Is it art, science, or both? What art and biology students can learn in this hybrid course at UNC-CH

ARTS & CULTURE

CHAPEL HILL — Some art shows are around for several weeks. Some only one day.

“Artist/Scientist: Printmaking and Biology, One-Day Pop-Up Exhibition” occurred last Friday at UNC-CH’s campus’s Genome Science Building Lobby.

The show is the product of a class led by Beth Grabowski of the Department of Art and Art History and Bob Goldstein of the Department of Biology.

The course — BIOL 409L/ ARTS 409H — was born because they had taken each other’s classes while serving on the Honors Thesis committee and realized that the process of thinking about art through science is very powerful. They wanted to make it possible for others to have this experience.

Grabowski believes studying art imbues students with a host of transferrable skills.

“I think of art as a ‘site of synthesis’ that allows students to look at the world’s complexity; anything that they study can find its way into an art project.”

In the first semester project, students build their own do-it-yourself microscopes and peer into the microscopic world. At that level of magnification, specific information is imparted, and it can influence what’s perceived.

Artwork such as a large-scale print allows students to consider how perceptions change depending on how the subject is viewed — in tiny detail or macro.

The course is based on three biology topics. After Micro/Macro, it’s Biological Motion, followed by Final Projects (self-directed). Each topic comes with substantial learning in both printmaking and science.

For example, building a microscope might be paired with learning linocut or woodcut methods, which are types of relief printing — a transfer method from the raised, inked surfaces of carved designs on a block, then pressed onto paper or other surfaces.

The course is a hybrid of printmaking and biology, art and science. It uses scientific processes and imagery as a source for artmaking. The curriculum creates diverse, expansive, and interconnected considerations for students. New connections, meanings, and directions are also found.

Grabowski steadfastly believes that undergraduate education is to prepare students to become contributing citizens of the world. “It’s our job at the university to give students a range of experiences and to learn how to reconcile various attitudes and information — even things that conflict.”

Left: “The Silent Storm Within” by Sophia Oh. Right: “Kusôzu” by Jesse Patete.
Photos and composite by Pamir Kiciman.

For example, Sophia Oh was born with Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD), a condition which only recently got a name.

Oh is affected the most by SPD through the skin. The tattoo-like markings in “The Silent Storm Within” depict various skin sensors and receptors.

“I put the heart there because a common symptom of SPD is that your heart races since you’re constantly being overwhelmed with sensory stimulation.”

A natural instinct is to cover or hold yourself to lower your heart rate. Plus, there’s a neuron on the hand that translates what’s happening in the body and sends messages to your brain.

The figure is also looking away. This is because another symptom of SPD is that you can’t look people directly in the eye, look at bright lights, or look away from the source of stimulation.

Jesse Patete’s “Kusôzu” has a Japanese tradition as its title. It illustrates the Biological Motion topic of the course. “I was looking into human decomposition and how the human body moved even after death.”

Kusôzu is a unique tradition consisting of watercolors, portraying the gradual decay of the body in nine stages from the first moment of death to bare bones, with discolored and bloated in-between stages included. It’s accompanied by corresponding poems and sources in Buddhist teachings on impermanence.

Patete has two forms of biological motion in the print. The underlying prints on paper show stages of human decomposition. Over it are prints on transparent mylar depicting the life cycle of a fly, one of the insects that take part in the decomposition of human bodies.

There’s a note that says you can lift the top layer gently to see the stages of human decomposition, a small censorship Goldstein suggested to protect any minors viewing the work.

Top: “Sickle” by Alacia McClary. Bottom: “See sound, Hear color” by Aliha Younus.
Photos and composite by Pamir Kiciman.

Pathology and genetics are Alacia McClary’s top interests. “I’m fascinated by Sickle Cell Disease. One of the main symptoms is pain caused by the build-up of sickle cells that block blood flow.”

This excruciating pain can come out of nowhere at any time. In “Sickle” the central figure is depicted universally, representing the entire community affected by the disease and the uneven realities of minority health.

On either side of the figure are cells. Healthy cells mixed in with sickle cells. This represents the misconception that all your cells are sickle-shaped if you have the disease.

McClary’s print will participate in another one-day show at the North Carolina Museum of Art during Black History Month.

Aliha Younus analyzes sound waves and how speech is affected by the proportions of your jaw and bite, especially after orthodontic surgery.

This became the basis of “See sound, Hear color” which is about synesthesia — a neurological condition where a person sees colors when they hear sounds or ‘tastes’ words.

“I created a distorted sound wave, using two different sound waves on top of each other and it made a kind of moiré interference pattern.”

The colors in the screen print are there to represent synesthesia and its effects on the brain. The hypnotic effect also speaks to the blending of senses that occurs with the condition.

After the first year at Hanes Arts Center (2018), the show moved to the science side of campus.

Chair of Biology, Bob Duronio, feels this has been wonderful. “The scientists get out of their bubble a little bit,” he said.

“Doing it in the building where the scientists reside makes it easier for them to visit and look at art that has a connection to science and to make that bridge.”

A faculty member purchased one of the pieces in a prior year and donated it to the department. It now decorates the main conference room where faculty meetings and business are conducted.

Pamir Kiciman is an artist who writes about a range of the arts and the creative process. He can be reached at info@thelocalreporter.press