Sunday, August 17, 2008

across disciplines

I just finished teaching scientific writing in a summer biomedical research program at UCLA.

A gift from a student:


This stint really gets my right and left brain talking. It's fascinating to work with these (brilliant, fabulous, stimulating, spectacular -- pick your adjective -- they all apply) students whose minds are exploring projects in scientific research, particularly those who are designing models based on structures in cells, nanoparticles, chemical processes.

Models = art??? The natural world inspires, in art and science.

A few summers ago, one student was exploring the workings of microtubules, little cellular transportation structures. He gave me permission to use his photos. Here is one of 160!



Of course, this urgently called for Photoshop play!






And more play produced....fabric!!!


Put them all together, and you get



...and this fun-in-cross-disciplines excursion became a piece entitled "Cellular Structures"...



And now I'm in for more interdisciplinary stimulation! This week I start teaching a course in Language and the Media at the Osher Institute at California State University Channel Islands (we'll focus on the linguistics of advertising), and I'll also be taking an art course on Color and Design.

This already ignites more musings. I want to explore the relationship between sound and symbolism and color. Whaaaaaaaaat?

This relates to current practices in branding, advertising's way of selling us stuff. It's an interesting way to look at how some principles in art (and linguistics) make their way to Madison Avenue.

Okay, say you saw these two symbols:



Which one of the two nonsense words taketa and naluma do you think goes with each of these symbols? (Courtesy of Lexicon Branding )

Most people answered this way...

Gotcha! For the answer, tune into the next blog entry! (I know this posting is a bit of a departure, but I did label the blog "musings on art and..." Bear with me.)

3 comments:

Judy Rys said...

Love, love, love your blog. It's full of wonderful inspirations and transformations.

Lora Martin said...

This post does not seem a departure at all - it is fascinating to see what inspires you. Those things then inspire your readers.

Looking forward to the branding answer.

Sarah E. said...

WOW!! I followed your link from the QA list, and my GOODNESS, how cool is your blog!! I really like how your mind works in turning photos of microscopic little "beings" into pieces of such beauty.

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