they exist and how to discover them which was fascinating.

However, as an artist, I was moved by the visual data that Dr Omar Almaini provided along with his talk.

This video shows a cluster of stars hidden behind the black dust of the milky way. The camera used to capture this information was specifically designed for this purpose, as scientists were fascinated to discover if there was a black hole lurking in our galaxy.
For scientists to determine if a black hole did exist in our galaxy, the scientists would need to track the movement of stars. If the stars were found to be moving around, then this would become evidence of a black hole in our galaxy.

Dr Omar Almaini described this clip as "pure unadulterated data straight from the telescope". This video shows that stars are in fact orbiting a central point of gravity within the space of a few decades, so most scientists now believe that a dormant black hole does exist in the Milky Way.
Using this definition of "dormant", there are no collisions of planets / there is no fuel for the black hole to emit any kind of radiation. It is also rather unlikely that we will get sucked in to the black hole any time soon!

Using this data, scientists have been able to make models of the stars orbiting the black hole as a visual aid. (Towards the end of this clip).

I am always impressed by any super-intelligent professor who can simplify complex ideas for consumption of the general public, so I found the talk by Dr Omar Almaini very educational.

I will leave you with an excerpt from "Physics Of The Impossible" by Michio Kaku, on the scientist Albert Einstein.

"What was the secret of his genius? Perhaps one clue to his genius was his ability to think in terms of physical pictures (e.g. moving trains, accelerating clocks, stretched fabrics) rather than pure mathematics.
Einstein once said that unless a theory can be explained to a small child, the theory was probably useless;
that is, the essence of a theory has to be captured by the physical picture; the mathematics would come later".

A. S. Byatt // Possession : A Romance // Creative Writing & Science

2011-10-14T07:15:00.000-07:00

In my undergraduate dissertation, I was able to delve through the Helen Chadwick archive at the Henry Moore Institute in Leeds.
In the archive, I found a copy of "Possession: A Romance" by A S Byatt in which Chadwick had circled excerpts which then went on to inform Chadwick's art practice (Nebula, Unnatural Selection).

"Possession: A Romance" is a novel which documents the journey of two academics who are studying a series of letters between two fictional poets.
The author, A S Byatt, cleverly manages to integrate some inspiring science-based poetry in her work, as Byatt was inspired by elder writers who merged elements of fantasy and naturalism in to their writing styles. Her work maintain a continuous interest in zoology, entomology and Darwinism amongst other repeated themes.

I find Byatt's work fascinating as science is not the focal point of her novels, rather a bi-product.

Anyway, here are a few of my favourite excerpts:

"Here is a Riddle, Sir, an old Riddle, an easy Riddle - hardly worth your thinking about - a fragile Riddle, in white and Gold with life in the middle of it.

There is a gold, soft cushion whose gloss you may only paradoxically
imagine with your eyes closed tight - see it feelingly, let it slip through your minds fingers.

And this gold cushion is enclosed in its own crystalline casket, a casket
translucent and endless in its circularity, for there are no sharp corners
to it, no protrusions, only a milky moonstone clarity that decieves.

And these are wrapped in silk, fine as thistledown, tough as steel, and
the silk likes inside.
Alabaster, which you may think of as funerary.

Urn - only with no inscription, for there are as yet no Ashes - and no
pediment, and no nodding poppies engraved, nor yet no lid you may lift to
peep in for all is sealed and smooth.

There may come a day when you may lift the lid with impunity - or rather,
when it may be lifted from within - for that way, life may comes, whereas
your way - you will discover - only congealing and mortality.

An egg, sir, is the answer, as you perspiculously read from the beginning,
a perfect O, a living stone, doorless and windowless, whose life may
slumber on till she be wake"

p137

"I am a small man, closed in a small space.
Expert in smallness, in the smallest things.
The inconsiderable and overlooked,
The curious and the ephemeral."

"The clue to life lay in the blind white worm,
That eats away the complex flesh of men,
Is eaten by the farmyard bird who makes,
A succulent dinner for another man,
And so completes the circle. Life is one"

"Great Galileo with his optic tube,
A century ago, displaced this Earth
From apprehensions centre, and made out
The planets' swimming circles and the Sun
And beyond, that the infinite motions of space.
Sphere upon sphere, in which our spinning world.
Green grass, and yellow desert, mountains white and whelming depths of the bluest sea,
Is but a speck in a kind of star-broth, rightly seen."

p202

If you too were inspired by these excerpts, I'd strongly urge you to read "Possession : A Romance" and "Angels & Insects". Alternatively, both of these novels were made in to feature length films, so you will also be able to find them on DVD.

Artist: Calum Scott // Sound Art

2011-10-08T05:42:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I visited The Musical Brain conference at The Institute Of Neurology with my course (MA Art & Science).

Whilst there, I met a lady called Claire who introduced me to the Sound Thought Project based in Glasgow.
I was particularly struck by this piece of work by the artist Calum Scott.

Calum Scott - Cymatic Sculpture (Sound Thought 2011) from The Arches on Vimeo.

In 2010, I visited the Glasgow International Art Festival, and found a painting in one of The Arches galleries that had been created by placing a board on top of a speaker and letting the sound waves work their magic.It seems to me that Glasgow is the epicentre of sound based art! Very inspiring...

Visit: The Wellcome Collection // 04 October 2011

2011-10-05T11:04:00.000-07:00

As part of my MA Art and Science programme, we were able to have a detailed tour around the Wellcome Collection and in the Wellcome Libary.

I was at first astounded at the amount of the online resources that the Wellcome Collection provides, there is a Wellcome Film youtube channel which has over 300 videos uploaded.
There is also a huge database of images on the Wellcome Images site, which has a great selection of anatomical drawings, illustrative diagrams, lithograph prints, scientific photographs and much more!

Here are some things I personally found interesting on the tour:

BBC Source

This is an exhibited created by Gunther Von Haagen, it is a very thin slice of a human body, plastinated in the typical Haagen way.

I was particularly interested in the curious way the slice has been presented, between two pieces of glass in a suitably clinical way.

source

This exhibit is the "Library Of The Genome", a publication of a human DNA sequence. The books you see here contain 3 Billion characters (genetic bases) which have been printed and published in to a volume of books. Apparently, to recite the sequence character by character would take approximately 56 years!

To think that each human has a completely different DNA sequence is mind-blowing.

It was also interesting to learn that Henry Wellcome preferred to display his collection in a Darwinian style, laying out each specimen side by side.

Other things that caught my imagination include:

- Death Masks that were carved while they were still on a tree, so that "tree spirits" could animate the face.

It's interesting that nature has been allowed to alter the work.

- Hair used to illustrate weeping willows inside a piece of mourning jewellery.

- Anatomical Flip-Diagrams which can be found on the Digitised Collections.

Artist // Amy Shackleton : Painting With Gravity

2011-10-04T00:17:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to stop by and share this amazing video of the artist Amy Shackleton painting using a very interesting technique. Amy's technique utilizes the force of gravity, by rotating the canvas and letting the paint drip downwards to create each line.

The Golden Ratio: Nexus Art Cafe, Manchester.

2011-10-01T03:50:00.000-07:00

Yesterday marked the opening of The Golden Ratio exhibition at Nexus Art Cafe, curated by Hannah Mosley in association with the Manchester Science Festival.

The exhibition runs until the 20th of November 2011, and there are some great works on display.

Photograph: David Lowther

This is a sculpture which holds a webcam in which participants can talk to viewers by Skype. The sculpture has been designed by Bess Martin who studies Contemporary Art Practices at Leeds Metropolitan University.

Mini asteroids at the entrance of Nexus Art Cafe, Manchester, UK.

A collection of knitted microbes.

-----

I was able to display some of my own work within the exhibition, thus concluding my residency at Nexus Art Cafe.

I chose to display my work themed on transience and fragility, showing work which I had made using soap bubbles and eggs.
Today I leave Manchester to study MA Art & Science at Central St Martins in London, thanks to Nexus for providing me a studio to use between universities!

New Mediology: Last Clock

2011-10-01T03:01:00.000-07:00

This "Last Clock" application records 60 seconds of video information and warps it in to a circular pattern.

Last Clock from New Mediology on Vimeo.

As someone who is interested in alternative photography processes, the use of a clock is very interesting. I love the idea of representing the passage of time in one image.

Artist: Roger Hiorns: Seizure

2011-10-01T02:50:00.000-07:00

To create, an artist must mix substances. Traditionally, pencil meets paper, paint meets canvas, plaster meets water. However, as art progresses, artists become more experimental with materials.

In the case of Roger Hiorns, copper sulphate has been applied to a disused council flat to create this crystallized set of rooms. The artist has pumped the copper sulphate in to the flat, left the solution to crystallize at a cool temperature and then drained the solution back out again.

"I'm not a scientist. I'm more concerned with starting a natural process which will go on happening by itself. It's never ending. It won't stop, whatever you do."
source

It is interesting that Hiorns does not identify as a scientist, but as an artist instead. This work displays a defined balance between order and chaos. The scientific process in which the crystals have been created would need to have been very precise, however chaos dictates when and where the crystals will grow.
Additionally, as visitors to "Seizure" crush the crystals on the floor and brush against the walls, the work evolves as people pass through.

Scientific Illustration

2011-09-27T15:26:00.000-07:00

Scientific illustration has been around for centuries, to document new findings in the natural world.

Charles Darwin used illustration to record what curiousities he found on his travels, and there is a large online record of his illustrations here.

In Charles Darwin's time, photography was not advanced enough to catalogue species that he had found, so accurate illustration was important. Nowadays, photography is more likely to be used to document new species.

Thus, if someone in this century decides to make a scientific illustration, the chances are that the purpose is for the benefit of art and not science.

Here are some archived illustrations from the past 250 years:

Fossils, Harvard University

Pierre Joseph Redouté
Prunus Domestica
1801-19

Anatomy of the hand

Clorion

1830

Fossils, Harvard University

Natural History Museum, London

Colour plate

Verzeichniss meiner Insecten-Sammlung

Jakob Sturm, Nürnberg

1796

There are some great sources for scientific illustration online at the moment. I'm following the Scientific Illustration Tumblr and have added the BioDivLibrary on Flickr for a hit of natural history every day.

Laser Cutting & Photography Studios At Fred Aldous, Manchester.

2011-09-25T12:58:00.000-07:00

Ihave been visiting the Fred Aldous shop in Manchester for years, as it is a usefulresource for any art student. The shop seems to shift every time thatI visit, and since coming back from studying in Leeds, I noticed thata new floor has been utilised for laser cutting and photographystudios.

In university, I was able to use the laser-cutting machine at Leeds College Of Art. I was assisted by workshop technicians, and the machine was quite an old model.

My experience of using the Fred Aldous laser cutting machine was much better. I was taught to process my designs on the computer and then taught how to operate the new machine.

After I took down instructions, I was then left to my own devices which meant I felt confident about cutting all of my designs on my own.

I wanted to use special coloured acrylic mirror for my designs, so I had to source those myself. I purchased my 3mm acrylic sheet from the Sheet Plastics shop on ebay.

Thanks to my visit to the laser-cutting studio at Fred Aldous, I now feel confident about seeing my designs through from start to finish. This kind of freedom as a young artist is invaluable.

My designs, laser-cut and photographed in the studios at Fred Aldous.
You can buy my designs at the Folksy shop Ethyl.

For the past 3 months, I have been the Artist In Residence at Nexus Art Cafe and I was given a studio to work in. I must admit, I found it a little difficult to create decent work without all the facilities that an art college provides, so having access to the photography studios in Fred Aldous was really useful.

I arrived at the photography studio with objects to photograph and was provided with lighting, a wide choice of cameras and an experienced photographer to help me with my ideas. On my day in the studio, I wanted to photograph the colours and shapes inside a soap film, and I was provided with some great tips to help me.

Soap film, photographed at the Fred Aldous photography studio.

Overall, I think the studios at Fred Aldous are a great resource to any artist and designer that wants to produce professional looking work for little cost.

"Bubbles" / "A Childs World" by Sir John Everett Millais, 1885-6

2011-09-24T07:02:00.000-07:00

During my research on soap bubbles in art, I found this painting by Sir John Everett Millais on loan at the Lady Lever Art Gallery in Liverpool.

The painting can sometimes be misread as a celebration for childish naivety, but in fact, the depiction of soap bubbles is steeped in art history.

For example, in the 17th century Dutch artists painted children blowing bubbles to convey the brevity of human life, the transience of beauty and the inevitability of death.

Gerard Dou - Still Life with a Boy Blowing Soap-bubbles

This painting by Gerard Dou for example, is painted in the symbolic "Vanitas" style.

Vanitas are still life paintings that are famous for using objects associated with "Momento Mori", the latin phrase which means "Remember you must die".

"Although 'Bubbles' may appear sentimental to modern taste, it has a serious meaning. Millais was using a symbol with a long tradition behind it. 'Bubbles' are fragile and have a brief moment of beauty before they burst." source

Interestingly, Pears soap printed images of the paintings as an advertisement, against the will of the painter. Critics claimed that this had a degrading effect on the painting but I think the original message of the painting is still clear. Bubbles are still used in art today to evoke transience and beauty.

A Time Lapse Taken From The International Space Station

2011-09-24T06:03:00.000-07:00

"A time-lapse taken from the front of the International Space Station as it orbits our planet at night. This movie begins over the Pacific Ocean and continues over North and South America before entering daylight near Antarctica. Visible cities, countries and landmarks include (in order) Vancouver Island, Victoria, Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles. Phoenix. Multiple cities in Texas, New Mexico and Mexico. Mexico City, the Gulf of Mexico, the Yucatan Peninsula, El Salvador, Lightning in the Pacific Ocean, Guatemala, Panama, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Lake Titicaca, and the Amazon. Also visible is the Earth's ionosphere (thin yellow line), a satellite (55sec) and the stars of our galaxy."

How To Make A Photogram At Home Using A Stenoflex Pinhole Camera Kit

2011-09-20T06:03:00.000-07:00

This summer I graduatedfrom my Fine Art degree, and was eager to continue making photograms.

I had no access to adarkroom, so I was overjoyed when I came across the fabulousStenoflex pin-hole camera at Fred Aldous, Manchester.

The Stenoflex materialsare packaged compactly inside the little black box that cleverlybecomes the pin-hole camera. When opening the Stenoflex, I was alittle worried that the photo-sensitive paper would be exposed tolight, but the photographic paper comes in its own handy little blackvelcro pouch.

Additional to the paperand box there is:

~ A red gel to coveryour light source, mimicking a traditional dark room light.

~ Developer &Fixer, both of which are labelled in French. Developer is labelled as“Revelateur” and fixer is labelled as “Fixateur”.

~ Instructions in bothFrench & English.

To make photograms with the Stenoflex Pinhole Camera Kit you will need:

~ A torch to cover with the redgel to use as your dark room light while you are working. (I used aheadlamp from the pound shop and crudely gaffer-taped the gel on tothe torch making sure the red gel covered all of the light.)

~ 3 trays or bowls foryour developer, fixer and water. I bought a small plastic chest ofdesk drawers from the pound shop (again!) as I didn't want tocontaminate anything I use at home.

~ A light source whichyou can turn on and off again very easily i.e. lamp, torch, mainlight bulb.

~ A space that can bemade pitch black i.e. a cellar, shed, attic, bathroom (with windowscovered). This is very important, you shouldn't be able to seeanything unless you have your red-gel light on.

To Make A Photogram Use These Steps:

Find something you would like to make a photogram of. I used these objects: glass beaker, dead leaves, soap bubbles, a £10 note, hair, nuts and bolts. The most fun part is experimentation and waiting to see what it looks like as a photogram!
Assemble your developer, fixer and rinse trays and put them in to your make-shift dark room. Switch on your red gel light.
Take your found objects in to your darkroom along with your photo-sensitive paper and torch / lamp which should be switched off at this point.
Make sure your darkroom is only lit by your red gel lamp, and then remove one piece of paper from its pouch, making sure to close the pouch afterwards so that you don't expose the whole pack!
Find a flat surface and position your found objects on top of the photo-sensitive paper.
Grab your light source (torch, lamp), hold directly over the paper and switch on for 1-2 seconds. Your found object is blocking the light from reaching the paper, and this is how your image is “printed” on to the paper.
Develop, rinse and fix as normal.

This technique willmost likely require a little trial and error, but you can work outhow much light you need to use by looking at your photogram after ithas been fixed.

If your fixed photogramhas gone white it is under-exposed.You have not used enough light oryour found object is blocking too much light from the paper.

If your fixed photogramhas gone black it is over-exposed. Too much light has reached thepaper, or your object isn't blocking enough light.

Here are my results:

Found Object: Soap Bubble blown directly on to photo-sensitive paper.

Found Object:Dead Leaves

Found Object: Dead Leaves

Found Object: Glass Paperweight

See more of my photograms at Melaniek.Co.Uk

Artist: Roman Opalka // 1960 / 1 to Infinity

2011-09-16T03:54:00.000-07:00

In 1960, Roman Opalka began on a journey, painting the numbers from 1 to Infinity.

Opalka once said that he would be happy to reach the number 7,777,777 which is a number he said had "profound meaning".
Unfortunately, Roman Opalka died on the 6th of August 2011 and is thought to have reached just short of 6,000,000.

Opalka's work essentially illustrates the passing of time, stroke by stroke, day after day, year after year.
The artist described his work as a journey “a philosophical and spiritual image of the progression of time and of life and death’.

Time as we live it and as we create it embodies our progressivedisappearance; we are at the same time alive and in the face of death–that is the mystery of all living beings. The consciousnessof this inevitable disappearance broadens our experiences withoutdiminishing our joy. There is always the omnipresent idea ofnature, of its ebb and flow of life. This essence of reality can be universally understood; it is not only mine but can be commonlyshared in our unus mundus. (Trad. Mark Selwyn)

Roman Opalka - "Rencontre par la séparation", AFAA, Paris, 1987

Time is a concept we can all relate to, most of us have witnessed a clock ticking and celebrated a New Year. However, Opalka took it upon himself to show this passing of time very physically.

The concept of infinity and endlessness is a terrifying prospect for me, personally. As a child, I was introduced to the concept of endless time and space, and the idea blew my tiny little mind! I could not think about anything related to space for a long time without feeling anxious.

However, in the last year of my undergraduate degree, I decided to confront my fear in a similar way to Yayoi Kusama, through repetitive art practice. Compared to Roman Opalka, my efforts were puny, but I spent two months repetitively winding wool to create a large chain sculpture.

The repetitive winding put me in to a calm state of madness leaving my brain feeling a little fried after each winding session, I could not keep up the project for longer than two months and was glad to see the back of it.

It is therefore, astounding to me, that an artist could dedicate over fifty years to continually painting numbers.

The Telegraph wrote an obituary for Roman Opalka which you can read here.

Artist: Frederic Brodbeck // Cinemetrics

2011-09-16T02:49:00.000-07:00

The other day I made a post on A Timeline For The Universe by Omid Kashan which has been featured on the website Information Is Beautiful.

Patterns can be captured and processed through software to create artwork, and in this digital age, the possibilities are endless.

For his graduation project from The Royal Academy Of The Arts (Den Haag), Frederic Brodbeck has focused on visualizing and comparing movie data in his Cinemetrics project. By focusing on one aspect of the film, (such as movement) the program can generate an overall fingerprint of the film in its entirety, as you can see below.

cinemetrics from fb on Vimeo.

In the video, Brodbeck compares many different films so that you can see the varying degrees of movement in films such as The Shining and Alien.

Astronomy Photographer Of The Year 2011

2011-09-14T09:57:00.000-07:00

Jupiter, with Ganymede & Lo by Damian Peach

The Milky Way at MangaiaOePan by Ttezel

Vela Supernova Remnant by Marco Lorenzi .

I have been following the Astronomy Photographer Of The Year competition with great interest. I'm amazed that technology has advanced so far, that even teenagers as young as 15 have the capabilities to photograph stars trailing around the North Star, and high quality pictures of our moon. source

The competition has now been opened as an exhibition at Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London and showcases all of the competition winners from 2011.

If you can't get to London, the BBC has provided a great slideshow with some commentary from the judges here and flickr has a dedicated group of entries.

Artist: Mark Goudy // Ceramics & Science

2011-09-14T09:34:00.000-07:00

I find it interesting, that the creator of these beautiful ceramic vessels has a bachelors degree in biology. At first, I thought the close-up of the earthenware was a photograph taken from a microscope.

I follow a microscopic photography blog called Under The Microscope on Tumblr, and there are some images which bear a resemblance to the surface paintings of these works.

I am fascinated by the universality of circular forms from micro-organisms to huge planets, so the work of Mark Goudy really stood out to me.

The way that Mark Goudy achieves the surface pattern on his ceramic creations is also quite interesting.
Goudy paints on water-soluble metal salts.

Water soluble metal salts are elementally simpler than glazes, and are usually composed of nitrate, chloride and sulphate forms of metals, which dissolve inwater.
However, this method is used very rarely by ceramicists and requires a high level of skill, a good knowledge of chemistry and lots of experience to create something this attractive. If that wasn't enough, these water soluble metal salts are highly toxic!

Another artist who uses water-soluble metal salts is Gary Holt who provides a wealth of information on how to use these chemicals successfully. Check out Ceramic Arts Daily for tips.

Artist: Omid Kashan: A Calendar For Astrophysicists / Timeline Of The Universe.

2011-09-11T05:04:00.000-07:00

Omid Kashan's "Timeline Of The Universe" has been featured on Information Is Beautiful which is a website run by David McCandless. David McCandless is a data journalist and information designer who is passionate about visualizing information.

It is easy to see why Omid Kashan's design appeals to David McCandless, as creating a "timeline for the universe" is an ambitious task, yet executed beautifully. The finished design is sleek, the circular design helps to simplify the information, whilst the colour palette evokes a night sky.

The concept of visualizing data is an interesting one, data in its raw format can be terribly boring. For example, Omid Kashan used a Wikipedia page to construct his timeline. However, the Information Is Beautiful website shows that data doesn't have to look dull. The algorithms constructed by data can be processed in a creative way, making new patterns and designs that would be hard to devise from imagination alone.

This type of data presentation is already being used successfully as a type of interactive exhibit at The Wellcome Collection. In July 2011, I visited The Wellcome Collection and was able to see my biometric identity in the shape of a star!

Artists: Mischer'Traxler // Reversed Volumes

2011-09-11T03:55:00.000-07:00

"Reversed Volumes" is a set of ceramic bowls created by the artists Katharina Mischer and Thomas Traxler.
The artists have used a ceramic powder which allows for very fine detail in their work.
Reversing volumes in itself is to be expected when casting an object, however the imprints that are captured using this delicate process really lends itself well to the subject matter.

By copying the surface pattern, and preserving it in ceramic, you are able to view the patterns separated from the original. The formations are caught and held in time.

Artist: Iori Tomita // Transparent Specimens

2011-09-11T03:37:00.000-07:00

The artist Iori Tomita is trained as a fisherman, Tomita studied at Kitasato University School of Fisheries Sciences.

The images that you see in this entry, are real fish that have been preserved using the artists own method.
Tomita removes the scales and skin, which have been preserved in formaldehyde and soaks the specimen in blue stain, ethyl alcohol and glacial acetic acid. Tomita then uses an enzyme trypsin to break down proteins and muscles, which is how the specimens become transparent. As soon as the fish become transparent, the artist then soaks the fish in potassium hydroxide and red die, to stain the fish further.
When the artist is happy with his specimen, he then preserves it in glycerin.

This process is detailed and formulaic, which is interesting. An artist would use a particular formula to create say, a sculpture, in their own style. For example, if you were making a sculpture out of wax, using a plaster cast, there are certain stages, times and formulas that you must bear in mind if you want your sculpture to be a success. Similarly, Iori Tomita's specimens follow a very scientific path, in which certain chemicals must be used in order and for exactly the right amount of time. The choice to remove the fish from the enzyme trypsin when the specimens have become transparent is a purely aesthetic decision.

I am passionate about creativity with materials, thanks to a "materiality" module in my degree in Fine Art.
This module was when I started to become more creative with the art materials I chose, using sugar, glucose and water to make sculptures from. The sugary mixture had to be warmed to exactly the right temperature before it could harden as it cooled. After that module, it was hard to go back to say, wax or plaster.
I think it is important for artists to find new processes that have not been used before, taking inspiration from their everyday lives, just as Iori Tomita has done.

Artist: Jason Mowry

2011-09-03T03:15:00.000-07:00

Here are some beautiful anatomical paintings by the artist Jason Mowry.

"My paintings have subject matter that the viewer can feel comfortable exploring. At the very least to give the viewer a glimpse of the ephemeral beauty that is inherent in the natural world and the interior self."

Artist: Joseph Murawski // Life Is Toxic And Beautiful

2011-09-03T03:07:00.000-07:00

Joseph Murawski has a great set of photographs on flickr named "Life Is Toxic & Beautiful".
The photographs seem both bodily and cosmic, all at once.

Personally, these photographs remind me of "Wreaths To Pleasure" by the artist Helen Chadwick, in which real flowers are set in toxic domestic fluids.

Artist: Kim Pimmel // Soap Bubbles & Ferrofluid Liquid

2011-09-03T02:26:00.000-07:00

Soap bubbles are a staple feature in this blog, so I was excited to see this video on TodayAndTomorrow by Kim Pimmel.

Compressed 02 from Kim Pimmel on Vimeo.

Kim Pimmel has included some more stills of this video on his flickr profile.

Artists: Helen Storey & Kate Storey // Primitive Streak

2011-09-03T02:08:00.000-07:00

The "Primitive Streak" project was an interesting collaboration between the Developmental Biologist Kate Storey and the Artist, Helen Storey.

To understand the concept of "Primitive Streak" we must look to embryology. The primitive streak is a structure that forms at the early stages of embryonic development. The primitive streak has an interesting relationship to symmetry within the human body, establishing the first embryonic axis but also enabling the first symmetry-breaking event in the embryo.

"The 'primitive streak', which appears about a fortnight after conception, marks a pivotal stage in development: it gives the embryo the beginnings of a top and a bottom, and cells that are destined to give rise to organs assemble themselves by moving through it."
source

The 1997 project has come to light again, as the sisters have collaborated to produce a selection of new dresses and are also featured in a series by The Wellcome Collection to mark The Wellcome Trusts 75th anniversary.

The Storey creations are absolutely beautiful and laboriously made.

The "Thousand Sperm Coat" is adorned with 1000 sperm made from perspex and chiffon. The coat took 105 hours to embroider.

Helen Storey is now the professor of Fashion & Science at London College Of Fashion, in which she hopes to illuminate aspects of science through her research and creative projects.

The Primitive Streak website is rich with photographs and videos, detailing each stage of fertilisation from conception to the forming of the backbone.

The Logarithmic Spiral

2011-08-28T07:12:00.000-07:00

On this blog, I have made a few entries concerning Fibonacci.
Fibonacci is a series of numbers which can be used to construct a golden spiral, which is only one type of logarithmic spiral.
A golden spiral adheres to the golden ratio, which has been used in art for centuries.
The most famous artist who uses the golden ratio within their work is of course, Leonardo Da Vinci seen here in his most famous work, The (tiny) Mona Lisa.

(Yep, I went there...)

I just wanted to make this entry to show how evident the Spira Mirabilis (miraculous spiral) is within the natural world.

The last image you see here, is part of the the fascinating Mandelbrot set, which is a series of fractals which reveals infinite self-similarity. I.E. If you continually "zoom in" on a feature of the mandelbrot set, you will eventually end up looking at the same image you started with, and so the pattern will continue.

This is the best video I have found to illustrate the Mandelbrot set:

Artist: Jane Thomas // Soap Bubble Experimentation

2011-08-28T03:27:00.000-07:00

When researching the soap bubble photographs of Richard Heeks, I came across another artist specializing in the art of bubbles; Jane Thomas.
Whilst writing this blog, I have come across many artists who have used soap bubbles in their work and each artist has shed some light on the way soap bubbles behave in different situations.

In this video that Jane has uploaded to her Flickr, you can see how soap bubble mixture moves around within a fixed frame.

Jane Thomas' flickr profile has some delightful psychadelic-looking images of soap bubbles that are unique to her own style of processing.

Jane is so interested by the images that soap films create, she has opened a soap films flickr group where members can submit their own pictures of soap films. There are 547 photographs submitted to the group, and each photograph is different.

Jane is also a member of The Physics Classroom flickr group, which is a collection of photographs which relate to The Physics Classroom website. The Physics Classroom website is particularly good for refreshing knowledge on basic physics, but provides a good set of tutorials which could be altered for artistic merit!

Artist: Richard Heeks // Soap Bubble Photographs

2011-08-28T03:00:00.000-07:00

Over the past year, I have been becoming increasingly interested in soap bubbles, and it seems like I am not the only one.
In writing this blog, I have come across many artists using soap bubbles in their work and each artist finds something unique about the soap bubble that they focus upon.

Richard Heeks has been taking photographs of bubbles for years...

"While watching my nieces play with soap bubbles in the summer of 2008, I suddenly realized how beautiful these fragile spheres are, how they continually change the colors around them and how their surfaces reflect their surroundings. For weeks afterwards, I played with soap bubble photography, trying to understand these reflections and capture them with my camera."
source

Unfortunately, I don't have permission to publish any of Richard Heeks photographs on this blog, but you can view some amazing bubble photographs on his profile at Red Bubble and Flickr.
I am particularly intrigued by this particular shot of a soap bubble, which looks like an alien planet landscape. Heeks has compared the refraction of light through the bubbles surface, to light passing through the Earths' atmosphere.

Pulsar PSR J1719-1438 & The Diamond Planet

2011-08-26T03:13:00.000-07:00

Pulsars are made when a star collapses, as they are a particular type of neutron star.
The pulsars are highly magnetized, and emit a beam of electromagnetic radiation.

This pulsar in particular is extremely dense, as it is only 12 miles across but has a mass that is 1.4 times that of our sun.

Orbiting around this pulsar is a large planet, five times the size of earth and 3,000 times larger than the pulsar itself. The high-pressured environment in which this planet exists, caused the carbon to crystallise in to diamond.

Source.

This information makes me a feel sick. How can something that is only 12 miles across have a mass that surpasses that of our sun?! Eesh.

Lift Infinity Photographs Curated By Markus Spiering

2011-08-26T02:50:00.000-07:00

A few months ago, I made a post explaining how thinking about eternity gave me panic attacks.
I was comforted by Bill Brysons' idea of a "finite yet boundless" universe as opposed to the idea of the universe as an ever-expanding bubble.

I was inspired when I came across Markus Spiering's photo-set on Flickr, as he has featured photographs based around the concept of "Lift Infinity".

Source

There is certainly something interesting about a four sided mirrored box reflecting inwards, a new way of thinking about a finite, boundless form.

If Fire Were Water

2011-08-26T02:23:00.000-07:00

A beautiful set of images from Platinum Image Conception studios.

Nature.com // Hurricanes On A Soap Bubble

2011-08-19T09:59:00.000-07:00

Soap bubbles are a fascinating phenomenon.
In this video, you will see mini-vortexes forming due to the soap bubble heating up to 45 degrees centigrade.
The thermal plumes resemble hurricanes forming in the earths atmosphere, but that is as far as the analogies extend.

However, Xiao-Lun Wu a physicist at the University Of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania, says that by observing the turbulence in soap films we can find more about turbulence more generally (for example, how hurricanes might react to surrounding turbulent air). source

Artist: Pery Burge // Video Inksplosions

2011-08-19T09:22:00.000-07:00

I am constantly amazed and inspired by the work of the artist Pery Burge, and have previously featured some of her photographs.

However, I have recently come across her Inksplosion videos on Youtube and had to share.

The videos show ink and water reacting towards one another, and the results could be compared to both micro-organisms and cosmic movement.
Pery Burge recognises why this conflicting duality exists within her work, the resemblance comes from the movement of matter from a central point outwards.
The ink travels in streams, which begin to have their own little tributaries.

The title of the second video on this entry is named "So Simple A Beginning" which she has quoted from the final sentence of "The Origin Of Species" by Charles Darwin.

"...from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful..."

I find that quote, a very fitting description for the Inksplosion videos.

TrES-2b: The Black Planet

2011-08-18T13:22:00.001-07:00

The NASA's Kepler spacecraft has discovered the "blackest planet ever found", TrES-2b reflects just 1% of light. Scientists do not know why TrES-2b reflects so little light, but have observed the planet emitting a faint red light similar to glowing embers.

What I personally find most interesting, is that the astronomer David Kipping has compared TrES-2b's reflection of light to black acrylic paint.

Find out more at PopSci and the Centre For Astro-Physics Press Release.

Artist: Anna Garforth's Moss Art

2011-08-15T15:20:00.001-07:00

Anna Garforth has truly mastered the art of "Moss-Graffiti", creating both pieces of art and beautiful letter-work.

The process of moss based art is very exciting.
Crafting In A Green World have a great recipe which is as follows:

Unlike spray paint, moss graffiti is all natural and healthy to work with. You can paint words or images, and the moss fills in like magic! It’s easy as pie to whip up a batch of moss paint.

Here’s how, in your blender, combine:

One can of cheap beer or 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
A few handfuls of moss
One teaspoon of sugar
Blend until the mixture is smooth, and you’re ready to get painting! You can use a brush to paint your moss onto concrete walls, rocks, or brick. Mist the moss once a day to help it thrive, and soon your green graffiti will take hold!

This method is a great mixture between art, horticulture and science; all of which contain an element of experimentation and surprise.

A Quote From Albert Einstein

2011-08-14T15:52:00.000-07:00

"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed."

Photographer: Eric Guth's Amazing Ice-scapes

2011-08-14T13:56:00.001-07:00

Eric Guth is employed by Lindblad Expeditions as a Photo Instructor. Guth works aboard a cruise ship, exploring the oceans and searching for the perfect photograph.

Recently, The Telegraph published this amazing set of photographs which documents the study of "secret" caves inside glaciers.
The photographer seems very passionate about his work as to get his photographs, Guth must camp in freezing temperatures, travel thousands of miles across the oceans and insists upon exploring every cave that he can feasibly access.

From a warm, seated individual's perspective, the photographs certainly seem worth the effort. The photographs are stunning and provide us with unique shots of ice formations. We get to experience the gorgeous glacial azure, without experiencing the biting cold and long, arduous ocean voyages!

Artist: Jamie Mills Illustration

2011-08-14T13:31:00.001-07:00

Jamie Mills is a recent first class graduate in Illustration, and has a great portfolio on his website.
From the website, it is evident that Jamie takes a strong interest in nature, structure, pattern and formations.
For example, the large circular drawing above was taken from a photograph of dust taken under a microscope.

As an artist myself, I am fascinated by "roundness" so I was drawn to these two illustrations.
I have similar themes within my own artwork, so it is interesting to see these similar thoughts being interpreted in an illustrative way.

Please check out Jamie Mill's website, other than observing patterns in the natural world, he also has a beautiful set of illustrations inspired by endangered animals.

Artist: Lorenzo Duran's Leaf Art

2011-08-14T12:59:00.000-07:00

This year, I started the 365 Project for the second time, which means that I take a picture every day for a year.

Recently, I have noticed that many of my pictures have involved leaves in some way:

Understandably then, I was inspired by the leaf-cutting art of Lorenzo Duran.

Personally, I think it is important for artists to be inventive in choosing materials, and looking towards the raw fruits of nature is very inspiring.

The leaves do not cost money to collect, are plentiful and use less of the earths' resources to produce.

Sound Byte: NASA - Eerie Sounds Of Saturn

2011-08-03T04:18:00.000-07:00

On the NASA website, you can download multimedia relating to various aspects of their research.
Thankfully, some helpful youtube people have uploaded the multimedia to youtube for easy streaming.

Yes, there is no sound in space, but the Cassini spacecraft has recorded radio-waves coming from Saturn's poles and converted them to something that we can actually hear. Saturn has auroras similar to Earth's Aurora Borealis, and that is what we are hearing in this clip.

The original recording was actually 27 minutes long and has been shortened to 73 seconds so that we can make out the rising and falling sounds of the aurora.

Artist: Etsuko Ichikawa: Molten Glass

2011-08-02T09:35:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, art can just grab me by the throat and leave me astounded.
This is what happened when I discovered Etsuko Ichikawa on the ANTHROPOLOGiST.

I would highly recommend watching the video "IntoTheFire" on the ANTHROPOLOGiST website.
The video is elegantly shot and transfixing.
If you don't want to leave this page, here is an equally engaging video embedded for your convenience.

What you are seeing in this video is Etsuko Ichikawa drawing with molten glass , a balance between performance and drawing to capture the immediacy of the moment.
As a result, the drawings are delightfully expressive.

The process of drawing with molten glass is named as a "Glass Phyrograph"; an example of how experimentation, scientific knowledge of material and self expression can co-exist in art practice.

Artist: Jim Denevan: Drawing In Sand

2011-08-02T09:15:00.000-07:00

Introducing the artist Jim Denevan!

Denevan really connects to the environment by finding ways to draw in materials such as sand and ice. There is a transient, fleeting quality to Denevans work as his work is eventually worn away by weather.

In some of his works, Denevan considers the Fibonacci spiral to direct the shapes of his drawings to connect even further to the natural world.

To see more of Jim Denevans work please visit his website.

Melanie K : Buy On Saatchi Online

2011-08-01T11:38:00.000-07:00

You can now purchase my original photograms and buy prints on my Saatchi Online profile.

Artist: James Turrell // Intuition

2011-07-29T13:19:00.000-07:00

The Guardian's Art & Design section is a great resource for Art & Science news.
Today I was alerted to the existence of the artist James Turrell.

The article today explains what the "Higgs Boson" is, a hypothetical massive elementary particle named after the British physicist Peter Higgs.
In Higgs' theory, the Higgs Boson is said to have turned the matter that shot out of the Big Bang, in to the universe that we see today.
Scientists are currently trying to find the Higgs Boson using The Large Hadron Collider at CERN.
The scientists do not know that this particle exists, but they are using a process of experimentation to find it. The scientists are using only their own intuition to move forward in their research.
In this piece by James Turrell, the flashing red screen mimicks the screens that the Higgs Boson researchers use.

In this article, Jonathan Jones explains that the recent art work of James Turrell plays on intuition. Jones compares this intuition to modern artists such as Kandinsky, who famously had synaesthesia. When a person has synaesthesia, they are able to see sound and hear colour.
If we can translate sound waves and light waves in this way, who says we can't pick up other information?
Perhaps our intuition is hinting to knowledge that we can not perceive yet.

As Jones says, James Turrells work forces us to view the world in abstract terms, just as the Cubists did at the advent of modern physics.

The idea of viewing the universe in an abstract manner is not exclusive to art.
In "Hyperspace: A Scientific Odyssey Through Parallel Universes", Michio Kaku eloquently describes dimensions and Superstring theory. Kaku explains that as we travel outside each dimension, the inner dimensions seem simpler. If you could view the Superstrings for example, from an outside perspective, you would see tiny vibrating strings or loops of energy, which is why superstrings are analogous to music (another form of art).

The relationship between intuition in both art and science is a fascinating one, and worth thinking about.

LightScythe: Advanced Light Painting

2011-07-22T03:01:00.000-07:00

These images were created using an advanced method of light painting, invented by the Mechatronics Guy. The device that The Mechatronics Guy has invented is called a "LightScythe".
The Mechatronics Guy explains his work:

"The LightScythe is a device for writing text and images frozen in midair."

To capture the image you must then set your camera to long exposure.

The software is open source, can be made by anyone and there are even instructions on his website to make the software yourself!

To see more pictures created using this LightScythe, please visit The Mechatronics Guy Flickr.

Artist: Spencer Charles

2011-07-22T02:21:00.000-07:00

Here is a "Map Of The Known Universe", designed by Spencer Charles for Greenwood Space Travel Supply Co.
The Greenwood Space Travel Supply company does not supply these maps to astronauts or astrologists. However, this map is a beautiful educational tool for anyone with a keen interest in stargazing.

If you are fascinated by the stars that you can see from outside your front door, you may wish to invest in a Planisphere. Planispheres are very cheap (I got mine on ebay for £5!) and can help you to observe stars and planets with the naked eye.
If you do decide to purchase a Planisphere, make sure to buy for the correct hemisphere!
For example, this Planisphere is for the United Kingdom, North Europe, North USA and Canada.

Artist: Matt W. Moore

2011-07-20T09:54:00.001-07:00

Numerically Controlled from Paper Fortress on Vimeo.

Matt W. Moore has been successful in creating some robotic drawings.

"Vector graphics are converted into a tool path and then a machine language which controls a 3-axis CNC machine retrofitted with a special fixture that holds a marker and mimics hand pressure during the act of drawing. "

To lift the jargon a little bit, CNC means Computer Numerical Control which is used in computer-aided design (CAD) or computer-aided manufacturing (CAM).
In my experience, CNC has involved laser-cutting materials such as acrylic or vinyl.
Instead of using a laser to carry out the path of his drawing, Moore has devised a gadget to hold a sharpie.

Photographer: Emmanuel Coupe

2011-07-19T16:55:00.000-07:00

I have always wondered whether bubbles can exist in freezing temperatures, and I now have the answer.

Coupe says of his work:
"This image was taken in winter time in a arid area of the Canadian Rockies. Temperatures where below -30 degrees Celsius yet because there was no snow fall the surface of the lake was uncovered allowing me to see and capture the bubbles (gas release from lake bed) that were trapped in the frozen waters." source.

Emmanuel Coupe is an outdoor photographer, and his website explores many regions around the world. The Canada Winter album has some fabulous photographs of ice formations.

Design: Living In Your Own Bubble

2011-07-19T10:21:00.001-07:00

During my career as an artist, I have been interested in soap bubbles. They behave strangely; clustering together, floating upon air, merging in to one another, stably growing to large sizes, shimmering iridescently.
Soap bubbles are intriguing and it is clear from my research upon other artists that I am not alone in my interest.

Today, for example, I have discovered Pierre Stephane Dumas who has created a bubble tent designed to make the most of any landscape. The tent boasts 360° panoramic views, which can then be concealed for the privacy of the camper at any time.
The most attractive qualities of the soap bubble have been exploited, the transparency allows for a complete view of the landscape and the elegant dome shape provides protection from the elements. Fortunately, this bubble also allows for fresh air to travel in and out of the tent and does not pop from interaction with a human finger!

Artist: Amie Siegel

2011-07-19T09:52:00.000-07:00

Today, I was drawn to the work of Amie Siegel , in particular the series of photographs in which holes seem to have been burnt out.
On further research, I found that these photographs are in fact stills from her film Black Moon.

“Black Moon / Hole Punches” (is) derived from the hole punches, or black moons, typically cut by the motion picture laboratory into the first frame of action in film negative. Always left out of the final edited film, these hole punches appear in Siegel’s prints as imperfect black disks or voids cut out of film frames. They are evocative of lunar phases, yet strangely violent in their intercession into the otherwise smooth picture plane." source.

In other words, this "black moon" phenomena is due to a fault in the film. The artist embraces the fault and uses it to her own ends.
The motion-picture film in its entirety explores a post-apocalyptic landscape and the concept of a world with no future. For me, the gaping void in each film still add to the feeling of hopelessness and absence.

Melanie K Featured In: Says Ingrid

2011-07-16T10:02:00.001-07:00

My work was featured alongside other artists in a post by Says Ingrid, take a look!

Artist: Ivan Henriques

2011-07-16T08:46:00.000-07:00

Anneke Koster visited Royal Academy Of Art at The Hague this week, and alerted me to the work of Ivan Henriques who has created the Jurema Action Plant.

The Jurema Action Plant is a Mimosa Pudica, also known as a "sensitive plant".
The artist has devised an intelligent computer system that can read the tiny movements that the plant makes, and this in turn makes the vehicle move.

Untitled from Ivan Henriques on Vimeo

Henriques idea is designed to enhance the communication between humans, living organisms and computer technology.

Artist: Shikai Tseng

2011-07-16T08:34:00.001-07:00

On the blog, Thinking Through Things I discovered an artist called Shikai Tseng who has just graduated from MA Design Products at The Royal College Of Art.

Tseng says:

“PhotoGraphy” project is the creation of a process in which the environment, time and light react to each other and generate images on three-dimensional objects. The 1st series is about coating objects with a “light-sensitive” layer, put in a black box with strategically placed pinholes, and exposed for 5 to 50 minutes depending on the brightness of the environment. It is a new way to capture a moment in time, no matter whether the image on the object is focused or losing focus – the object will carry the trace of its first moments of experience, its first exposure."

As an artist, I have been experimenting with different photogram techniques and have explored the V&A Shadow Catchers exhibition with great interest. Camera-less photography is something that really captures my imagination, so I am pleased to see natural light-exposure being used in sculpture.

Visit: The Wellcome Collection

2011-07-16T07:47:00.000-07:00

This week I have been in London for my degree show Tacit Knowledge being exhibited at Free Range in Brick Lane.

On the day of the show I had an hour spare, and was able to spend it at The Wellcome Collection. As I was only there for an hour, I was only able to see the permanent collection, but I was truly inspired by some of the art on show.

Here are some of the works that really grabbed me.

"Sense" by Annie Cattrel comprises of 5 resin blocks with seemingly abstract shapes suspended in resin. The 5 shapes correspond to the activity patterns of the human brain responding to the five senses. The idea is intriguing and has been executed well as these resin blocks are incredibly beautiful objects.

This is "Rhythms Of The Heart" by Chris Drury, who compares rocky mountain landscapes to shapes that can be found on an echo-cardiogram.
In the piece that is exhibited in the "Wellcome Collection", maps have also been woven in to the work. In this particular collection "Body As A Landscape", Drury worked with hospitals to collect his data and medical imagery.

Jelly Baby 3 by Mauro Perucchetti stood out to me as I had already seen these jelly baby figures at Marble Arch earlier that day.
The jelly babies are made out of polyurethane which has a beautiful glass like quality.
Polyurethane is made of many small, unstable urethane molecules in long chains which refers to the writing of DNA.

The permanent collection also allowed for gallery visitors to compare their face to other visitors. Unfortunately, my face did not match to anyone else on its system. Fantastic!

It's such a shame I was not able to stay for longer, but I will be back in London within the next few weeks for an open exhibition I am involved in, so I can schedule a whole day to explore.

Artists: Semiconductor - Ruth Jarman and Joe Gerhardt

2011-07-10T03:56:00.000-07:00

Currently, the artist duo Semiconductor have an exhibition at FACT Liverpool.

Semiconductor's latest artwork is a collection of videos called Worlds In The Making which explores geological patterns such as crystallization and volcanic activity.
The piece "Worlds In The Making" is the result of many years of work, collaborating with scientists from all over the world.

Kindly, Semiconductor have provided a preview of their exhibition on Vimeo:

Worlds in the Making - preview from Semiconductor on Vimeo.

Personally, I find Crystallised (2011) intriguing. Crystallised is a series of animations created by recording the sound of ice crystals, working out the algorithms of their formations and generating a digital animation based on the information. This was an extremely long process, as the software alone took six months to write!

This piece of work is incredibly interesting, because their research is re-contextualising science based art. The artists are not simply illustrating the work of scientists, nor are they trying to achieve a scientific discovery through arts based practise.

Gerhardt says of his work:

"Everyone is very familiar now with the very standard format of creating a narrative and a way of documenting science, and hopefully we're challenging this." source.

Fibonacci: Nature By Numbers

2011-07-10T03:41:00.000-07:00

Nature by Numbers from Jeff DeMeglio on Vimeo.

A few months ago, I made an entry named The Fibonacci Sequence: Mathematics, Nature & Art. This has been my most popular entry of all time, so I know you'll appreciate this video that I have stumbled across.
The video illustrates the elegance of Fibonacci beautifully, click to watch.

Rise Artists: Yusuke Araki & Alastair T. Willey.

2011-06-25T12:35:00.001-07:00

I was invited to join Rise Art today, and was inspired by two artists in particular.

Yusuke Araki

Yusuki says of his drawings:

"Line is all linking. Please imagine the line is string. When you pick the string, it seems to be one hoop."

When the image is viewed up close, the individual lines are evident, and the line is continuous.
I am interested in the finite yet boundless properties of Yusuke Araki's drawings.

Repetitive drawing has the potential to look laboured, but these drawings look expressive and organic.

Alastair T. Willey

Alastair's work could be compared to the impossible shapes imagined by M. C. Escher.
Escher experimented with optical illusions and the illustration of the Möbius strip, to create a seemingly finite yet boundless shape.

Alastair takes photographs on a 35mm film, and processes the images digitally. These works are compared to follies: the images look like architecture but have no architectural use.

Nick Kaplony says of Alastairs work:

"I love how these images compact and overlay architectural fragments into forms which are reminiscent of microscopic or molecular structures."

I can see what Nick Kaplony means, the geometric clustered nature of these images look like they could be 3-dimensional interpretations of molecular diagrams.
It's interesting that by creating digital architectural-looking 2-dimensional sculptures, the artist has evoked molecular structure as well.

Artist: Beverly Cottrell // Paper Lab

2011-06-19T05:04:00.000-07:00

On Friday night, the Leeds College Of Art "Ready Or Not, Here We Come" Degree show opened for a private view.
I have been studying in the BA Fine Art department, so I knew how that the Fine Art degree show was coming along, but it's always a great surprise to see all of the finished work from other courses.

In Art & Design : Interdisciplinary, I was really impressed by Beverly Cottrell's "Paper Lab", a science laboratory made entirely from cardboard.
The attention to detail is amazing...

During this project, Beverley worked with high school children, who gave feedback on her Paper Lab project. Beverley says of the placement:

"Making my Paper Lab playful and colourful reflects on the naivety of learning, and interacting with the exhibit promotes the curiosity of learning."

I think that this is a great way to bring the Art & Science fusion to a younger audience. This theory was proven when I asked my 13 year old brother to identify his favourite piece of work from the entire Leeds College Of Art degree show! (My little brother is also a science nerd, it seems to run in the family).

If you want to see more of Beverley Cottrell's Paper Lab, please click here to see her blog which covers the progress from start to finish.

BBC // Bubbles In Space... Kind Of.

2011-06-15T03:47:00.000-07:00

The NASA Voyager probes which were sent out in 1977, are now more than 14 billion kilometres from Earth, and are approaching the Sun's influence.
The Voyagers are still sending back data, and computer modelling based on this information suggests that there is some interesting bubble-like activity happening at the edge of our Solar System.

"Computer modelling based on the Voyager insights suggests the edge of our Solar System is a froth of activity, like "an agitated jacuzzi", said Eugene Parker from the University of Chicago, US.

Magnetic field lines carried in the "wind" of material coming off our star are breaking and reconnecting.

This process is sculpting the wind into discrete bubbles that are many tens of millions of kilometres wide."

An Introduction To Psychogeography : The Art Of Exploring

2011-06-12T08:26:00.000-07:00

Whilst studying Fine Art at Leeds College Of Art, I went along with my course friend to a few Leeds Psychogeography Group meetings.

Psychogeography is defined as "the study of the precise laws and specific effects of the geographical environment, consciously organized or not, on the emotions and behavior of individuals." source.

So, in other words, the study of environment and how it makes us feel. A mix of art and geography that can be both playful and academic.

The concept of psychogeography is important to an artist, as responding to a given environment is necessary for any working artist. For example; hanging work in a gallery, scoping out space for an installation, creating the right setting for video art.

If you'd like to practise Psychogeography, here are some ideas for places to start:

- How To Become An Explorer Of The World : Portable Life Museum

Two weeks ago, I found a great book by Keri Smith which instructs you to collect things you have found and document your surroundings. This is a great basic Psychogeography book which may lead on to more fascinating things.

- Geocaching

See if you can find evidence of Geocaching happening in your area.

"Geocaching is a real-world outdoor treasure hunting game. Players try to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, using GPS-enabled devices and then share their experiences online."

- View the work of Tina Richardson and her blog Particulations

- Take A Boundary Walk

One evening in Summer 2010, I took part in a "Beating The Bounds" walk with the Leeds Psychogeography group.

A member of the Psychogeography group designed a map based on the designated drinking areas in Leeds City Centre. We then were able to walk following the boundaries of the map, clutching alcoholic drinks, and seeing if we would attract the attention of the police.
We didn't get fined or told off, but it was fun.

- Read "Psychogeography" by Will Self

Will Self is a noted psychogeographer, and this book is a collection of visual essays that he wrote for The Independent.
"Ranging from the Scottish Highlands to Istanbul and from Morocco to Ohio, Will Self's engaging and disturbing vision is perfectly counter pointed by Ralph Steadman's edgy and beautiful artwork."

- Project 365

One of the most important things about Psychogeography, is to explore and to notice.
Personally, I have found that committing to taking a picture every day has helped me to find beauty and interest in my immediate surroundings.
You can see my 365 Project for 2009 here, and 2011 here.

Artist: Brandon McConnell // Spray Painting Space

2011-06-12T07:28:00.000-07:00

Brandon McConnell of Space Paintings . Com uses some unique spray painting techniques to create amazing imaginary visions from outer space.

Melanie K: Degree Show

2011-06-04T09:57:00.000-07:00

So, I am just about to sign off all of my work for my third and final year studying BA Fine Art at Leeds College Of Art. My deadline is Monday, so I have just finished installing my work for the degree show! Our degree show will also be travelling to Free Range at The Old Truman Brewery, Brick Lane.

Here is the work I am exhibiting:

The image was made when I captured a bubble on photo-sensitive paper and exposed it for two seconds. This is my favourite image from lots of bubble related experiments, as it looks deceptively like a gaseous planet.

To display the image, I decided to construct a large circular perspex frame similar to that of Nebula by Helen Chadwick as I thought it would be suitable for my own work.

The Fibonacci Sequence: Poetry & Haiku

2011-06-04T09:30:00.001-07:00

Okay, so you know about Fibonacci, but have you heard about Fibonacci haiku / poetry?

Instead of the original haiku sequence of:

5-7-5

Poets have started to use the Fibonacci sequence to inspire poetry:

0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144,

Here are some examples

Source: The Silent K

This is a great article about Fibonacci Poetry.
Feel free to comment with your own!

How To Be An Explorer Of The World: Portable Life Museum

2011-05-26T15:16:00.001-07:00

Today, I had an hour to kill in Manchester's Northern Quarter, and thought I'd have a look in Magma Books.

I was immediately drawn to How To Be An Explorer Of The World by Keri Smith, a book which promotes the Joseph Beuys "Everyone Is An Artist" way of thinking.
I can't resist Keri Smith's interactive art books or keeping note of every little detail, so I went ahead and purchased the book.

Inside, this book encourages collections of objects, recording of experiences, and looking more closely at things we see every day. For example, to inspire drawing, we can make maps of cracks on the floor and copy water stains.
One of my projects in 2007 was to photograph every chewing gum splat I could find, so this inspired the urban explorer inside me.

On page 6, after this list, Keri Smith writes "Artists and scientists analyse the world around them in similar ways." and I have to agree.

Albert Einstein said "There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as if everything is.”

Artists and scientists are both keen observers, and this book facilitates this need to document the world around us in detail. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to record their world and experiences in an unconventional way. I am definitely going to complete my copy, as I think it will help me to stay focused on my artistic and scientific tendencies, while I am not enrolled in to an academic institution over the Summer!