Artists at Work Forum: Studio as Lab at Chicago Cultural Center on June 17, 2010 at 6pm

Thurs., June 17, 2010
6:00pm-7:30pm
Chicago Cultural Center
78 E. Washington St., 5th Floor Washington Room
Chicago, IL



(This is a free event.)

Artists Hunter Cole, Vesna Jovanovic, Peter N. Gray, and Josh Kurutz discuss the reinterpretation of science as art. With solid backgrounds in the scientific disciplines, the four artists offer their unique and challenging perspectives on the application of their science to create provocative and intriguing art.

With a Ph.D. in Genetics, Hunter Cole created and teaches innovative bioart courses at Loyola University Chicago. She also co-authored a paper on “Art and Genetics” with Joe Davis, Dana Boyd, and Marek Wieczorek, published in the Encyclopedia of Life Sciences (ELS). Her "Living Drawings" have been exhibited throughout the U.S, and include a solo exhibition at the Loyola University Museum of Art in Chicago.

Vesna Jovanovic has degrees in both art and chemistry. Since 2003, her art has been included in more than 50 exhibitions, most recently in a solo exhibition at the International Museum of Surgical Science in Chicago.

Peter N. Gray was the principal investigator for a biochemistry laboratory for more than 20 years. His large-scale public sculptures are in collections of sculpture parks throughout the Midwest. His most recent installation includes multiple works in the Blue Line Chicago stop subway station.

Josh Kurutz is a senior scientist and instructor at Northwestern University, and was a Featured Artist for Chicago Artists' Month 2008. He has shown his artwork at the Science and Art exhibits at the Gordon Center for Integrative Science at the University of Chicago, Gallery 400 at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and his audio work has been featured on Chicago Public Radio.

At Work Forums bring artists and experts to discuss best practices for Chicago's creatives in music, dance, theater, visual art, and more.

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More information for Artists at Work Forum: Studio as Lab at the Chicago Cultural Center

"Hands," photograph by the light of bioluminescent bacteria,

Hunter Cole, 2010.

Hunter Cole - Short Biography
Both an internationally shown artist and also experienced geneticist, Hunter Cole reinterprets science as art through living art, abstractions, digital art, and installations. She holds a Ph.D. and Master's degree in Genetics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a Bachelor of Science from the University of California-Berkeley. She teaches biology and art at Loyola University Chicago. She created a course, Biology Through Art, where students have the opportunity to create innovative artworks in a biology laboratory.

Hunter Cole - Presentation
Hunter Cole will discuss her art created with living bioluminescent bacteria. In her “Living Drawings” series she creates controlled line drawings using bioluminescent bacteria. The bacteria grow, first appearing with bright light, then dim and gradually die off as available nutrients are depleted. Bacteria are photographed using a time-lapse technique over a two-week period. Bacteria become collaborators in the art as it grows and dies. She has also created a movie of bioluminescent bacteria growing and dying with music based on protein sequences found in the bacteria. Recently Hunter Cole has created a new series, “Living Light,” where people and objects are photographed by the light of bioluminescent bacteria. The only light source in the photographs comes from living bioluminescent bacteria.
http://www.HunterCole.org

"New Mitosis," ink, graphite, and white pencil (26 x 40 in.)

Vesna Jovanovic, 2008.

Vesna Jovanovic - Short Biography
Vesna Jovanovic is a visual artist based out of Chicago, IL. She holds a BA in Fine Arts and a BS in Chemistry from Loyola University Chicago, where she received First Place at the graduating senior exhibition. She also received a BFA in Studio Art from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she was granted a Merit Scholarship of Recognition. Her MFA degree in Photography is from The Ohio State University. Jovanovic is a recipient of several awards and grants, and was recently featured in several magazines and blogs such as: Time Out Chicago, Newcity, Seed, Art:21, and Discover. Her artwork has been included in over fifty exhibitions since 2003, including solo exhibitions at the University of Chicago Gordon Center for Integrative Science, and the International Museum of Surgical Science.

Vesna Jovanovic - Presentation
Vesna Jovanovic will discuss the ways in which her art process has been informed by her background in science, and the parallels that she draws between her experiences with science and art. Her ink drawings, sculptural ceramic vessels, and pinhole photographs all depend on experimentation, inquiry, risk, and the struggle between chance and intentionality. She often incorporates scientific themes into her work, and her current studio practice has, in some sense, become a fulfillment of the same needs that were once fulfilled by science: those of curiosity, inquiry, and discovery. The difference for her lies in how she perceives the outcomes of these two fields; while science primarily seeks explanations, art aims to reveal open-ended questions.
http://www.vesnaonline.com/

"Point Mutation," steel and African Red Granite (l9H x 4W x 3D feet) Peter N. Gray, 2007.

Peter N. Gray - Short Biography
Peter N. Gray is an artist and biomedical scientist using steel and bronze sculptures to awaken our inner scientist as he expresses the inherent softer organic sculptural aesthetics of genetics and biotechnology. His large-scale public sculptures are in permanent collections of sculpture parks and a Chicago public school and he has had long-term exhibits in the Koehnline Museum of Art, Lincoln Park, the Chicago campus of DePaul University and the Johnson, Vermont Sculpture Park. A recent installation includes multiple works in a CTA subway station. Gray earned a doctorate in biomedicine and is a full time practicing artist.

Peter N. Gray - Presentation
Gray will present the melding of science in art over the years and then discuss how he personally weaves together science and art. He will discuss his recent works that abstractly address the complexities of the Central Dogma from DNA structure to protein synthesis. Motivated by a passion for science, he tries to express the innate beauty of biotechnology of these disciplines to stimulate the public’s interest in science. His newest installation at the Koehnline Museum of Art is recognizable as a lyrical statement while depicting how DNA works.
http://www.metal-i-genics.com/

Josh Kurutz

Josh Kurutz - Short Biography
Josh Kurutz is a senior scientist and instructor at Northwestern University, and was a Featured Artist for Chicago Artists' Month 2008. He earned his B.S. in Chemistry at Caltech, his Ph.D. in Biophysics from the University of Wisconsin - Madison, and did postdoctoral work in the Medicine and Chemistry departments at the University of Chicago. He has shown his artwork at the Science and Art exhibits at the Gordon Center for Integrative Science at the University of Chicago, Gallery 400 at the University of Illinois at Chicago, the American Academy for the Advancement of Science meeting, and the Experimental Nuclear Magnetic Resonance meeting, and his audio work has been featured on Chicago Public Radio.

Josh Kurutz - Presentation
Josh explores the hypothesis that scientists look at raw data like artists look at art. His art re-presents scientific data in aesthetic audible, visual, and sculptural forms to elicit the emotional resonance that scientists and artists share. Taking signals generated by different molecules in nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometers, he records sounds that give voices to chemicals and makes compositions using those sounds. We will listen to the genetic code by hearing the amino acids and DNA bases tell their own story, delve into synesthesia by listening to fragrances, and experience sexual dichotomy by listening to estrogen and testosterone in stereo. He also re-creates NMR spectra as collages of pressed flowers on paper, thus making objects whose primary function is visual beauty, but which bear all the same chemical information found in the original raw data printouts. He is currently working on an interdisciplinary project called "Is Your Science Beautiful?"
http://www.joshkurutz.com

Posted by Hunter Cole.

Contact Hunter Cole for more information.