Robotic Art Exhibit, Iowa City

Pocketbook Mussels

Last week I had a great discussion with an environmental engineer, Craig Just at the University of Iowa, about the connections between art and science. One of the coolest things he showed me was his lab where he is currently researching freshwater mussels and their abilities to remove nitrates from the Iowa River. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera, so I'll have to re-create some imagery here. The Pocketbook Mussel is a fascinating example of the mind-blowing complexity of the natural world. It has a symbiotic relationship with fish, which are lured in by the mussel (there is no fish in this image, that is part of the mussel) and act as hosts temporarily for the clam larvae. Scrubmuncher has a pretty good handle on the process, so I'll point you here. Thanks for the inspiring visit Craig!

The Superfund Art Project has really gained momentum over the past few months after receiving funding from the Florida Department of Cultural Affairs and recently awarded a second grant from the EPA. Next march SAP will unveil Region4: Transformation Through Imagination, a ground-breaking exhibition about the science and emotions of the Koppers Superfund Site in Gainesville Florida. Here is an image from my proposal for the show: Citizen Bio-Detector! It is a wearable sensor and data gathering device. It is only a concept now and envisions capabilities for logging pH, temperature, GPS, petro-Vapors, and Total Dissolved Solids data. Learn more at protectgainesville.org

University of Alabama

This week I was honored to be invited by Sky Shineman and Lucy Curzon of The University of Alabama, to speak with their class as a visiting artist. They are co-teaching a class called Art and its Publics, which is a graduate level seminar on public art. Thanks Sky and Lucy!

Inflatable Sculptures!

The WARP program at UF always does an inflatable sculpture project, and I've always meant to incorporate it into one of my sculpture classes. This semester at Santa Fe College I have a small group of Sculpture 2 students and these are the inflatable sculptures they created. Lorenzo Collante created the Jellyfish; Chelsea Bomar created the Tulip; David Tonnelier and Frank Grey created the Ship and Octopus. Nice work, they all are spectacular!!!