Of Painting and Pencillin - Studio 360

Kristin and I find ourselves in fine company this weekend in a radio piece that features our art-making process alongside that of Alexander Flemming. Who knew he made paintings with bacteria too?! Now, if only we could stumble upon a world health solution while we are noodling with our drawings... (thankfully Kristin is working on that in more traditional ways).

Click through to Studio 360 here, where you can hear the piece, or go here to see the whole piece bundled with a video where you can watch me botch a print, and see a little slide show of our last working session.  Our goal was to translate some of the "lab" science into the "home" lab, so i can work a bit more independently and bother fewer busy scientists.

Huge thanks go to Lindsay Patterson, the intrepid producer who sought us out,  to the folks at Studio 360, and to our friend Katayoun Chamanay for loaning us some key supplies.

Leave us a comment and let us know what you think of the story.

(sorta) Big in Japan

Toshihiko Katsuda, a reporter for the ASAHI Shimbun, visited us at the Museum of Arts and Design during the World Science Festival.  He took lots of photos and asked great questions.We just received this PDF of the story he published, entitled "Artistic E. Coli".   I was delighted... or at least, I thought maybe I could be? An unusual situation.  I replied, "Looks great! ... but uh, What does it say??"  He humored me. For the translation, read below. Thank you Toshi!

Amoeba to Zebra July 1 - July 25

Very happy to have a chance to reinstall, anew, "The many (still) lives of E. coli" -- a set of our prints at the 440 Gallery (440 6th Ave in Park Slope, at 9th Street).  Many thanks to Gail and Todd (he is pictured here) for helping me get it on the wall!  And thanks to Ylva Rouse for selecting this piece for the show.

Come out and enjoy the opening, Thursday July 1 from 6-9!

Our Day at the Museum of Arts and Design

Here are fabulous students from Ms. Shu's class at the Juan Morel Campos school printing and painting designs to E. coli!  They began by printing to paper the many images I'd already cultivated on stacks of petri dishes. (I'm demo-ing this above). Then they turned their attention to making their own original designs, applying the clear solutions of E. coli to the agar plates we'd prepared. After the prints dried, they sealed and mounted these in clean petri dishes; 2 students created a sculpture from the mounted prints. Lots more great photos below the jump!

Take a Look at the World Science Festival Blog

Molly Webster, the tireless producer of our Bio-Art program at the Museum of Arts and Design, has learned an awful lot about what goes into creating prints from cultured, hand-painted genetically-engineered blue E. coli bacteria.  It's been great to read how someone with a bit more artistic-remove describes our work -- check our her two posts from our festival week here. 

Preparing at the Lab

Printing and Painting at MAD

Thank you so much for all your help and spirited words Molly! Stay tuned for pictures of finished work soon to come...

Join Us at the World Science Festival!

Once again, we will be offering an educational program at the World Science Festival. Come see us on
Thursday, June 3, 2010, 3:00 PM - 7:00 PM

Museum of Arts and Design

Ms. Emily Shu's art students from the Juan Morel Campos High School will be learning about microbiology as they spend the afternoon painting their own designs in bacteria, and printing other designs cultivated the day before by Amy. Throughout the program, the public is invited to visit the Museum's Open Studio, to observe the printing and painting process.

Participation by invitation only; public welcome to observe. Free with admission to the Museum of Arts and Design.
Special thanks to Katayoun Chamany, Associate Professor at Eugene Lang College, for providing lab space and support!

Hudson River Museum - Talk & Workshop

Had a wonderful time working with the Yonkers-area teachers that attended my talk/workshop at the Hudson River Museum yesterday.

Since painting with bacteria requires 12-18 hours in an incubator to see the designs emerge, I instead asked teachers to experiment with 5 "mystery" materials to create opportunities to discover the properties of these liquids, much as i had to do as an artist, working with living bacteria.

When mixed in certain combinations, participants found that these mystery materials created surprising effects. Their task was to discover those effects, identify the materials, and use them to create works of art.

Thank you to Saralinda Lichtblau for inviting me up to share our work!