The Common Room was a space founded by Stefan & Franciszka Themerson, which they hoped would serve as a mixing space artists and scientists, operating between 1957 and 1959. It facilitated weekly discussions on art, science, film, poetry, philosophy and links between art and science.
“Forms by Nature” by Chromosphere is a mesmerizing audio-visual collaboration depicting our Earth, its plant and animal life, and beyond.
The animated video reminds us that, “Through scientific study and understanding, we deepen our connection to the natural world.” Its designs echo Charley Harper’s colorful and graphic nature illustrations.
I am super excited to invite you to participate in the inaugural ArtSciexhibition,La Rencontre, this spring at ETH Zürich, Switzerland! La Rencontre is an art exhibition for scientists by scientists - we encourage everyone to submit data, videos, illustrations, or any sort of artwork that conveys a scientific idea, message, or concept – whether related to your research, side project or simply data by other scientists that you love and want to illustrate. The goal is to inspire scientists to think about and present their research in new, creative ways that promote science communication. Pieces will be displayed on the green floor in CHN in ETH Zentrum from 22nd April to 6th May, with a vernissage on the 22.04 and an official closing/award ceremony on the 06.05.18.
Up to a billion people around the globe are deficient, not getting enough of this trace element from their diet. This is why we are interested in understanding what controls selenium levels in soils. The atmosphere supplies Se to the soil environment - but where does this initially come from? I loved illustrating this study by Süss et al., (2019), investigating trace element sources using rainwater analyses. The data show that the terrestrial biosphere apparently has much more of an impact than we traditionally thought - at least during the summer.
source: Elke Suess, Franziska Aemisegger, Jeroen E. Sonke, Michael Sprenger, Heini Wernli and Lenny H. E. Winkel (2019): Marine versus continental sources of iodine and selenium in rainfall at two European high-altitude locations. Environmental Science & Technology. DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.8b05533
This past semester I got to be part of the ETH transdisciplinary case study, investigating solid waste management on the island of Seychelles. This small island developing state is facing an immense challenge with its trash: almost exclusively relying on landfilling the island is literally filling up. Filling up - in trash. Further, current landfills are absolutely ill-equipped for the amount and types of material deposited; there is currently no capacity for leachate treatment. With various kinds of hazardous materials such as chemical residues, pharmaceutical products, asbestos etc. entering the landfill, the lack of proper lining at Providence I (one of the two main landfills) represents an incredible risk for groundwater contamination. More info @http://www.tdlab.usys.ethz.ch/teaching/tdcs/former/cs2018.html
I am super excited to invite you to participate in the inaugural ArtSciexhibition,La Rencontre, this spring at ETH Zürich, Switzerland! La Rencontre is an art exhibition for scientists by scientists - we encourage everyone to submit data, videos, illustrations, or any sort of artwork that conveys a scientific idea, message, or concept – whether related to your research, side project or simply data by other scientists that you love and want to illustrate. The goal is to inspire scientists to think about and present their research in new, creative ways that promote science communication. Pieces will be displayed on the green floor in CHN in ETH Zentrum from 22nd April to 6th May, with a vernissage on the 22.04 and an official closing/award ceremony on the 06.05.18.
I can’t wait to see what the magic of science and art sparks in you! <3
Submissions close in about a month! Do you have your piece ready? Awesome prices, lots of artsci-ness and the chance to take part in an ETH Zürich exhibition guaranteed :D Definitely don’t hesitate to ask me if you have any questions, either shoot me a message here or on [email protected]
“Lisianthus Dream” is finally finished and will be staying with me forever as it holds an immense amount of personal symbolism: breaking points, late summer fecundity, the hexagon dimension, finding my true north on a mountain, dissolving road blocks, falling in love, piercing the veil. 18x24, oil on wood, [email protected]
In honor of International Women’s Day, today we’re featuring the botanical art of Sarah Ann Drake (1803-1857), a prolific British botanical illustrator. She was trained to create drawings from living plants by botanist and leading member of the Royal Horticultural Society John Lindley, and went on to illustrate a number of books by Lindley and others. This print of orchids is from Lindley’s “Sertum Orchidaceum.” In acknowledgement of her contribution to his work, Lindley named the genus Drakea for her. More here: https://www.georgeglazer.com/prints/nathist/botanical/drakeinv/drakeinv.html
It is really important to me that all of you learn about Al Bean, astronaut on Apollo 12 and the fourth man to walk on the moon, who after 20 years in the US Navy and 18 years with NASA during which he spent 69 days in space and more than 10 hours doing EVAs on the moon , retired to become a painter.
He is my favorite astronaut for any number of reasons, but he’s also one of my favorite visual artists.
Like, look at this stuff????
It’s all so expressive and textured and colorful! He literally painted his own experience on the moon! And that’s just really fucking cool to me!
Just look at this! This is one of my absolute favorite emotions of all time. Is Anyone Out There? is like the ultimate reaction image. Any time I have an existential crisis, this is how I picture myself.
And then there’s this one:
The Fantasy
For all of the six Apollo missions to land on the moon, there was no spare time. Every second of their time on the surface was budgeted to perfection: sleeping, eating, putting on the suits, entering and exiting the LEM, rock collection, setting up longterm experiments to transmit data back to Earth, everything. These timetables usually got screwed over by something, but for the most part the astronauts stuck to them.
The crew of Apollo 12 (Pete Conrad, Al Bean, and Dick Gordon) had other plans. Conrad and Bean had snuck a small camera with a timer into the LEM to take a couple pictures together on the moon throughout the mission. They had hidden the key for the timer in one of the rock collection bags, with the idea being to grab the key soon after landing, take some fun photos here and there, and then sneak the camera back to Earth to develop them. They had practiced where they would hide the key and how to get it out from under the collected rocks back on Earth dozens of times.
But when they got to the moon, the key was nowhere to be found. Al Bean spent precious time digging through the collection bags before he called it off. The camera had been pushing their luck anyways, he couldn’t afford to spend anymore time not on the mission objectives. Conrad and Bean continued the mission as per the NASA plan while Dick Gordon orbited overhead.
Fast forward to the very end of the mission. Bean and Conrad are doing last checks of the LEM before they enter for the last time and depart from the moon. As Bean is stowing one of the collection bags, the camera key falls out. The unofficially planned photo time has come and gone, and he tosses the key over his shoulder to rest forever on the surface of the moon.
This painting, The Fantasy, is that moment. There have never been three people on the moon at the same time, there was never an unofficial photo shoot on the moon, this picture could never have happened.
“The most experienced astronaut was designated commander, in charge of all aspects of the mission, including flying the lunar module. Prudent thinking suggested that the next-most-experienced crew member be assigned to take care of the command module, since it was our only way back home. Pete had flown two Gemini flights, the second with Dick as his crewmate. This left the least experienced - me - to accompany the commander on the lunar surface.
"I was the rookie. I had not flown at all; yet I got the prize assignment. But not once during the three years of training which preceded our mission did Dick say that it wasn’t fair and that he wished he could walk on the moon, too. I do not have his unwavering discipline or strength of character.
"We often fantasized about Dick’s joining us on the moon but we never found a way. In my paintings, though, I can have it my way. Now, at last, our best friend has come the last sixty miles.” - Al Bean, about TheFantasy.
