'Don’t think we are all that different': UNC class combines science and art

Science-based artwork of varied colors, sizes and subjects — from the Black Death to the Great Dismal Swamp —hung along the walls of the Genome Sciences Building lobby for a one-day exhibition on Friday evening.

The show, "Artist/Scientist: Printmaking and Biology,” displayed works by students in Studio Art 409: Art and Science: Merging Printmaking and Biology. The undergraduate honors course was co-taught in the fall by art professor Beth Grabowski and biology professor Bob Goldstein. 

The class was first taught in fall 2018 and enrolls 14 students who have completed a 200-level course in biology or studio art, with seven slots for students of each discipline. The course teaches students about the similarities between art and science, as well as their differences.

“I don’t think we are all that different, to be honest — I think science, as much as people might not think about it in this way, but it’s actually a very creative field,” Grabowski said. “You have to be aware, and you have to be willing to find what you’re not looking for.”

Students were assigned three art projects based in scientific research that allowed them to explore topics they were curious about, Goldstein said. 

Micro-macro, the first project, required  students to use a microscope to examine small objects of interest, like patterns in cloth, and make art from what they see. They used traditional microscopes, but also built smartphone or tablet-based ones. 

“The art students often end up getting pictures in the microscopes that I often think, ‘Wow, I never would have thought of using it that way to see that kind of thing,'” Goldstein said. 

Students also carved woodcuts used for printing that measured almost 4 feet by 3 feet as part of the first project. 

Senior biostatistics and studio art double major Isabella Gamez’s woodcut and print “Dance Macabre” was showcased at the exhibition. The work was inspired by the Dance of Death, a 14th-century motif popularized by the Black Death and associated with dancing skeletons. 

The black-and-white work features two large rats and two fleas dancing in a circle surrounded by a ring of bacteria to show the spread of disease. Four lymph nodes, where bacteria are trapped, border the ring and animals.

Gamez created “Dance Macabre” by carving her design into large pieces of medium-density fiberboard, an engineered wood product, and spreading ink on the raised parts of the wood with rollers and transferring it onto muslin cloth using a press.

The second project was on biological motion, and students used software to represent motion in 2D images. They made screen prints and videos related to literal or conceptual motion.

For the third project, students were allowed to take their work in any direction. 

Goldstein said when he started the course in 2018, he assumed students would make art that looked biological. 

“What we get is something so much more interesting, which is most students make things that they’re really personally invested in, so they start by looking, but then they make things related to diseases that run in their family or other things that are personally really important to them,” he said. 

Dana Bumbalo graduated from UNC in the fall with majors in history and studio art. She wanted to blend those subjects for her third project, “Pocosin (Great Dismal Swamp),” which explored the Native history of the Great Dismal Swamp — a large area on the coastal plain between Norfolk, Va., and Elizabeth City, N.C.

The project's four parts were made using cyanotype, a photographic printing process that creates prints in a dark green-blue shade. Bumbalo dyed the paper with tea to create a brown shade and outlined the Native chronology of the swamp by screen printing text over three prints. 

"I wanted to reframe the history of it because I've taken some Native studies classes within my history degree," Bumbalo said. 

Historical photographs of the swamp compose the background of each print. Bumbalo showcased the swamp’s biological diversity with the silhouettes of birds, trees and other animals like bears.

Goldstein said every year that he teaches the course is a surprise. 

“With 14 students times three projects, there are 42 new directions every year — really qualitatively new, pretty consistently — and always things that I just never dreamt they were going to do,” he said.

@milaaamascenik

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