Voyage of Discovery has been Discovered

Well, at least a little. Some people have written some nice things about the show. Have a look:

Grist,  March 13, 2014

These Artists Will Take You on a Journey to the Melting Arctic, by Jessica Zimmerman

Inhabitat, March 10, 2014

DC’s Voyage of Discovery Exhibition Explores Climate Change in the Arctic, by Jon Dioffa

Last Word on Nothing, March 4, 2014

Voyage of Discovery:Art and the Arctic, by Helen Fields

BoingBoing, March 4, 2014

Art Inspired by the Melting Arctic, by Maggie Koerth-Baker

Symbiartic/Scientific American, March 4, 2014

Science Art on View in March-April, by Kalliopi Monoyios

And here's a link to video of my NAS talk on "Art and Science as Ways of Knowing"

News! Show at AAAS and Talk at NAS

Two pretty big pieces of news on the science-art front: First, today is the opening day for Voyage of Discovery, a show featuring artwork by me, Ellyn Weiss and Jessica Beels at the headquarters of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.  Second, I’ve been invited to speak at next month’s DASER (DC Art-Science Evening Rendezvous) at the National Academy of Sciences. Whew!

First, about the show:

Voyage of Discovery

January 21 – May 31, 2014

AAAS Art Gallery

1200 New York Avenue NW

Washington, DC

The artwork in Voyage of Discovery has its roots in the idea of a journey of scientific exploration, in the tradition of Darwin, Wallace, and the thousands of scientists who constantly travel the globe in search of new findings. This imaginary voyage takes viewers to a polar region where the iconic, seemingly eternal, landscape of ice and snow is in profound and rapid transition due to climate change. The pieces in this show, created by Michele Banks, Jessica Beels and Ellyn Weiss in a wide variety of media, are not strictly based on scientific data. They reflect the artists’ responses to the transformation of land and sea - the melting of glaciers and the thawing of permafrost, the movement of previously unknown species and microbes into the region, the dramatic shift of the color of the land from white to green to black. The artwork takes a broad view of these changes: the artists are deeply aware of the damage done by climate change, yet intrigued by the possibilities of what lies below the ice and snow.

The gallery is open to the public from 9am-5pm Monday to Friday. A reception is being planned for later in the show’s run – more information to come.

DASER:

D.C. Art Science Evening Rendezvous (DASER) is a monthly discussion forum on art and science projects held by the Cutural Programs department of the National Academy of Sciences (CPNAS) in the national capital region and beyond. DASERs provide a snapshot of the cultural environment and foster interdisciplinary networking. This month, in celebration of its third anniversary, DASER explores the theme of art as a way of knowing.

Thursday, February 20, 2014, 6 p.m. (doors open at 5:30)

Keck Center, 500 Fifth St., N.W., Room 100

Free and open to the public. Registration and photo ID required.

Sign up here to attend: http://www.eventbrite.com/e/dc-art-science-evening-rendezvous-daser-tickets-10211848915

Panelists: Michele Banks, Artist, Washington, D.C. ;  Diane Burko, Artist, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Robert Root-Bernstein, Professor of Physiology and Bioartist, Michigan State University, East Lansing; Nina Samuel, Art and Science Historian and Independent Curator, New York City and Berlin, Germany

If you can't attend, a livestream is available. 

I regret that I cannot provide the narrative you obviously desire

I’ve done six shows in the last seven weeks.  As anyone who has ever tried this knows, patterns begin to emerge in the way customers react to your work. As I have continued over the past two years to increase the amount of science-based art in the mix, I’ve noticed a major new one:  a huge increase in the number of people who walk into my booth and ask, “Are you a biologist?” And it’s starting to bug me.

I understand where that question is coming from, and that it’s not coming from a bad place. People recognize the elements of biology in my work and they want to say something.  It’s friendly. (Although I was slightly alarmed when one woman all but shouted in my face at one show: “science teacher!!!” – i.e., I must be one.) And, of course, there are many scientist-artists out there.

But I’m not a biologist, or even, as others suggest, a science major, and that seems to bum people out. I explain that I’m a full-time artist with a strong interest in science, and they say, “oh”. Or I talk about how I use biological imagery to explore ideas about what it means to be alive, and they think I’m a pretentious artiste.

Look, I’m sorry I cannot provide you with the neat narrative you so obviously desire.

Sigh. I’m a weirdo.

Maybe it runs in my family – my father was a born-and-bred New Yorker with a PhD from Columbia. And yet I grew up in Indiana and Pennsylvania with a gun-owning Republican dad. Yeah – same guy.  One whose grandfather was a Connecticut Yankee named Stonewall Jackson Banks.

Or maybe it doesn’t. Gun-toting Republican Chemist PhD dad certainly failed to turn me into (or even interest me in) any of those things.

I’ve made my own, sometimes odd, choices in life. I get that it doesn’t make a neat storyline. I’ve certainly considered lying and telling people I am a biologist, just to make them happy. But I am haunted by the fear that one of them will turn out to be Michael Eisen. And mostly, I just wish that more people would be comfortable with the fact that non-scientists can love and celebrate science.

Luckily, there are some - like the lady who bought one of my petri dish collages to hang in her bathroom to remind people to wash their hands, and the couple who bought a mitochondria painting because they think it’s cool that we have jelly beans inside our cells.

You don’t have to be a biologist to like my work.
And I don’t have to be a biologist to make it.

Crunch Time

Three festivals in two weeks! Can I do it? I guess we’ll find out.

September 28: Barracks Row Fall Festival, DC 

I’ve done this festival before, but it sounds like organizers have taken it to a new level this year. There will be an outdoor Beer Garden, a petting zoo with llamas, goats and hedgehogs (!) and an Instagram photo competition. And (of course) me, and lots of other awesome vendors.

October 5: Art on the Avenue, Alexandria VA

This is a lovely, big, sprawling festival with 300 artists and crafters, lots of yummy food, music and great activities for the kids. Oh, and PIE. It runs 10-6 and I advise coming early before the crowd gets really thick. I’ll be between Windsor and Custis Streets on Mt. Vernon Avenue.

October 6: MPA ArtFest, McLean, VA

This is a smaller and more exclusive show with 50 artists in McLean Central Park. The McLean project for the Arts does a great job, with a beautiful setting, great food, and lots of fantastic art, jewelry and accessories. Definitely worth a visit.

Oh, and I made some very cool new clayboard neuron pieces (see above). I probably won't be bringing them to festivals unless requested - they're a little fragile - so have a look in my online shop. 

Not so much keeping calm, but carrying on

Wow, 2013 has been a really tough year so far. It started off with a crushing depression in January, caused partly by what we shall call “complications of uninsuredness”. I got better, and then my husband lost his job in May. Of course, no financial disaster is complete without emergency dental work and car repairs, so I added those. And then someone stole my phone.

Possibly because I am not British, I pretty much suck at keeping calm – I cry all the time – but I’m pretty good at carrying on. I’ve kept making art, had a full schedule of shows, and I’ve been working hard at building up my inventory for fall shows and online holiday traffic. I’m blogging twice a week over at the Finch & Pea, on Wednesdays (Art of Science) and Saturdays (Science Caturday). I moderated sessions at ScienceOnline in January and ScienceOnline Climate last week.  I’m also preparing for a major gallery show with Ellyn Weiss and Jessica Beels in January that involves making all new work in several media.

Anyway, that’s what’s been going on, and here’s what’s coming up.  I recently added five new scarf designs to my etsy shop, including three based on neuron images and two on my “Portrait of a Human” piece. They are gorgeous, and you should really get one.

I also have five shows coming up in the next two months, so if you’re in the DC area, please try to stop by.

September 8: Art on Belmont, Adams Morgan, DC

September 14: Downtown Hyattsville Art Festival

October 5: Art on The Avenue, Alexandria, VA

October 6: MPA ArtFest, McLean, VA

October 19-20: Art @ The Park, Annapolis, MD

I also hope to spend a few days selling art at the Downtown Holiday Market in December but I’m still waiting to hear from them.

OMG I'm going to Artscape!

Just got word this morning that I'm going to Artscape in Baltimore! No time to blog - frame all the things!

New petri dishes!

I made some new petri dish ornaments this week. I know Christmas is a long way off, but people keep searching for them, so why not? I tried something new, using pieces of a couple of the paintings I made in ink on mylar (clear plastic) or Yupo (translucent polypropylene). Results were pretty good! You can see a bunch in the shop.