As a student who studies biology and art, I am interested in the relationship between these two studies; however, I want to explore problems in life science by using artistic skill. I have a slightly different way to view the art-science connection compared to how Bioart approaches it. Sarah Bryant, a book artist, also uses artistic method in her works to explore scientific topics. Bryant is interested in diagrammatic pattern and changing lines in statistical graphs. She has already published over ten books. I am mostly attracted to two of her books named Point of View (2008) and Figure Study (2015).
Point of View (2008) explores the emotional changes of an individual when reacting to the other people and the surroundings. Bryant primarily focuses on social anxieties, and she also emphasizes the necessity for an individual to interact the environment. The graphs are mainly designed in the cross-section style, showing body temperature changes by different colors. Some pages are translucent to imply the shifting of emotion. This book has applied some psychology and sociology aspects.
Figure Study (2015) is Bryant's current work. Collaborating with the biology professor David Allen at Middlebury College in Vermont, they collected population pyramid data from various regions around the world. More than one hundred population pyramid images were created. In every sheet, each two population pyramids are attached to each other, one at the upper position and another one at the lower position. Generally speaking, Figure Study is a collection book of data study. It allows the readers to learn the population distribution in different places and to analysis the images by comparison. Besides the book projects I have introduced, Bryant's other book works such as Cutaway, Biography, Simulations, etc., are also related to scientific subject.
Sarah Bryant's website: http://bigjumppress.com/home.html
The way she interacts with the meaning and simplicity of lines and how she connects art with the science are truly interesting. Her works make me see a different way to explore the art-science connection. Bryant tries to present two things in her works, the physical realities of environment and how humans reflect their emotion to the environment. Point of View is a well example to understand Bryant's goals. I also found out she is careful on the design to every detail of a book. In Point of View, there is an interesting feature that the characters are only drawn with the outlines, making readers be able to identify the their emotions by the color changes instead of the facial expressions. Bryant also set a gatefold for each page in order to encourage the readers to have more interaction with the book and dissect the translucent layers. The translucent design represents the transition of surroundings. Although Figure Study does not present an obvious emotion-environment connection, but the series of population pyramids have fully shown the realities of environment.
Bioart develops a new way to practice art, but sometimes a Bioart work may hold the viewers back because of their unfamiliarity to biotechnology. Sarah Bryant uses drawing skill and layout design to explore different scientific studies. Similarly, for this project, I also want to question biological problem by using visual images.
My final project connects to the issue of animal endangerment and human activity impact on environment. According to National Geographic, species extinction is happening 1000 times faster when humans appear, meaning we are causing the loss of various organisms at an unbelievable speed. Animal extinction is typically caused by human activities such as hunting, natural resources consumption, overexploitation, etc. For instance, many amphibians lose their habitats because of agriculture use or industrial contamination. Biodiversity is seriously important to increases natural productivity and maintains ecosystem balance. Species extinction can lead to the instability of ecosystem, causing more species to extinct due to the disruption of food chain. Therefore, the purpose of my final project is to gain more public attention on this issue. It is a 5-minutes video that consists images of endangered species. The species are in five classes of animals: mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. The video starts with aquatic mammals then ends with marine fish. I used ocean habitat as the starting and ending point. Most drawn animals were classified as either vulnerable or critical endangered in their conservation status, and only few are considered as less concerned based on the IUCN Red List. All species I selected were threatened due to human activities. I drew the images by the software Corel Painter. The reason I chose to use drawing is because I think visual art is a common art form for general audience and is an effective way to transmit the message. Then all the drawings were collected and transformed into a video by using Adobe Premiere. I also uploaded the video to the Internet, so it can have a higher chance to be noticed by the broader audience.
I hope this video project will create some impact to the public. The primary influences I look forward to the audience are viewing nature and life with more respect, and perhaps even more –gaining interest in biodiversity by concerning wildlife preservation or human impact on environment. However, there are several considerations that my project needs to adjust. Because the animation only moves in either vertical or horizontal direction, the motion can be more dynamic and developed into a storytelling. Besides the movement problem, I think my project need to develop a question on contemporary technology of digital art.
So far, I have made some project to connect art and biology, but I always interpret my work in an overly simple style. Starting from this project, I hope to see myself building up more experience of practicing biological theme in an more artistic, poetic way.
Bioart develops a new way to practice art, but sometimes a Bioart work may hold the viewers back because of their unfamiliarity to biotechnology. Sarah Bryant uses drawing skill and layout design to explore different scientific studies. Similarly, for this project, I also want to question biological problem by using visual images.
My final project connects to the issue of animal endangerment and human activity impact on environment. According to National Geographic, species extinction is happening 1000 times faster when humans appear, meaning we are causing the loss of various organisms at an unbelievable speed. Animal extinction is typically caused by human activities such as hunting, natural resources consumption, overexploitation, etc. For instance, many amphibians lose their habitats because of agriculture use or industrial contamination. Biodiversity is seriously important to increases natural productivity and maintains ecosystem balance. Species extinction can lead to the instability of ecosystem, causing more species to extinct due to the disruption of food chain. Therefore, the purpose of my final project is to gain more public attention on this issue. It is a 5-minutes video that consists images of endangered species. The species are in five classes of animals: mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. The video starts with aquatic mammals then ends with marine fish. I used ocean habitat as the starting and ending point. Most drawn animals were classified as either vulnerable or critical endangered in their conservation status, and only few are considered as less concerned based on the IUCN Red List. All species I selected were threatened due to human activities. I drew the images by the software Corel Painter. The reason I chose to use drawing is because I think visual art is a common art form for general audience and is an effective way to transmit the message. Then all the drawings were collected and transformed into a video by using Adobe Premiere. I also uploaded the video to the Internet, so it can have a higher chance to be noticed by the broader audience.
I hope this video project will create some impact to the public. The primary influences I look forward to the audience are viewing nature and life with more respect, and perhaps even more –gaining interest in biodiversity by concerning wildlife preservation or human impact on environment. However, there are several considerations that my project needs to adjust. Because the animation only moves in either vertical or horizontal direction, the motion can be more dynamic and developed into a storytelling. Besides the movement problem, I think my project need to develop a question on contemporary technology of digital art.
So far, I have made some project to connect art and biology, but I always interpret my work in an overly simple style. Starting from this project, I hope to see myself building up more experience of practicing biological theme in an more artistic, poetic way.
The whole image of my project video
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