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The Spring '16 Science Art Exhibit Guide

The most interesting science art exhibits on display this spring and beyond

This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American


This collection of exhibits at the intersection of science and art will fine tune your senses after a long, chilly winter. Get out of the house and enjoy!

EXHIBITS: NORTHEAST


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TOUCH THE SKY: Art and Astronomy April 29 - August 21, 2016 The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center Vassar College 124 Raymond Avenue Poughkeepsie, NY

Astronomy can be traced back to antiquity with its origins in religious and mythological beliefs; its study has been closely linked to artistic endeavors since the Renaissance. Touch the Sky is a multi-media exhibition of images of the moon, sun, planets, and stars made by artists since the nineteenth century. Artistic observation of the skies was advanced by the dawn of photography in 1839, when Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre attempted to capture an image of the moon, and in 1865 when Lewis Rutherfurd, inventor of the first telescope designed for astrophotography, made top-quality spectroscopic images of the moon. Since then, artists’ enthusiasm for recording and interpreting the grandeur and mystery of the cosmos has not waned. The exhibition includes work by nineteen artists, including Vija Celmins, Chris McCaw, Sharon Harper, David Malin, Mungo Thomson, Lisa Oppenheim, and Nancy Graves.

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CARL STRÜWE: Microcosmos April 14 - June 4, 2016 Steven Kasher Gallery 515 West 26th Street New York, NY

The Steven Kasher Gallery is pleased to present Carl Strüwe: Microcosmos, the first solo exhibition of the German photographer in the United States since his 1949 solo show at the Brooklyn Museum. This survey features over 50 black and white prints made by the artist of his microphotographs from 1926 through 1959, all part of his project Formen des Mikrokosmos (Forms of the Microcosmos). A graphic designer and photographer, Carl Strüwe (1898-1988) is considered the father of microphotography as art. He deserves to be rediscovered as a significant protagonist of early twentieth-century German photography and as an important link to the international abstract photography so widely practiced today. This exhibition is mounted in conjunction with our concurrent show Gottfried Jäger: Photographer of Photography. Jäger was deeply influenced by Strüwe and owns the Strüwe archive.

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(ANIMAL, VEGETABLE)...MINERAL April 7 - May 29, 2016 Central Booking, Haber Space 21 Ludlow Street New York, NY

A new exhibition featuring artists John Baber, Robyn Ellenbogen, Dolores Furtado, Nina Kuo, Ann Reichlin, Miljohn Ruperto, Chris Sancomb, Sarah Stengle, Shannon Sullivan, Blosson Verlinsky, Bedra Weisberg, and Elaine Whittaker. Curated by Maddy Rosenberg. Central Booking's Haber Space is dedicated to showcasing an unusually broad variety of genres in a series of explorations of where art meets science. The gallery also hosts a space dedicated to the book arts and touts the interactive relationship between the two. 

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REVEALING THE INVISIBLE: The History of Glass and the Microscope April 23, 2016 - March 19, 2017 The Corning Museum of Glass One Museum Way Corning, NY

Glass made it possible for scientists and artists to see tiny living creatures once invisible to the human eye. Revealing the Invisible: The History of Glass and the Microscope tells the stories of scientists’ and artists’ exploration of the microscopic world between the 1600s and the late 1800s. Their discoveries fed people’s hunger to learn more about nature, increasing the popularity of microscopes and driving improvements in scientific glass. These advances culminated in the 19th century with the advent of modern scientific glassmaking and the perfection of the microscope. Unleash your sense of discovery as you explore the invisible through historic microscopes, rare books, and period illustrations.

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FRAGILE LEGACY: The Marine Invertebrate Glass Models of Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka May 14, 2016 - January 7, 2017 The Corning Museum of Glass One Museum Way Corning, NY

At the turn of the 20th century, Leopold Blaschka and his son, Rudolf, developed a successful business producing glass models of soft-bodied undersea creatures—marine invertebrates. Carefully crafted in their studio in Dresden, Germany, these models were shipped to universities and museums worldwide as study models. When Cornell University acquired its teaching collection in 1885, the Blaschka models could be purchased in North America from Ward’s Natural Science Establishment in Rochester, New York. By 1888, this father and son team offered 700 models that, according to Leopold Blaschka himself, were “universally acknowledged as being perfectly true to nature.”

Now, researchers at Cornell are using the collection as a time capsule for seeking out and documenting the creatures still living in our oceans today. “If ever there was a time to compare the plentiful past with an ocean in jeopardy, that time would be now,” says Drew Harvell, Associate Director of Environment at the Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future at Cornell, and curator of the Cornell Collection of Blaschka Invertebrate Models. “We hope to find out whether they are surviving in the sea as magnificently as they do in glass.” To capture this, Harvell has partnered with filmmaker David Owen Brown. Brown’s documentary film, Fragile Legacy, employs Cornell’s Blaschka collection to highlight the need for the conservation of the world’s oceans.

The exhibition Fragile Legacy presents the marine invertebrate models of Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka within the context of both marine life and glass conservation. The displayed glass objects tell the story of the history of the Blaschka family, the interest in marine life and dissemination of knowledge in 19th-century Europe, the techniques and methods of creating these beautiful glass models, and finally, the story of the objects themselves as an art form.

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THE ART OF SCIENCE THE SCIENCE OF ART: Works on Paper by Gloria Garfinkel April 2 - June 12, 2016 New York Hall of Science 47-01 111th St Corona, NY

View prints by Gloria Garfinkel spanning over 20 years and inspired by the night sky. The exhibition was organized through Katharine T. Carter & Associates.

From six decades of art making that includes sculpture, printmaking, painting and bookmaking, this selection from seven series of prints represents over 20 years of Ms. Garfinkel’s interest in how art and science connect with one another.

The inspiration for several of the print series is from astronomy – observing the night sky far from city lights. The artist’s creative ideas are also sparked from the viewing of life and nature filtered through an aesthetic vision: the shape of forms, the pattern of textures, and the way colors work together to form harmonies.

A seasoned traveler, Ms. Garfinkel and her husband have traversed the globe and these trips have inspired decades of visual ideas. Several trips to Japan have culminated in painting and print series, as have trips to Iceland and Antarctica. Yet often times, inspiration comes from home – the night sky in upstate New York that provides the artist with the greatest sense of travel –to that of the universe and beyond.

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The Founding Collection of Prints and Drawings: Bequest of Clements C. Fry April 6 - August 29, 2016 Cushing/Whitney Medical Library Sterling Hall of Medicine Yale University 333 Cedar Street New Haven, CT

Seventy-five prints from Fry’s collection hung in the long entrance corridors of the Medical Library when it opened in 1941. The tradition continues today in this small exhibit which includes selections from Fry’s collection exhibited at the National Gallery of Art, 1946, and recent acquisitions which complement the original collection. 

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IMAGES OF DISCOVERY: Communicating Science Through Photography through January 10, 2017 MIT Museum 265 Massachusetts Avenue, Building N51 Cambridge, MA

Photographers, image makers, and innovators Felice Frankel, Harold "Doc" Edgerton, and Berenice Abbott are featured in this new exhibition at the MIT Museum. While working at MIT, each photographer explored a range of scientific questions.

By using strobes, magnification, and other light-capturing strategies, they reveal their curiosity about the natural world and how it works. Visitors will learn more about using photography to examine the unknown through their exposure to these distinguished photographers, and the unique image making stations featuring the inventive methodologies used by Edgerton, Abbott and Frankel.

The work selected showcases the photographer's curiosity and dedication to making the natural and the technological world more accessible to the public. Each are represented by over ten images that range in subject matter from swinging wrenches to soap bubbles.

Images of Discovery presents an exciting opportunity for visitors to experience photography as a tool for communicating about—and inspiring a passion for—science and technology.

EXHIBITS: SOUTH

FLOURISH May 13 - June 11, 2016 Art.Science.Gallery 916 Springdale Road Building 2 #102 Austin, TX

Art.Science.Gallery. announces the opening of Flourish, an exhibition of contemporary botanical drawings created during the gallery’s spring 2016 courses in Field Sketching & Nature Reportage Drawing and Botanical Illustration.

Juried by drawing instructors Jedidiah Dore and Clair Gaston, the exhibit opens Friday, May 13th from 7-10pm with an opening reception sponsored by Austin-based distillery Genius Gin. The exhibit closes Saturday, June 11th with Far Out Films #3, a free screening of short films inspired by the exhibit. A 10-foot botanical mural by Jedidiah Dore will be unveiled at the opening, and the opening reception will also serve as the catalogue release party for the gallery’s summer course offerings.

Like the botanical subjects they have drawn, the students in this show have flourished creatively under the instruction of Jedidiah Dore and Clair Gaston.  “This show is all about learning,” says instructor Jedidiah Dore, “What’s the common denominator between art and science? It’s the propensity of artists and scientists to want to learn and share what they’ve learned.”

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BIRDS OF TENNESSEE: Celebrating the Centennial of the Tennessee Ornithological Society October 5, 2015 - TBD McClung Museum of Natural History & Culture University of Tennessee, Knoxville 1327 Circle Park Drive Knoxville, TN

To celebrate the centennial of the Tennessee Ornithological Society (TOS), the museum is displaying fifty-six engravings and lithographs featuring the birds of Tennessee. Spanning two hundred years from 1731 to 1931, the prints on view are by twelve artists: Eleazar Albin, Mark Catesby, Xaviero Manetti, Alexander Wilson, Titian Ramsay Peale, Alexander Rider, Prideaux John Selby, John James Audubon, John Gould, Daniel Giraud Elliot, Henry Eeles Dresser, and Rex Brasher. The works on view are drawn from the museum’s extensive collection of over three thousand ornithological prints and are on display in the pull-out drawer case in the entrance to the Decorative Arts gallery.

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A Universe in Glass: Josh Simpson March 15 - August 03, 2016 Universe Gallery Museum of Arts and Sciences 4182 Forsyth Road Baton Rouge, LA

Josh Simpson captures the vastness and complexity of the universe in sculptures composed of glass. Inspired by the beauty of the nighttime sky and other astronomical phenomena, he creates colorful works in traditional forms such as goblets, vases, bowls, and platters, as well as more unconventional pieces. Luminous spheres, called Megaplanets, enclose intricate, imaginary landscapes, underwater scenes, and vistas of outer space while his Tektite Portals offer otherworldly views. Simpson resides in Massachusetts with his wife, astronaut Catherine “Cady” Coleman. 

EXHIBITS: MIDWEST

THE WORLD OF BIRDS: Artwork of the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators April 24 - June 6, 2016 Brushwood Center at Ryerson Woods 21850 N. Riverwoods Rd. Riverwoods, IL

The Guild of Natural Science Illustrators is a non-profit organization of both illustrators and those interested in science illustration, founded by illustrators at the Smithsonian Institution in 1968, to provide opportunities to meet, share ideas, and spread the knowledge of visual science techniques. In The World of Birds, members of the GNSI Great Lakes Chapter focus their talents on a single subject to both celebrate and educate the public about our wondrous feathered friends.

Featured artists: Rebe Banasiak · Carrie Carlson · Diane Dorigan · Gail Guth · Nancy Halliday · Karen Johnson · Paul Krieger · Jennifer Logothetti-Gordon · Alexandrea Pataky · Carla Schmakel · Joan Stachnik · Suzanne Wegener · Sandy Williams

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2016 National Juried Art Exhibition: Art + Science March 28 - May 13, 2016 Indiana University East 2325 Chester Blvd. Richmond, IN

IU East is hosting its 2nd National Juried Exhibition themed “Art + Science.” We were honored, humbled, and overwhelmed to receive 525 submissions from 40 states for this open call from which 48 works by 44 artists from 25 states were chosen for inclusion. Our juror Lily Simonson described her jury process as follows:

"I sought to include works that relate to the theme of art and science in ways that are original and multi-faceted. While the majority of submissions fit the theme in some way, the most distinguished pieces built on the long tradition of art and science working in concert by either saying something new about that intersection, exploring a specific aspect of science, or using scientific methodologies to create the work. Another set of criteria related to each artist's discussion of their work. The strongest submissions were accompanied by a clear written explanation of how the work related to the theme of art and science. At the same time, the conceptual basis for the piece was evident in the work itself, rather than leaning heavily on the accompanying text. Other more pragmatic issues were also considered. For example, it was difficult to accommodate especially long video pieces or physical works that exceeded the maximum dimensions outlined in the call.”

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NUMBERS IN NATURE: A Mirror Maze new permanent exhibit Museum of Science and Industry 5700 S. Lake Shore Drive Chicago, IL

Patterns are everywhere if you know where to look! From the delicate nested spirals of a sunflower’s seeds, to the ridges of a majestic mountain range, to the layout of the universe, mathematical patterns abound in the natural world. Numbers in Nature: A Mirror Maze is a new permanent exhibit that will expose and explain the patterns that surround us.

As you enter Numbers in Nature, lenticular images and an immersive large-format film reveal these repeating patterns hidden throughout nature: spirals, occurrences of the "golden ratio" (ɸ), Voronoi patterns, and fractal branching. You will even discover patterns and ratios found in your own body and in centuries of music, art, and architecture so that you'll never look at the world the same way again.

EXHIBITS: WEST

ATOMS + BYTES: Redefining Craft in the Digital Age March 4 – June 26, 2016 Bellevue Arts Museum 510 Bellevue Way NE Bellevue, WA

Today's makers have access to a wider array of tools, materials, and processes than ever before. Digital methods such as scanning and imaging, coding, CNC-milling, and rapid prototyping not only influence the way objects are designed, manufactured, and distributed, but also change the terms of our relationships with them.

Atoms + Bytes: Redefining Craft in the Digital Age will showcase works by 30 international and local makers situated at the intersection of the digital and the analogue worlds. These artists, craftspeople, and designers excel in material practices that span millennia of craft traditions, while drawing on cutting-edge digital tools to develop innovative ways of making. The integration of these atoms and bytes, building blocks of matter and information, generates the new forms and typologies that shape our changing world.

Through the presentation of works that embody mergers of traditional and digital processes and materials, Atoms + Bytes reframes the conversation about the place of technology within the historical trajectory of object-making and offers an invitation to reevaluate the way we place value on craft and define "hand-made."

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NATURAL INSPIRATIONS: The Russian River Watershed in Fabric April 28 - September 13, 2016 Heron Hall, Laguna Environmental Center 900 Sanford Road Santa Rosa, CA

Natural Inspirations: The Russian River Watershed in Fabric consists of new quilts created for a recent exhibit at the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles, reflecting the diversity of the watershed and highlighting the agriculture, wildlife and natural resources of the area, including the Laguna de Santa Rosa. Join us for their opening reception on Sunday May 15, 3:00-5:00pm. FREE. No RSVP necessary. Light snacks will be provided.

The Pointless Sisters is an art quilt group whose members’ quilts have been shown both nationally and internationally. Members use a variety of non-traditional quilting and surface design techniques to produce stunning and innovative fiber arts. The more than 45 members meet regularly to share their knowledge, discuss new trends, promote their exhibits, and initiate group challenges to produce fiber art with a common theme. The Pointless Sisters have contributed quilts to benefit local non-profits as well as raising money for Doctors Without Borders and other organizations. The group is committed to bringing art quilting to the community as well as an awareness of the region’s natural beauty. Click here for info on their recent exhibit in San Jose.

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ILLUSTRATING NATURE May 7 - June 12, 2016 Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History 165 Forest Avenue Pacific Grove, CA

The Science Illustration Program, California State University, Monterey Bay would like to invite you to the 7th annual Illustrating Nature exhibition at the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History.

The exhibit will be open May 6th-June 12th. An opening reception will be held May 7th from 5-7pm. Many of the student works from the class of 2015 that were featured in last year's exhibit are archived in our online alumni gallery.

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TENTACLES: The Astounding Lives of Octopuses, Squid, and Cuttlefishes April 12, 2014 - September 2016 Monterey Bay Aquarium 886 Cannery Row Monterey, CA

Journey to a world of undersea magicians, masters of disguise and quick-change artists. Our special exhibition is the largest, most diverse living exhibit ever created to showcase these amazing animals. You won't believe your eyes.

 

EXHIBITS: ABROAD

Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum: POLYHEDRA April 1 - May 7, 2016 Tiwani Contemporary 16 Little Portland Street London, UNITED KINGDOM

Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum was born in 1980 in Mochudi, Botswana, and currently lives and works in Johannesburg, South Africa. She has as at times times called various parts of Africa, Southeast Asia, Canada and the United States home. Motivated by her experiences in these diverse locales, Sunstrum explores how one's sense of identity develops within geographic and cultural contexts. Her drawings - narrative landscapes that appear simultaneously futuristic and ancient - shift between representational and fantastical depictions of volcanic, subterranean, cosmological, and precipitous landscapes.

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BIO AND BEYOND March 26 - May 13, 2016 ASCUS Art + Science Summerhall Place Edinburgh,  UNITED KINGDOM

Co-curated by the Science Festival, Summerhall and ASCUS Art & Science, Bio and Beyond brings together work from local and international artists, designers and scientists inspired by or challenging science and technology’s potential to improve our world and how we live in it. Bio and Beyond puts life under the microscope; encompassing everything from the deeply personal to the truly global – even cosmic.

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DISCOVERY: Reimagining Darwin's World May 3 - May 15, 2016 Espacio Gallery 159 Bethnal Green Rd London, UNITED KINGDOM

Discovery: Reimagining Darwin’s World reveals the artists’ distinctive interpretations of Darwin’s investigations and thoughts on the natural world. From tiny details through to sweeping concepts, each artist brings you their own unique insight into the ideas of Charles Darwin: visitors can enjoy a wide range of exhibits including an interactive, mechanical sculpture, exquisite illustrations and 3D prints of our potential evolutionary development.

Darwin’s own account of his travels, The Voyage of the Beagle, as a starting point has inspired a wealth of artistic responses. 

In addition, the artists have each produced a single piece of work based on the Galapagos Ground Finch and these can be seen collectively on the landing between the basement and the ground floor. The artists’ reactions to the theme of Darwin’s voyage of discovery have resulted in a unique, thoughtful and challenging body of work. 

Participating artists: Alice Cazenave, Esperanza Gomez-Carrera, Graham Asker, Jenny Price, Julie Caves, Liz Whiteman Smith, Matt Smith, Natalie McIntyre, Nick Hazzard, Peter Lang, Ruth Jones, Sara Wickenden; Curated by Ruth Jones

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ART AROUND THE CENTRE: Science Art Installations ongoing Ontario Science Centre 770 Don Mills Road Toronto, ON  CANADA

Creative inspiration is at the heart of both science and art – and our array of indoor and outdoor art installations blend art and science in delightful and insightful ways. Current installations include:

BEAM Robot Fish: Controlled by solar cells, this BEAM robot sculpture (Biology, Electronic, Aesthetics, Mechanics) is designed to live, feed and fend for itself in the ocean. Cloud: Check out this mesmerizing art installation composed of hundreds of rotating glass panels designed to mimic the changes of state from solid to liquid to gas. Jacquard Coverlet: Marvel at this wall hanging woven on our antique Jacquard loom by volunteers. Like a computer, the loom’s mechanism uses binary to create the pattern.

View the complete list of science art installations.  

Do you know of any exhibits or have an upcoming exhibit that should be included on this list? Send me an email at symbiartic (dot) km (at) gmail (dot) com, or tweet me @eyeforscience with the deets. If it's scienceart related, it's fair game.