The Art of the Brain

ON TOPIC

Letter from the Editor The Art of the Brain: “Brainbow” and the Difficulty Hello Readers! of Distinguishing Science and Art I wanted to start out this edition of my bimonthly letter by thanking you all, wholeheartedly, for your readership. I like to think of SciArt in America as being in its infancy; while the pith of SAiA resides in the fascinating artists and projects we feature, I see amazing possibilities in how SAiA can grow into the larger role of serving as a major platform for all things SciArt. It is thanks to your support, and the fantastic additions to the SAiA staff, that we were able to help SAiA grow up a little this issue, and we’re thrilled to now be reaching readers across the globe. Since launching our first issue, it has become increasingly evident to me that while the greater art world is characteristically less group/movement and more individual/movement-based, the SciArt part of the art world is brimming with enthusiastic, dedicated, and inspirational artists to whom an artistic community is still a central concern. Whether it is because SciArt is riding the implicit communal energy of a recently founded art movement, because the particular artist concerns in SciArt make community more ap- pealing, or because we’re all a bunch of science nerds at heart and just like talking about science with other nerds, the degrees of separation between everyone in the SciArt world are very few, and wonderfully so. While SciArt varies across medium and subject, the drive to share the wonderous phenomena of our existence is what binds us. And it is through the fruits of this shared artistic goal, I believe, that science-based art will become central to the greater culture at large in the years to come. A slice from the brainstem of a Brainbow transgenic mouse captured using a confo- I sincerely hope you enjoy this issue, and the many more to come. Happy cal microscope and software for image acquisition and manipulation. Credit: Jean reading. Livet, Joshua Sanes, Jeff Lichtman. Harvard University.

By Ashley Taylor Contributing Editor Julia Buntaine, Founder & Editor-in-Chief When I start to ponder art, science, and what distinguishes them, I immedi- ately think of a photo that I saw several years ago of a mouse brain whose individual neurons had been genetically engineered to fluoresce in one of around 100 aquatic-looking colors—violet, blue, chartreuse, ruby, yellow, and

4 SciArt in America October 2013 SciArt in America October 2013 5 everything in between. In a word, “Brainbow”; them. You’re kind of forced to confront this that is the name that biologist Jeffrey Lichtman weird conflict between art and science, which, and colleagues at Harvard gave the brilliant- to most people, seems very straightforward— brained mouse. In an image of the brain stem, there’s the world of art and there’s the world of the blue, violet, and green neuronal fibers form science—but when scientists use images to por- Van Gogh-like whorls; in snap-shots of the hip- tray the world, especially to portray an aspect of pocampus, the cell bodies and their members, the world that they think is important, we are axons, look like a bunch of balloons floating up doing something exactly the same as what art- and dragging their strings. A Harvard press re- ists are doing.” lease described the images as “equal parts poin- Though art is what fascinates me most in life, tillism, fauvism, and abstract expressionism” in I have always respected science and been in- 2007, when the paper describing Brainbow was terested in it as a way of posing and answering published in the journal Nature. questions. I majored in biology in college and Though I would gladly put up Brainbow post- now work as a science journalist. My concept of ers on my wall, I hesitated, at first, to call the “answering questions” and my approach to do- images art; instead I placed them on the science ing it, by coming up with ideas and seeing how side of a very fine, subjective line. Brainbow is a they hold up, are rooted in science. In the spirit feat of genetic engineering meant to distinguish of the scientific method, let’s consider some individual neurons in order to better under- hypotheses about what distinguishes art from stand the organization of the brain. The data science. happen to be beautiful. Are they art? Are they SciArt? And what, if anything, distinguishes art Hypothesis One: Science is done for a sci- from science when their media overlap? entific purpose; art, for an artistic one. I originally thought about Brainbow as sci- SciArt, when created by people who call ence because it was created for a scientific themselves artists, seems rather straightfor- purpose, not for art, and expected Lichtman to ward. Artists use labs and scientific tools, mi- bolster that argument. In fact, Lichtman makes croscopes and petri dishes, as ways of making the argument that artistic and scientific pur- work or creating art inspired by science. Yet poses are equivalent. scientists, who publish their work in scientific journals also make beautiful images. In these “What is the purpose of art?” Lichtman be- cases, as with Brainbow, the question is “Is gins. I fear the answer, knowing that his, like there art in the science?” and that is harder; the mine, like most, will be incomplete. “What is fact that these images are produced by scien- art?” is a question that, like “Does this dress tists in the course of work patently intended as make me look fat?” I instinctively avoid answer- science forces people to think about what art is ing. beyond the easy (circular, unnuanced) answer of “The purpose of art,” Lichtman goes on, “is “anything made by an artist.” so that people look at those images and learn “Most people think science is a completely something, about something… a lot of art, I different realm from art, but I think that scien- think, has an impulse to display a point of view tists who spend a lot of time making pictures to teach an idea, to see the world in a different get very confused about this." Lichtman, Har- way; okay, how is that different? I see it as the vard professor of molecular and cellular biology same thing. Yes, I particularly am trying to un- and head of the Brainbow project, tells me on derstand something about how the brain works, the phone. “At least I do.” and that’s why we did this.” Here, Lichtman points out the “scientific” purpose of his work, “Because these pictures are so… pleasing, I but goes on to say that “trying to understand woudn’t say artistic, but pleasing to the eye,” something” is also what artists are doing. Lichtman says, “I’m often confronted with “To me, maybe because I’ve thought about it so this issue. Places like the Louvre in Paris, and long, I can no longer see the fundamental dif- other museums, have exhibits where they put ference. I mean, I have a very particular issue pictures such as these in the exhibits to kind in mind, but maybe certain kinds of artists are of force people to look at the beauty in nature also focused on a particular idea that they want and how scientific images can have beauty in to get people to understand, and so their art is

6 SciArt in America October 2013 about a particular thing.” As Editor-in-Chief Ju- Conclusion: The distinction of purpose lia Buntaine wrote in the inaugural issue of this becomes blurry. magazine, art and science have a similar motiva- tion: “an unquenchable thirst for understanding Hypothesis Two: Science uses a pre- the nature of our existence.” scribed method. Art does not. Yet a common symptom of art is that an artist My ready answer to the question of what declares it to be so. The question of intention distinguishes art from science is that scientific matters, and it complicated my view of Licht- data come from experiments, which in turn are man’s work. Lichtman is a scientist, not an designed according to the scientific method. artist, and though the Brainbow images have The scientific method, taught to me in elemen- appeared in museums, he did not set out to tary school and reinforced throughout my make Art. Lichtman’s work was beautiful sort scientific studies, is the following: you come up of by accident, as a byproduct of his scientific with an idea about how you think something project. Art, on the other hand, looks as it does works or what something does, a hypothesis; because artists plan it that way, doesn’t it? you design an experiment to test that hypothesis, in which you compare two cases differing Or does it? Art, even visual art, goes beyond only by that one factor, the variable; you and/or looks; often it’s the artist’s idea that makes a others then repeat to make sure the results hold work of art, as is the case with conceptual art. I up. I later realized, though, that this is not the recently saw an exhibit at the MoMA of a white entirety of the scientific method, as I’ll soon floor covered with yellow pollen that the artist explain. had gathered from hazelnut trees in Germany over a period of years. “Pollen From Hazelnut,” Art, it seems to be, does not operate in this was impressive to look at, but a large part of way. For one thing, it doesn’t require an artist to the work’s impact came from knowing that the repeat the same work many times before view- artist, Wolfgang Laib, had created it by walking ers will see truth in it. An artist can portray a among the trees in his village, flicking the pol- unique situation—say, a worried mother in the len off the branches into a coffee cup, and sav- Dust Bowl—with one iconic photograph, and ing it in jars until he had enough for an installa- people will interpret that photograph as a sign tion. The work represented the ritual to gather of the hardships of that time and place, without the pollen, the feat of making something huge doing some kind of absurd test to make sure from seeds so small, the idea of years of life’s that the woman wasn’t depressed even when work represented in a jar of yellow dust. If looks well fed and comfortable. Dorothea Lange’s were what counted, the artist could have much “Migrant Mother” implies all sorts of things but more easily, I imagine, bought synthetic yellow doesn’t prove them. A scientist could not draw powder to sprinkle on the floor. The pollen on conclusions from a single photograph the way display was a byproduct of the artist’s way of people do from individual works of art. (For the life. Though that’s not to say the pollen isn’t record, Dorothea Lange took multiple photo- important. In a 1986 interview in the graphs of Florence Owens Thompson and her Journal children and who knows how many photos of of Contemporary Art, (Laib has been collecting pollen for about 30 years.) Klaus Ottmann asks other subjects beyond the one photograph that Laib, “What is more important for you, collect- became famous.) Unlike science, art doesn’t ing of pollen or spreading it on the floor?” and prove or explain things; art just documents the Laib replies, “I think it’s both. It’s the pollen world and expresses views, ideas, beliefs. piece as a whole. But it’s not as if I’m making Though there is no standardized “artistic an art out of the collecting. It’s the pollen I’m method” analogous to the scientific method, interested in. For me the jar of pollen is as good I quickly realized that artists have methods, as the spread-out piece.” too (Stanislavski’s being the obvious example), Similar to the way that the pollen on the floor and some of them are science-y or, at any rate, represents a larger concept, the Brainbow im- mathematical. Dancer and choreographer Mer- ages are the result of the idea to label all the ce Cunningham was known for rolling a dice neurons in different colors. Perhaps they could and, later, using a computer program to make be called conceptual art. decisions about his choreography. John Cage, Cunningham’s partner and collaborator, also

SciArt in America October 2013 7 used chance operations in composing music, into the inductive side, where it reveals what is to scientific experiments. of getting information. and when the music and dance came together but does not explain why; it’s not a hypothesis Science seems to be one of the few places for the first time, often in the performance, the tester, it’s a hypothesis generator.” This qual- I am often taken aback when people opine where absolute judgments hold sway. Outside combination of dance and music was a matter ity of “showing without explaining” is just what that an explanation is “cartoonish,” usually in science, everything is up for debate, particu- of coincidence. The literary group Oulipo (“ou- I was trying to describe about the “Migrant social or political contexts, that it’s too simple. larly in the digital age, when so-called facts are vroir de littérature potentielle” or workshop of Mother” photo. Explanations are supposed to be simple, the readily available to argue for both sides of any potential literature) is a group of writers who Both kinds of reasoning, deductive and induc- biologist in me wants to retort. I think back to question and people decide what they believe create literature by using sets of constraints, tive, are very old, and people disagree about the scientific papers I’ve read, the undergrad base on factors that may or may not include the often from mathematics. For example, Ou- which type is superior, Lichtman adds. Philoso- thesis I wrote, which along with graphs and relevant experiments. lipo member Georges Perec built a novel, Life pher Karl Popper, for example, argued against photographs of data included little computer A User’s Manual, on the basis of exploring an graphics, in black boxes, explaining how the ex- The words “right and wrong” just don’t fit in inductive reasoning in favor of coming up with the realm of art. They seem like foreign con- imaginary apartment block of 100 rooms, one hypotheses that, though they could never be periments work or describing a cascade of mo- room per chapter, with the order of rooms de- lecular signals, with the molecules represented cepts. When I think about art, I turn away proven to be absolutely true—an exception to from logic and toward association; I use instinct termined by a chess puzzle, the Knight’s Tour. a proposed rule might crop up in the future— by little ovals and squares. These diagrams are Perec also wrote a novel without using the let- meant to be cartoonish and, on some level, so and feeling more than reasoning. This is one hy- could be proven false. Which brings me to my pothesis that may have some truth in it: In art, ter e. The list could go on. Though I can’t know, conclusion. are experiments: despite the world’s messiness, I imagine that most artists have some kind of they are supposed to be simple and explainable, there is no right and wrong; In science, there is, method, routine, guiding principles. Conclusion: False because artists have a neat corner to take stock in. well, wrong. Beyond the problem that artists have meth- methods and because not all science fol- Scientists looking at Brainbow see it as a tool Despite my respect for experiments, I start to ods is the fact that not all science follows the lows one prescribed method. Beyond for breaking the complexity of the brain down believe that in trying to understand something method of hypothesis testing I described. In hypothesis testing (deductive reasoning), into tiny, incremental chunks, right? Actually, about art and science, hypothesis making is not fact, Brainbow—a tool for observing the struc- inductive reasoning is a second method of not really. Lichtman, too, thinks the Brainbow the best approach. My deductive reasoning left ture of the brain, a way to gather information— doing science, and in its reliance on de- images represent the complexity of the brain me with a bunch of wrong answers, and while is not really part of a particular, hypothesis- scription and observation, it has much in and that capturing that complexity is impor- that’s nice, concrete information and all, it’s not driven experiment, at least not yet. common with art. tant. “I am personally much more enthralled particularly satisfying. I start to feel, as Licht- I bring up that point with Lichtman, expect- Hypothesis Three: Science simplifies with description than experiment, so we do man does about the brain, that this is a subject ing him to explain how Brainbow is, in fact, things. Art renders their complexity. experiments rather sparingly in my lab, and the that hypotheses, at least mine, are not up to the designed to test some hypothesis. That’s not Part of the thrill of going to a museum, one reason for that is that the brain is extraordi- task of explaining. at all what he says. Hypothesis testing, oth- that has risen to the level of cliché, is staring at narily complicated, and while one can gener- I first contacted Lichtman specifically to ask erwise known as deductive reasoning, is just an image and wondering what it means, seeing ate hypotheses, they always seem, to me, to be how he chose the colors for Brainbow. I knew, one branch of the scientific method, he then new things in it. When you watch a play, you somewhat not up to the task of describing the from some research about microscopy, that in reminds me. Inductive reasoning, he tells me, want the characters to remain somewhat un- extraordinary complexity of the brain.” some cases, the colors you see are arbitrarily is another way of doing science and works in a knowable; you want to go home still trying to assigned to particular wavelengths of fluores- very different way. Conclusion: False because science can ap- figure them out. Looking at a Brainbow image preciate complexity, too. cence that the microscope detects. They aren’t “Many of the great discoveries in science have as art, one might say that it represents the com- simply photographs of the fluorescence itself. It come about through inductive reasoning, which plexity of the brain. Hypothesis Four: In science, there is seemed to me that using false colors would tip is just the opposite. You don’t start with a hy- some notion of right and wrong. Art is just the scales toward art. My unspoken hypoth- Hypothesis testing focuses less on the world’s art. pothesis. What you do is you start with obser- holistic mystery, the great unknown, and rather, esis: Science (always) deals with reality. vation, and then at the end of observing a lot of starts with what little is known and tries to One of my ingrained ideas about what distin- Art does not (always). things, you formulate a hypothesis based on the increase that knowledge bit by incremental bit. guishes art and science is that in science, there Lichtman’s response was that my questions observations. Once you have the hypothesis, In my experience, scientists get satisfaction out really are, if not right answers, at least wrong were not straightforward and suggested that we then you can go ahead and do a deductive test of knowing, with some degree of certainty, how answers. The idea of doing experiments and talk on the phone. The problem with that ques- of it, but you do this kind of data gathering, something works, even if it’s something very making hypotheses and deductive reasoning is tion is that all colors are false, in a way: they are and during the data gathering, something oc- founded on the assumption that it’s possible tiny. Individual experiments are rather simple assigned by the brain. curs, some regularity appears that joins a lot of by design: changing only one variable at a time to know things absolutely and say that certain results together.” Darwin’s observations about things are not true, that others are very likely Lichtman explains that, the microscope he to figure out what something does; compar- used to photograph samples from Brainbow related animal species, data from the Hubble ing two mice that differ only by a single muta- to be true. Though there are debates in science, Space Telescope, the sequence of the human they are debates over experiments and what neuronal tissue detects three wavelengths of tion, for example. True, few mice outside the light, or ranges of wavelengths, representing genome, Lichtman says, are all examples of in- lab, barring some identical twins, differ by only the experiments prove or don’t prove. Though formation gathering that led to the creation of there’s uncertainty associated with all results, three colors: green, red, and blue. Based on the one mutation, and what we know about mice is relative intensities of the three wavelengths, a hypotheses by induction. certainly an approximation of the way human uncertainty in science is something that statis- tics has quantified, not just a feeling of doubt. color is assigned to a particular pixel of the im- “Brainbow definitely falls, at the moment, biology works—yet it is one of the best ap- age. That might sound artificial, and maybe it proximations we have and one very well suited In science, people respect experiments as ways

8 SciArt in America October 2013 SciArt in America October 2013 9 to scientific experiments. of getting information. Science seems to be one of the few places I am often taken aback when people opine where absolute judgments hold sway. Outside that an explanation is “cartoonish,” usually in science, everything is up for debate, particularly social or political contexts, that it’s too simple. in the digital age, when so-called facts are read- Explanations are supposed to be simple, the ily available to argue for both sides of any ques- biologist in me wants to retort. I think back to tion and people decide what they believe based the scientific papers I’ve read, the undergrad on factors that may or may not include the thesis I wrote, which along with graphs and relevant experiments. photographs of data included little computer graphics, in black boxes, explaining how the ex- The words “right and wrong” just don’t fit in periments work or describing a cascade of mo- the realm of art. They seem like foreign con- lecular signals, with the molecules represented cepts. When I think about art, I turn away by little ovals and squares. These diagrams are from logic and toward association; I use instinct meant to be cartoonish and, on some level, so and feeling more than reasoning. This is one hy- are experiments: despite the world’s messiness, pothesis that may have some truth in it: In art, they are supposed to be simple and explainable, there is no right and wrong; In science, there is, a neat corner to take stock in. well, wrong. Scientists looking at Brainbow see it as a tool Despite my respect for experiments, I start to for breaking the complexity of the brain down believe that in trying to understand something into tiny, incremental chunks, right? Actually, about art and science, hypothesis making is not not really. Lichtman, too, thinks the Brainbow the best approach. My deductive reasoning left images represent the complexity of the brain me with a bunch of wrong answers, and while and that capturing that complexity is impor- that’s nice, concrete information and all, it’s not tant. “I am personally much more enthralled particularly satisfying. I start to feel, as Licht- with description than experiment, so we do man does about the brain, that this is a subject experiments rather sparingly in my lab, and the that hypotheses, at least mine, are not up to the reason for that is that the brain is extraordi- task of explaining. narily complicated, and while one can gener- I first contacted Lichtman specifically to ask ate hypotheses, they always seem, to me, to be how he chose the colors for Brainbow. I knew, somewhat not up to the task of describing the from some research about microscopy, that in extraordinary complexity of the brain.” some cases, the colors you see are arbitrarily Conclusion: False because science can ap- assigned to particular wavelengths of fluores- preciate complexity, too. cence that the microscope detects. They aren’t simply photographs of the fluorescence itself. It Hypothesis Four: In science, there is seemed to me that using false colors would tip some notion of right and wrong. Art is just the scales toward art. My unspoken hypoth- art. esis: Science (always) deals with reality. One of my ingrained ideas about what distin- Art does not (always). guishes art and science is that in science, there Lichtman’s response was that my questions really are, if not right answers, at least wrong were not straightforward and suggested that we answers. The idea of doing experiments and talk on the phone. The problem with that ques- making hypotheses and deductive reasoning is tion is that all colors are false, in a way: they are founded on the assumption that it’s possible assigned by the brain. to know things absolutely and say that certain things are not true, that others are very likely Lichtman explains that, the microscope he to be true. Though there are debates in science, used to photograph samples from Brainbow they are debates over experiments and what neuronal tissue detects three wavelengths of the experiments prove or don’t prove. Though light, or ranges of wavelengths, representing there’s uncertainty associated with all results, three colors: green, red, and blue. Based on the uncertainty in science is something that statis- relative intensities of the three wavelengths, a tics has quantified, not just a feeling of doubt. color is assigned to a particular pixel of the im- In science, people respect experiments as ways age. That might sound artificial, and maybe it

SciArt in America October 2013 9 is, in a way. It’s not, however, unnatural: it’s the why, fundamentally, the distinction between INTERNATIONAL way the human eye perceives color. In the eye, art and science is so difficult. It deals with the there are three kinds of cone photoreceptors nature of reality. Despite all the exceptions, for detecting color: one that responds most and the imagination required to come up with strongly to green light, one to red light, one to hypotheses about the unknown, we think of Günes-Hélène Isitan, a bioartist living and working in Québec, creates what she refers to as blue light. The hue we see depends on the rela- science as being grounded in reality. Despite “MicroScapes”. Isitan’s artistic process entails creating interactions between growing microorganisms tive stimulation of the three different photore- photography and other reality-based forms, we and photographic negatives, such that the organisms leave their “trace” on the light sensitive film. ceptor types. associate art with creativity and the imagina- Scanned and printed, this interaction becomes a vibrant sea of colors. Isitan aims to give these micro- I sense Lichtman trying to describe what the tion. But every image we see is presented to us organisms a tangible presence of their own, highlighting their importance in our ecosystem. sample is “really” like and contrast it to what he by our brains. It’s all some degree of imagina- sees under the microscope: “Other than actu- tion. ally looking at the sample… Even looking at the “The dirty secret about color is that color is sample, you’re looking at it with an eye that completely manufactured by the brain. Light has three photoreceptors, only three filters, a has energy… but there’s nothing intrinsically red filter, a green filter, and a blue filter. In all colorful about those energies. We have these cases—this is not the difference between art photoreceptors in our eyes that are activated and science—the colors are a human rendering by particular wavelengths, but the light itself… of what the colors are… It’s important to realize Color is a construct of the human mind.” This that in all forms of art and science, even in our is a “dirty secret” about not just color but all own brains, when we look at things, we’re never of reality. I spend so much of my time think- actually seeing what is really there; we’re filter- ing about how artists reconstruct, portray, and ing it through a series of steps.” evoke reality, but neuroscience tells us that real- Then he says something that makes it clear ity, itself, is reconstructed, portrayed, evoked by the brain. It is the art of perception.

(opposing page, from top left to bottom right) All images courtesy of the artist.

(1) Washed Away (2013). 24” x 24”. Grown from a tear. Scanography, printed on brushed aluminum. (2) The View (2011). 15” x 15”. Grown from a sea shell. Scanography, printed on white aluminum. (3) Fish Wave (2011). 15” x 15”. Grown from a fish scale. Scanograpy, printed on brushed aluminum. (4) On the Tip of the Tounge (2013). 20” x 20”. Grown from saliva. Scanography, printed on white aluminum. (5) Parmesan Eye (2011). 16” x 16”. Grown from Parmesan cheese. Scanography, printed on brushed aluminum. (6) Binary System (2013). 20” x 20”. Grown from a belly button. Scanography, printed on white aluminum. (7) Where Stars Come From (2013). 24” x 24”. Grown from a belly button. Scanography, printed on white aluminum. (8) Aquatic Sun (2013). 16” x 16”. Grown from a black algea. Scanography, printed on brushed aluminum. (9) Black Hole (2013). 30” x 30”. Grown from a belly button. Scanography, printed on white aluminum.

Visit Isitan’s website at www.gunesisitan.com.

10 SciArt in America October 2013 SciArt in America October 2013 11 STRAIGHT TALK with Jonathon Wells

New York – City Block (2004). 22.0” x 76.1”. Digital composite, archival inkjet print. Image courtesy of the artist.

SAiA: While your current photographic work time sketching geologic cross sections of a site addresses the interaction between human late one night at work, I recall thinking that I beings and the earth, what initially drew you to wished the general public could also visualize studying geology? the subsurface similarly to the way geologists do. JW: I spent my youth outdoors—hiking, camping, and skiing in the mountains of The more I studied the geology of sites, the Vermont. I constantly looked at hills, valleys, more I became interested in the ‘stories’ that and streams and wondered to myself why the I discovered. There are stories of geologic landscape had formed the way it had, and I history, human history; in the rocks, I could remember how excited I felt when I was first read the fate and transport of chemical shown evidence of a fold through the Green releases, the path of water moving through Mountains. During my first years in college, the water cycle, and the flow of groundwater it was the geology and environmental studies to a pumping well. With my own knowledge courses that interested me the most. Ultimately, and the interpretations of myself and of other I decided to pursue a career in geology to be geologists at hand, I could then often visualize able to work in a job where I would spend the cross-sections that told these stories. As more time in the outdoors than in an office and time went on, I continued to have the feeling where I would learn more about the earth. that I wanted the general public to see the same subsurface geologic settings that I could see. SAiA: As a scientist, what prompted your desire to start making photo-geologic I had devoured artistic renderings of the composites, to express geological issues subsurface in school textbooks and in the trade artistically? magazines that crossed my desk at work. I studied the images in the advertisements for J W: I feel that I have traveled intertwined equipment used in groundwater remediation paths in science and art. While working full projects at hazardous waste sites. I was drawn time as a geologist, I periodically spent evenings to the practice of three-dimensional modeling and weekends taking drawing, painting, or of subsurface contaminant plumes below photography classes at continuing adult industrial sites. I loved sketches of geologic education centers and community colleges. I scenes, depositional environments, block have had a love for art, especially landscape diagrams, etc. In natural history museums, and nature paintings and photographs, since I it was the displays of geology that held my was a boy. I was often struck by the patterns, Aquifer Test attention the longest. (2006). 30.7” x 17”. textures, and colors that I saw in rock and Digital composite, sediments while working on sites as a geologist. Soon after attending a one-week nature archival inkjet photography workshop, I saw a call for As a scientist, I love to collect, review, applications to a one-year photography print. Image cour- interpret, and present data. I find it exciting tesy of the artist. certificate program at the International Center to understand the framework of underlying of Photography (ICP) in New York City. I bedrock and groundwater flow. After spending

18 SciArt in America October 2013 SciArt in America October 2013 19 STRAIGHT TALK with Jonathon Wells

New York – City Block (2004). 22.0” x 76.1”. Digital composite, archival inkjet print. Image courtesy of the artist.

18 SciArt in America October 2013 SciArt in America October 2013 19 Boston Basin (2005). 25.0” x 74.9”. Digital composite, archival inkjet print. Image courtesy of Jonathon Wells.

Minneapolis – St. Paul (2011). 30.3” x 74.9”. Digi- tal composite, archival inkjet print. Image courtesy of Jonathon Wells. Boston Basin (2005). 25.0” x 74.9”. Digital composite, archival inkjet print. Image courtesy of Jonathon Wells.

Minneapolis – St. Paul (2011). 30.3” x 74.9”. Digi- tal composite, archival inkjet print. Image courtesy of Jonathon Wells. Both scenes are portrayed in “New York – The subsurface framework is drawn from City Block” and “New York – Central Park”, either geologic cross sections that have respectively. been completed in the past at the site or on In Boston, I began with an attempt to view a geologic cross section that I create using the downtown area in a similar fashion to New available data or a combination of both. I then York City. Through the process, I felt the desire research locations where the geologic units are to “step back” and better understand how the exposed at land surface and take photographs of entire city and metro area was situated within each rock and sediment type. New York - Central Park (2004). 15.2” x 74.8”. Digital composite, a geologic basin. In the end, I selected a view The photographs of land surface and geologic archival inkjet print. Image courtesy of the artist. that looks west and represents four miles in units are then imported to a computer and depth and 16 miles in width. The tall buildings moved into position to create the digital of downtown Boston may be seen in the middle composites that you see. I began photographing applied, forgot about it, and, months later, where gasoline had leaked from underground of the image. with a medium-format film camera and received a letter of acceptance. It was a risky storage tanks and contaminated the subsurface, Then, while living in Minneapolis, I wanted scanning the negatives for use in the computer. step to jump off my geology career path and I chose to create a picture of what it looked While making the image of the Boston Basin, attend photography school, but the urge to like. to create a view of the sedimentary rock underlying the broad, relatively flat Upper I began for the first time to take hundreds of express myself in an artistic manner was strong The image, “Gasoline Station”, shows a plume photographs to make the single image. It then enough for me to take the leap. Midwest and to consider the Mississippi River of gasoline migrating away from a former and relationship between the Twin Cities. became clear that I needed to switch to using The year in photography school was leaking underground storage tank. Bright colors Because of my interest in groundwater, I also digital photography to save on time and on the wonderful. My teachers encouraged me to represent 10, 100, and 1,000 parts per billion wanted to display the groundwater wells that cost of processing and scanning film. play and experiment in photography using my (ppb) of benzene (a compound in gasoline) pump from multiple aquifers beneath the metro SAiA: What do you hope your viewers can gain geologic knowledge, work experience, and dissolved in groundwater. White groundwater area. The image portrays a depth of 1,400 feet from your work? passion for landscape art. During that year monitoring wells are visible. The photographs below the surface. I saw a diorama of the geology, water table, of the sand and gravel layers were taken at JW: I hope that my viewers will gain three and water well below a farm at the American nearby places where these geologic elements SAiA: Each photo-geologic composite piece things from my work. First, I hope they will you make requires months of investigation; can absorb some of my fascination and passion Museum of Natural History. In retrospect, this were exposed on the surface. diorama probably had an influence on my later you describe this process a bit? for the earth and its beauty and diversity— Similarly, in my “Environmental Series”, I signs of dynamic processes at work. Second, artistic endeavors. created “Aquifer Test” because I wanted to JW: The process of making these images travels along interwoven paths of science and I hope that these works will lead all of us to Having recently worked on many sites depict the setting of what such a test looks like exercise our ability to be more aware and open- where chemicals had been released and had and conjure up some of the feelings that I have art. After I select a site and am able to visualize the underlying geologic structure, I consider minded. Seeing what we can’t typically see— contaminated the soil and bedrock below, I experienced while conducting these tests. The the earth below our feet— may further open wanted to make a photographic image that image reveals the pumping of groundwater from the overall composition, taking into account aesthetic and logistical factors. I research our consciousness of how we interact with the would display a contaminant plume migrating a bedrock well during a 72-hour period. There earth. Third, it is my wish that a portion of in the groundwater. First, I thought of are multiple devices used to measure the flow intensively the geology of the site, looking at reports, maps, and field trip logs that have been my passion and awareness will be transmitted photographing the land above a hazardous rate and the depth of the water in the well for through these images and encourage individual material release and placing a geologic, black- later analysis to determine whether the well written about the area and region. Crisscrossing the area by car, I consider views and access to and collective action to treat the earth and all line cross section below the landscape image. will provide the water necessary for a proposed life on the planet with greater care and respect. This evolved into taking photographs of the assisted living facility. the optimal locations. I then photograph the land surface from various vantage points on geologic formations that were referenced in I turned to the images in the “Urban Series” the cross section and placing them below the land or from the air. because for a time I lived in more urban Visit his website at www.earthexposure.net. landscape. That was the moment of discovery settings, and I have always had a heightened for me. It seemed to have the promise of sense of awareness for places where I live or looking viable as art with strong conceptual and visit. The geologic make-up and geologic history illustrative components. of places are often on my mind. SAiA: How do you choose the various sites In the case of New York City, I took many you’ve created composites of in both your walks around the city while attending ICP. In “Urban Series” and your “Environmental my childhood, I intimately knew the woods Series”? and natural world surrounding my Vermont JW: Selection of my first sites grew out of my home in the Green Mountains. In the city, I geologic work. It was exciting and freeing to was fascinated by the juxtaposition between artistically express my geologic experiences. the feeling of being on a city street and the Gasoline Station (2005). 11.8” x 72.8”. Digital composite, Having worked on many gasoline station sites feeling of being in the woods of Central Park. archival inkjet print. Image courtesy of the artist.

22 SciArt in America October 2013 SciArt in America October 2013 23 Both scenes are portrayed in “New York – The subsurface framework is drawn from City Block” and “New York – Central Park”, either geologic cross sections that have respectively. been completed in the past at the site or on In Boston, I began with an attempt to view a geologic cross section that I create using the downtown area in a similar fashion to New available data or a combination of both. I then York City. Through the process, I felt the desire research locations where the geologic units are to “step back” and better understand how the exposed at land surface and take photographs of entire city and metro area was situated within each rock and sediment type. New York - Central Park (2004). 15.2” x 74.8”. Digital composite, a geologic basin. In the end, I selected a view The photographs of land surface and geologic archival inkjet print. Image courtesy of the artist. that looks west and represents four miles in units are then imported to a computer and depth and 16 miles in width. The tall buildings moved into position to create the digital of downtown Boston may be seen in the middle composites that you see. I began photographing applied, forgot about it, and, months later, where gasoline had leaked from underground of the image. with a medium-format film camera and received a letter of acceptance. It was a risky storage tanks and contaminated the subsurface, Then, while living in Minneapolis, I wanted scanning the negatives for use in the computer. step to jump off my geology career path and I chose to create a picture of what it looked While making the image of the Boston Basin, attend photography school, but the urge to like. to create a view of the sedimentary rock underlying the broad, relatively flat Upper I began for the first time to take hundreds of express myself in an artistic manner was strong The image, “Gasoline Station”, shows a plume photographs to make the single image. It then enough for me to take the leap. Midwest and to consider the Mississippi River of gasoline migrating away from a former and relationship between the Twin Cities. became clear that I needed to switch to using The year in photography school was leaking underground storage tank. Bright colors Because of my interest in groundwater, I also digital photography to save on time and on the wonderful. My teachers encouraged me to represent 10, 100, and 1,000 parts per billion wanted to display the groundwater wells that cost of processing and scanning film. play and experiment in photography using my (ppb) of benzene (a compound in gasoline) pump from multiple aquifers beneath the metro SAiA: What do you hope your viewers can gain geologic knowledge, work experience, and dissolved in groundwater. White groundwater area. The image portrays a depth of 1,400 feet from your work? passion for landscape art. During that year monitoring wells are visible. The photographs below the surface. I saw a diorama of the geology, water table, of the sand and gravel layers were taken at JW: I hope that my viewers will gain three and water well below a farm at the American nearby places where these geologic elements SAiA: Each photo-geologic composite piece things from my work. First, I hope they will you make requires months of investigation; can absorb some of my fascination and passion Museum of Natural History. In retrospect, this were exposed on the surface. diorama probably had an influence on my later you describe this process a bit? for the earth and its beauty and diversity— Similarly, in my “Environmental Series”, I signs of dynamic processes at work. Second, artistic endeavors. created “Aquifer Test” because I wanted to JW: The process of making these images travels along interwoven paths of science and I hope that these works will lead all of us to Having recently worked on many sites depict the setting of what such a test looks like exercise our ability to be more aware and open- where chemicals had been released and had and conjure up some of the feelings that I have art. After I select a site and am able to visualize the underlying geologic structure, I consider minded. Seeing what we can’t typically see— contaminated the soil and bedrock below, I experienced while conducting these tests. The the earth below our feet— may further open wanted to make a photographic image that image reveals the pumping of groundwater from the overall composition, taking into account aesthetic and logistical factors. I research our consciousness of how we interact with the would display a contaminant plume migrating a bedrock well during a 72-hour period. There earth. Third, it is my wish that a portion of in the groundwater. First, I thought of are multiple devices used to measure the flow intensively the geology of the site, looking at reports, maps, and field trip logs that have been my passion and awareness will be transmitted photographing the land above a hazardous rate and the depth of the water in the well for through these images and encourage individual material release and placing a geologic, black- later analysis to determine whether the well written about the area and region. Crisscrossing the area by car, I consider views and access to and collective action to treat the earth and all line cross section below the landscape image. will provide the water necessary for a proposed life on the planet with greater care and respect. This evolved into taking photographs of the assisted living facility. the optimal locations. I then photograph the land surface from various vantage points on geologic formations that were referenced in I turned to the images in the “Urban Series” the cross section and placing them below the land or from the air. because for a time I lived in more urban Visit his website at www.earthexposure.net. landscape. That was the moment of discovery settings, and I have always had a heightened for me. It seemed to have the promise of sense of awareness for places where I live or looking viable as art with strong conceptual and visit. The geologic make-up and geologic history illustrative components. of places are often on my mind. SAiA: How do you choose the various sites In the case of New York City, I took many you’ve created composites of in both your walks around the city while attending ICP. In “Urban Series” and your “Environmental my childhood, I intimately knew the woods Series”? and natural world surrounding my Vermont JW: Selection of my first sites grew out of my home in the Green Mountains. In the city, I geologic work. It was exciting and freeing to was fascinated by the juxtaposition between artistically express my geologic experiences. the feeling of being on a city street and the Gasoline Station (2005). 11.8” x 72.8”. Digital composite, Having worked on many gasoline station sites feeling of being in the woods of Central Park. archival inkjet print. Image courtesy of the artist.

22 SciArt in America October 2013 SciArt in America October 2013 23