100 Days of Science in Art
Scale COmparison of the Earth and Sun 2017 | gouache on paper | 7.9" x 7.9"
Composition of the Universe 2017 | gouache and Salt on paper | 7.9" x 7.9"
BOSS Great Wall 2017 | gouache on paper | 7.9" x 7.9"
May 28, 2017
“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existence. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery each day."
—Albert Einstein
And, really, what better way to do that than by making art about it on a daily basis?
I've been avid reader since that world opened up to me via a cute little pug who was always busy running, going, sitting, and doing other actions that could be described by monosyllabic verbs (Run Pug, run!). Flopping between periods in my life of literature and nonfiction, I've been on a serious science book bender for a while now. My brain was becoming so filled with concepts that I needed a way to process them all. Along came The 100 Day Project, a communal art project I stumbled upon on Instagram started by illustrator Elle Luna and designed to encourage creativity and art making as a way of life. It spoke to my OCD tendencies for starters, but as I've learned in my avid reading and through practice, intentional, daily rituals help change behaviors and set new patterns. And better yet, the process of transferring information into a visual form is a sure-fire way to have those ideas crystallize in your brain, especially if those concepts tend to be experientially challenging or especially abstract (like oh, say, quantum physics).
I'm slightly over halfway through this project, and with a couple of exceptions where life just had other plans, I've been diligent about the work. Each day I set aside no more than 15 minutes of time to make a small painting or drawing based on scientific concepts I'm reading or otherwise learning about. There are themes that appear as I build on ideas or explore different aspects of them. There are some one-offs that are relevant to the day, like cancer cells forming a tumor on the day after Republicans voted for a horrific health care bill or an homage to Cassini flying between Saturn and its rings for the first time ever. They are all a consistent size and alternate between gouache paintings and watercolor pastel sketches. Color or style is sometimes used to group similar concepts together. Individually, some are more minimal and some have more complicated compositions, but as a body, they are beginning to tell a story of interconnectivity between the very large and the very small, and between separate branches of study like astronomy, physics, chemistry, or geology. They are each a tiny slice of that marvelous structure of reality.
And they are working. I read. I annotate what I am reading. I consider how I want to translate what I've read or ideas that my reading has conjured into a visual form. I take the physical action of creating the works. And then I write about each one in a caption. It's hitting upon multiple modes for processing ideas, and I'm not only retaining the information better, the ideas are gelling in ways that are allowing me to see that interconnectivity and even build on them further. And in a way, they are like a small, very specific, microcosm of how I approach my art in general, which is growth-minded and focused on concepts and ideas as much as the human experience of those ideas.
You can see the complete set of 100 on Instagram.
CHAOS!!!!!! 2018 at Ro2 ArtFour paintings from this project will be included in Ro2 Art’s Sixth Annual Small Works Spectacular, a curated exhibition of small works featuring over 100 Ro2 artists and guests.1501 S. Ervay Street, Dallas, TX, 75215
August 4–September 8, 2018Opening: August 4 7–11 PM
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Check out my interview on the podcast Who Are These People?
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