Tales from the Microbial Laboratory

~an unveiling~

Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.

~The opening lines of Cien Años de Soledad by Gabriel Garcia Marquez~

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Tonight at the Taco Boy on Huger Street - there was a festive unveiling of an art piece that was a collaboration between Charleston artists' David Boatwright and Jeff Kopish.  I stopped by on my way home from work, so I thought I'd share a bit of the unveiling with you...

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~fun~

Now, the coolest thing about the postcard invite that I got from LimeBlue is that it glows in the dark.

  Really, it does.

Isn't that fun? 

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Lamp Show and Reception, 5 June 2009, 5-9 PM

featuring Lisa B. Studios

LimeBlue, 62b Queen Street, Charleston, SC

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~evolve~

  

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Our IT guy at work, yeah, the guy of machine learning and sous chef fame, brought in a poster similar to the one above a week or so ago, and put it on the door of his office - it's a good one, isn't it?  Head over to mikero.com and learn more about the artist and other versions of this poster that he has available.

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I've been busy.  There's been another grant submission, a workshop in Columbia where I had to gave a presentation, some difficult meetings, and on top of it all, I've been under the weather.  I am, however, on the mend - it's remarkable what a few days of peace and quiet can do.  Right now I'm craving quiet - a few mornings ago a flock of ibis flew over the garden, and this morning the cedar waxwings were all over the savannah holly.  Those are the kinds of mornings that I need.

    

~composite creatures~

~Vertumnus, Giuseppe Arcimboldo (Oil on wood. Skoklosters Slott, Balsta, Sweden, 1590-1591)~

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Last week I was walking through the lobby of the laboratory and I noticed this cover on the November 2008 issue of Emerging Infectious Diseases - lying on a table.  It stopped me in my tracks.  

How have I missed these?

They're fascinating. 

A truly delightful thing about this world is how there is a lifetime of new things out there, waiting to be discovered.  And I suppose that this sense of discovery is in the eye of the beholder, which is even better - something that has been out there all along, something that I had previously not noticed - lying in the open, waiting to be seen.

This site includes many of his other paintings - all wonderful.

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~Giuseppe Arcimboldo. Self-Portrait. c.1575. Blue pen-and-wash drawing. Narodni Gallery, Prague, Chechia~

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So of course this got me to thinking about this man named Giuseppe Arcimboldo, and of course Vertumnus - the god of seasons, change and plant growth, gardens and fruit trees. 

I need to learn more.  Much more.

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From:  Potter P. The extraordinary nature of illusion. Emerg Infect Dis [serial on the Internet]. 2008 Nov [date cited].

"Look at the apple and the peach—/Round, red, and fresh—/That form both cheeks;/Turn your mind to my eyes—/One is a cherry,/The other a red mulberry," exclaimed Vertumnus in Comanini's poem, as if surprised by his own fantastic appearance. Composite creatures have fascinated throughout the ages. Hellenic mythology proposed Chimera, which appeared on pottery 2,500 years ago and was described by Homer in the Iliad (Book VI) as "a thing of immortal make, not human, lion-fronted and snake behind, a goat in the middle, and snorting out of breath of the terrible flame of bright fire."

A tempting metaphor, Chimera has been adopted by many civilizations and, more recently, by various disciplines, among them genetics, molecular biology, and virology. Composites abound in nature. Those in the microbial world have gained notoriety in the face of emerging disease, one that Arcimboldi would have delighted in immortalizing. For this complex illusion, instead of fruits or flowers, he would have portrayed MRSA, avian influenza (H5N1), West Nile virus, E. coli O157:H7, and other hallmarks of emergence: ordinary parts rearranged in a new context. Its specter would have gone beyond astonishment to other common reactions evoked by the master's unpredictable work: unease and foreboding.

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I love the idea of another Renaissance, of a new artist-scientist emerging like Giuseppe Arcimboldo.

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~The Vegetable Gardener, c.1590. Oil on wood. Museo Civico Ala Ponzone, Cremona, Italy~

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I have a feeling that I'll report back regarding this guy.

(And while you're at it, take a look here.  Kinda fun).

~a genius~

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Sometimes a thing happens that just makes you feel good, something out of the ordinary, perhaps something unexpected (but not to be confused with undeserved) and something miraculous - and that is how I felt when I read that Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina resident Mary Jackson received one of the 2008 McArthur Fellowships.

These fellowships are often referred to as 'Genius Grants'.  You can't run for them, ask for them, train for them.  Jackson was selected because of her 'fiber art' - she makes these incredible baskets out of sweetgrass.  On most nice days and alot of less than nice ones, women are sitting along Highway 17 near where I live, weaving baskets out of sweetgrass, strips of palmetto, pine needles and other natural fibers.  Unfortunately, development out this way is changing their world too rapidly.

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Good for her.  Double, triple good for her.  Now how wonderful is this news?

Congratulations, Mary Jackson. 

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Take a look here at a wonderful article at the City Paper on Jackson's award...and this article over at the NYTimes on the annoucement of the twenty-five 2008 Fellows.  To see some examples of her work - take a look here.  Read a bit about the history of sweetgrass baskets here.

And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention something about the sweetgrass itself - Hierochloe odorata - you can order seeds here and read a bit about it here.  (Hmmm...or is it Muhlenbergia filipes?  I'm pretty sure that it is the later.  This distribution makes much more sense.  I need to find out about this.)

 

~travel trailers and the disappearing south~

Tomorrow evening, amidst predicted heavy rains, there will be the first French Quarter Artwalk of spring - and I am thrilled because of two artists featured:  Stephanie Nance at LimeBlue and Gordon Nicholson at Corrigan Gallery.

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Now how fun is this - I came to know of Stephanie Nance's work (she's from Austin, TX) because she left a comment here on a post I wrote about silly Airstream distractions.  It seems that Stephanie's studio is a travel trailer, and that she is rather fond of trailer paintings - so how could I resist her work?  The one posted here will be in tomorrow's show - and is an image she emailed me a few days ago.  Of course she also does wonderful botanical paintings - and I'm looking forward to seeing more of those tomorrow evening.  She has a wonderful way with color - they are bright and fun and simple and well, sort of perfect in their own way.  I am thrilled that she shipped some of her work up to Charleston to my friend Jeff's gallery, and I can't wait to see them.

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So - there will be trailer paintings at LimeBlue - and right next door, literally, will be the work of - yes - my architherapist.  Now how fun is that?  I met with him today, and of course forgot to ask for permission to post some of his images here - but you can follow the link above to see some examples of his work.  His work - mostly watercolors I believe - are deeply southern images, images of places long neglected, perhaps forgotten - as mentioned on the website, images of the 'disappearing South' - coupled with text that changes how each piece is viewed based on an individual's interpretation.  I can't wait to see his show - his first he said - and I hope that the rains lessen just for awhile, so that others will come to see his show - and Stephanie's - as well.

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Travel travelers and the disappearing South.  A typical Friday evening in the springtime in Charleston, South Carolina.

~(a kind of) freedom~

This painting is 35" wide by 50" tall.

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I know this because it is now time for my larger paintings to go to the home of a gracious friend who is providing me some safe space for their storage during the Airstream Year (notice how I optimistically didn't type Years?).  I'm measuring them all before I store them, so as we wrap up the design 'stage' of this new home thing I can keep their future presence in mind.

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I've dragged this painting around with me for awhile now (which is a bit of an understatement) - this is a painting that I did in 11th grade while taking a high school art class with the instructor Waldo Johnson.  Sometimes, even still, I think back over that class and the freedom that Waldo Johnson gave us:  he believed that painters - paint - and that when a student didn't want to use charcoal and draw that green pepper, that perhaps it was okay, and perhaps it was also okay when the student came in with some yellow enamel paint and old white house paint and asked if she could 'do something' else.  I will be forever grateful that day, when Mr. Johnson's response was 'why yes'.  So I can't look at this painting with unbiased eyes - because it has always represented freedom to me, freedom to simply ask about an alternative (if you don't like what's been put in front of you), freedom to not feel constrained by a vegetable (that is good for you), and freedom to go down a different path (even if it is a painful dead-end - and sometimes it is not so much a dead-end, as it is an awkward painting to carry around with you for the rest of your life simply because).

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(Mr. Johnson passed away several years ago.  My Mother told me.  I've been thinking that I should write his family, to tell them how much I appreciated him.  This is one of those things that one should indeed do - and I regret that I haven't.  Yes, I know, it is something that I can still do...and will.)

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So this painting traveled with me to college and graduate school, to my postdoctoral position, and now to my crumbling home in Charleston.  It's chipped a bit, and has benefited from the help of my friend Jeff, who made a frame for it (which has helped to slow down some inevitable warping).  I have this on-going debate in my head about what I named it - 'Darwin's Theory' is what I think I called it, and if you look closely, it really is a flock of animals, birds and crustaceans and hooved animals - with the profile of 'man' in the middle, with a single 'string' leading to his brain (which also contains a few things wandering around in all of that 'matter', including something that looks as if it has a duckbill).  All of this now makes me smile, because even then I was taking advanced biology in high school, fascinated by diversity - and yet secretly craving to do art all of the time.  Some things never change.

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I've gone through some extraordinary measures to protect this painting.  Each move, another story - followed by the question '...and did the painting make out okay?'

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So today, this painting goes into storage (as do a few others, including this one and this one and a few others that haven't made these pages), I need to finish editing a section of a student's dissertation proposal (and get comments back to her)...and I need to begin to put my landscape plan for my new home down on paper (and remember, this is not so much of a design as a plan - so will incorporate several fundamental LEED components, for example, I will limit 'turf' to 40% of my existing lot.  That is something I can easily do, would like to do - because - doesn't that mean more beds, more places to plant - and perhaps, just perhaps, I should forget about all of the stuff that I need to do today, and just place a seed order?)       

Chuck Keppler at LimeBlue

Tonight is the December Artwalk - my favorite one because the evening is guaranteed to be cool and downtown always looks so nice, with the streets dressed up for the holidays.

And if I might twist your arm, please stop by Jeff Kopish's gallery, LimeBlue (62-B Queen Street), and take a look at Chuck Keppler's show.

Chuck is a marine biologist at the campus where I work (bio), and I knew him for several years before I discovered that he had an 'artsy' side.  He started out doing gigposters that have become quite popular - and now he is expanding to other subjects and approaches.

Stop by.  I'll take a break from grant writing and do the same.

 

~wood~

Tonight I went to the opening of a custom furniture and cabinetmaker, Michael Moran.  I was so impressed by the simple beauty of his designs (check out these for example) - and how each piece complimented the beauty of the different woods.  But what I also enjoyed was his appreciation of his craft and more importantly, his appreciation of the wood itself.  It was evident in his work.  Above one of the pieces was the following:

The Woodcarver by Chuang Tzu (translated by Thomas Merton)

Khing, the master carver, made a bell stand
Of precious wood. When it was finished,
All who saw it were astounded. They said it must be
The work of spirits.
The Prince of Lu said to the master carver:
"What is your secret?"

Khing replied: "I am only a workman:
I have no secret. There is only this:
When I began to think about the work you commanded
I guarded my spirit, did not expend it
On trifles, that were not to the point.
I fasted in order to set
My heart at rest.
After three days fasting,
I had forgotten gain and success.
After five days
I had forgotten praise or criticism.
After seven days
I had forgotten my body
With all its limbs.

"By this time all thought of your Highness
And of the court had faded away.
All that might distract me from the work
Had vanished.
I was collected in the single thought
Of the bell stand.

"Then I went to the forest
To see the trees in their own natural state.
When the right tree appeared before my eyes,
The bell stand also appeared in it, clearly, beyond doubt.
All I had to do was to put forth my hand
and begin.

"If I had not met this particular tree
There would have been
No bell stand at all.

"What happened?
My own collected thought
Encountered the hidden potential in the wood;
From this live encounter came the work
Which you ascribe to the spirits."

Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays from the Microbial Laboratory! 

May you have a holiday season rich in beneficial microorganisms, with reduced use of anti-microbials (toss that anti-bacterial soap!), and abundant diversity!

Yes, several days ago the lab prepared test-tubes of 'paint' (microorganisms isolated from coral reefs) and applied them to canvases (glycerol artificial seawater agar plates).  Look closely at our 'microbial palette' of 'fat fluffy white' and 'orange yellow fat' and 'dull gold'...