Science.Art.Wonder
Science.Art.Wonder is an Atlanta-wide initiative that promotes interdisciplinary education through the exploration of science and art and the intersection between the two. Artists work with scientists to design artwork that effectively communicates scientific research.
2020
Title: Look to the Bees
Scientist: Dr. Jennifer K. Leavey
Scientist Affiliation: Georgia Tech College of Sciences
Medium: Oil, acrylic, collage, beehive paneling
Size: About 6ft x 4.5ft
Dr. Jennifer Leavey is the Director of the Georgia Tech Urban Honeybee Project, an interdisciplinary research program focused on the impact of urban habitats on honey bees. The beehives are housed in the rooftop garden of the newly constructed Kendeda Building where Dr. Leavey also teaches VIP classes on sustainability. As we toured the building, she explained how it was designed to satisfy the Living Building Challenge. This means that the Kendeda Building is a self-sustaining built environment that generates more energy and water than it consumes. This struck a connection to how bees maintain thermoregulation and homeostasis within the hive, and we realized there is a more intricate relationship between the Kendeda Building and the bee project on its roof.
A honeybee’s agenda is simple; to reproduce, grow, and sustain their hive until the next season. As humans taking on the Living Building Challenge, our agenda extends beyond next season by training future generations to think sustainably. That is how we decided to illustrate beehives as a micro-representation of the Kendeda Building in this piece.
The Living Building Challenge revolves around 7 “Petals”: Place, Water, Energy, Health and Happiness, Materials, Equity, and Beauty. I tried to keep these in mind when creating this piece and drawing connections between the Kendeda Building and the Honeybee Project. For example, a bee’s agenda includes creating a certain “Bee Space” within the colony, which relates to the petal of “Place.” To satisfy this petal, the Kendeda Building has to be a bridge between the boundaries of human environment and natural environment. Likewise, one of the most important concepts in my art is creating a sense of space and drawing the audience into the piece, even though I am bounded by the limits of my canvas. Considering “Materials”, the Kendeda Building had to eliminate waste during construction and use products that are safe for all species, such as salvaged materials and responsibly sourced wood and stone. Trying to be conscious of sustainability and materials, I repurposed leftover beehive panelling as my canvas.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and reinforced in the ideas the Living Building Challenge stands for. There is harmony in the space of this piece, but there is also a sense of tension with giant bees superimposed on the Kendeda Building. The GT Urban Honeybee Project illustrates work being done to incorporate bees into sustainable food systems and how urbanization affects bees. The underlying takeaway from this project is a reminder that we are trying to sustain a future that ensures health, happiness, and equity for all species. How can we design a future in which the relationships between humans and nature are mutually supportive? Perhaps we should look to the bees.
2019
Title: Submerged
Scientist: Dr. Stephen Beckett
Scientist Affiliation: Georgia Tech School of Biological Sciences
Medium: Oil
Size: 24in x 36in
Amazingly, the scientific community knows more about outer space than Earth’s own oceans. There may be a hundred million times more viruses on Earth than stars in the universe. We hear all about the effects of viruses in humans, but what often goes unrecognized is their complex role within oceanic ecosystems. These tiny but abundant players may be unseen to the human eye, but viruses and the microbes they infect are the driving force behind Earth’s nutrient and energy transformations, element cycling, and sustaining the planet’s biosphere. Dr. Beckett and the Weitz group focus on studying the “intimate relationship” between marine viruses and how they shape ocean ecology.
Dr. Beckett takes an interdisciplinary research approach to understanding how viral population size, diversity, density, grazing patterns, and killing-rates affect population dynamics in the microbial community. Viruses and the hosts they infect impact elemental cycling such as carbon and nitrogen, increase photosynthesis and metabolism by editing the genetic material in their hosts and forming lysogen, alter evolutionary processes, modify rates of remineralization and organic matter by sending them to higher trophic levels, and so much more. Because the nature and intricacy of ecosystems, “what is bad for one microbial cell may indeed be good for others” (Weitz 2013) and this is the fundamental reasoning behind these virus’ expansive impact.
Like Dr. Beckett’s research, this piece explores the complexity between marine viruses, their hosts and their vital role in shaping oceanic ecosystems. As science aims to discover the inner workings of the planet, art offers a visualization of our understanding of the world. Take it upon yourself to find connections between the microbes and the energy transformations, insert yourself into the microbial community and the range of ecosystems from the depths of the ocean floor to coral reefs to the thawing permafrost. Learn to anticipate the changing DNA of our planet, ponder what happens miles below the surface of the ocean, and for a moment, appreciate the small but vital impact these microbes have on our planet.
2018
Title: Second Nature
Scientist: Dr. Jianing Wu
Scientist Affiliation: Georgia Tech School of Mechanical Engineering
Medium: Oil
Size: 24in x 36in
Dr. Wu is researching the various ways in which an elephant trunk can transport matter through suction, grabbing, and lifting. By observing joints, muscles, and friction in the trunks, Dr. Wu was able to calculate components such as jamming force, critical height and pressure. He then applied the biomechanics of elephant trunks to engineer a robotic arm that can perform the same suction tasks. Note the suspense created by juxtaposing the organic, natural elephant and the precise, man-made machine. It is a reminder that our future lies at the intersection of biology and engineering. Dr. Wu’s research is a paradigm as the worlds of technology and nature are crossing and intertwining more each day. What else can we learn from Mother Earth? What other brilliant invention is already out there, woven into the DNA of the environment and developed by none other than evolution itself? How can we design a future in which man respects, understands, and coexists with nature? That can only be achieved when innovation harmonizing with Mother Earth becomes humans’ second nature.
Title: A New Era
Scientist: Dr. Jianing Wu
Scientist Affiliation: Georgia Tech School of Mechanical Engineering
Medium: Oil
Size: 24in x 30in
By observing joints, muscles, and friction in elephant trunks, Dr. Wu was able to calculate components such as jamming force, critical height and pressure. He hopes his research into the biomechanics of elephant trunks will have future applications in military equipment or disaster relief. A new era is dawning; as the world is threatened by disaster and destruction, are elephants part of the solution?