Collaboration


  • Dr. Stephen J. Tonsor, and lab members, Evolutionary Plant Genetics, University of Pittsburgh
       ongoing social sculpture, since Jan 2011
  • Dr. Kelly Gardner Aukema, Biotechnology Institute, University of Minnesota
  • Dr. Theresa Grana, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Mary Washington



    • Social Sculpture with the Tonsor Laboratory for Plant Evolutionary Genetics

    A Lab + An Artist = An Evolution of Practice.

    Begun in January, 2011, this two year project places Natalie Settles' daily practice as an artist alongside the daily activities of Dr. Stephen Tonsor and the researchers in his ecology and evolution lab at the University of Pittsburgh. The project is modeled on the process of evolution—where our different practices, interacting in real space and time, exert a force on each other—in an effort to cause a change in the evolutionary trajectory of our work and thinking.

    Instead of focusing from the outset on the creation of specific artworks, or scientific results, or exhibitions of either flavor, we are most interested in setting up a situation in which people from both fields come into regular contact so that, as C.P. Snow would say, "creative chances happen". These creative changes are the cultural equivalent of mutations—those that are fruitful will become culture. This is a social sculpture in which art practice and scientific research come into contact to knock heads and learn to describe the chasm in-between—reshaping the trajectory of each practice, and the mental space of each practitioner. Along the way evidence—physical works (in either art or science), and documents—of this social sculpture will occur.

    Artistic practice and perspective stand to offer new insight into problematic areas in scientific research such as reductionist thinking, statistical simplification, perception of negative results, and the pursuit of ideal measurements within the variability of nature. Art also offers a high tolerance for nuance, complexity and paradox. Scientific practice offers clear links between motivations and methods, and is one of the most influential mental constructs in the modern mind—a clearer, more nuanced understanding of these may inform the art process. Additionally, both art and science examine nature and being—they stand to offer informative points of overlap, interesting glimpses of a stereo image, and productive points of dissonance.

    Watch Tonsor and Settles talk about this work at the National Academy of Science's DASER
    Learn more about the lab: www.tonsorlab.pitt.edu

    This residency collaboration was initiated between Natalie Settles and the Tonsor Lab. No formal program for residency exists with the lab or the University of Pittsburgh. If this type of work interests you, please consider beginning a conversation with an artist or researcher whose work interests you.




    Dr. Kelly Gardner Aukema, Postdoctoral Researcher with Larry Wackett and Jeff Gralnick in the Biotechnology Institute, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN

    Kelly and I have shared over a decade of friendship and dialogue about art and science. We met as grad students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison when I arrived in 2000. Our relationship slowly evolved, and along the way we took the time to understand each other's work and ideas—discovering how much we had in common.

    We are both deeply interested in questions of mystery, idealism, beauty, death, and the awkward but hopeful interventions we humans make into nature. Since 2010 we have begun to produce works stemming from our ongoing conversation. One manifestation in the art realm is a set of evolving wall drawings that reflect the increasing demand for fuel that drives Kelly's work.

    Dr. Aukema is a biochemist involved in research to efficiently harness the energy of the sun by using light-harvesting cyanobacteria to symbiotically feed a second species of genetically enhanced bacteria (Shewanella), which in turn naturally produce fuel-ready hydrocarbon molecules (a biofuel).



    Dr. Theresa Grana, Assistant Professor of Biology, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Mary Washington, Fredericksburg, VA

    Theresa and I have known one another since 2005 when she was a post doctoral fellow at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Our conversations over the phone, over coffee, or on the hiking trail have often been about patterns in nature and how our work manifests these patterns.

    Our discussions lead to a direct collaboration on a print in 2006 which was featured in the Transformation portfolio that year at the Southern Graphics Council conference. This proved to be a pivotal moment for both of us as we've both sought out more opportunities to interact with artists and scientists even as we now live further away from one another. We've continued our discussions over email and several chances for coffee each year—still keen to know and understand each other's worlds better.

    Dr. Grana teaches biology and genetics and is conducting a survey of nematode species in the Fredricksburg, Virginia area. She plans to compare the development of diverse groups of local nematodes by imaging and video microscopy.