Art and Science

My husband works at Rocky Mountain Laboratories which is a national government facility here in Western Montana that studies various diseases and viruses (he's a computer administrator, not a lab person!).  The lab has collaborated with the Ravalli County Museum to showcase artwork reflecting science from students of all ages, community and lab-related artists, and finally a ballet.  The exhibition is called "Science in Wonderland".  It opened in May with images from the lab (including 3-d images that you can look at with 3d glasses!) and artwork from elementary through college students.  On July 12 the next part of the exhibit will open with artwork from people related to lab employees and community artists.  My son has done a couple of watercolor images of ticks and I have three fiber wall-hangings and a 3-d tick soft sculpture.  The lab is reknowned for their tick research.   The final part of the exhibition is a ballet combined with photographic projections revealing the mystery of viruses.

 Here are some images of my pieces that will be submitted this week for the art and science display opening on July 12.   My first foray into the microscopic world of art!

The first piece has a microscopic image of Salmonella bacteria that was taken at the lab which has been printed onto silk organza.  It was then combined with other fabrics and some extensive free motion stitching.  It is called "Salmonella I - Bacteria on Silk".    

 

The second piece is a 3-dimensional representation of the same Salmonella image.  It is called
"Salmonella II - Bacteria Bejeweled".

The final image is a soft sculpture piece representing a tick.  The legs are wired so that two of the legs can wrap around and hole onto something.  That is how ticks posture themselves to be ready to leap onto a passing food source.  The other six legs are splayed out in order to be able to grab and go!

 

Thanks for looking!! 

Rainbows and Birds

The other day we had a spectacular full rainbow out our front door.  It was so big that I couldn't get all of it framed in my camera!  For a while there was a double rainbow too.  And, the moon was still in the sky above it, but it was pretty faded in the sky and I couldn't get a good picture of it.  With the Bitterroot Mountains behind it this rainbow was glorious to see.   You know the pictures don't do it justice.

I'm showing some of my work this month at Selvedge Studio in Missoula, Montana.  This is a fabric store with wonderful modern and classic fabrics, out of the ordinary from what you find at quilt shops.  They sell to lots of people making clothing and home dec items, as well as us quilters so they have more than just your regular quilting cottons.  They even carry silk, linen, and other wonderful things.  Here are two pieces that I made especially for this show using a couple of their cotton fabrics.  The owl fabric and the bird fabric were purchased at Selvedge Studio.  The first one is "In The Pink".  Hand-dyed background fabric, couched yarn, decorative machine stitches, free motion quilting, beading (including dangling leaves).

In The Pink

 This one is called "Birds of A Feather" (Flock Together!).  Dangling leaf beads at the top, additional beading at the bottom, free motion quilting.  The dangles of leaves were fun to do and create strong interest at the top of the piece.  I love this bird fabric!

Birds of A Feather