Photomicrography: Abstract Art

from under the Microscope

Constance Moore

Lynn Zamarra

A.C.O.E. Integrated Learning Summer Institute 2012

Through Line: How can we use the Teaching for Understanding framework to develop cross-disciplinary units that explore the relationship of the part to the whole?

Understanding Goals:1. How can participants use the elements of art to explore a photomicrograph?

2. How can photomicrographs teach us about patterns and the repeated structures universal in Nature?

3. How can identifying forms and classifying visual information from photomicrographs deepen our understanding of art and science?

3-2-1 Bridge - a Thinking Routine

Initial Response:• 3 words• 2 questions• 1 metaphor/simile

New Response:• 3 words• 2 questions• 1 metaphor/simile

While this routine is about uncovering students’ prior knowledge of a topic, it was designedin such a way as to push beyond revealing just the facts. Instead it focuses on the associationsstudents have around the topic in terms of words, questions and connections. The bridging part of the routine is designed to help students link their prior knowledge,

questions and understandings with the new ideas they develop as the unit progresses.

Bridge ( linking the two):

About Sacred Geometry

Sacred Geometry - In nature, we find patterns, designs and structures from the most minuscule particles, to expressions of life discernible to the human eye, to the greater cosmos. They are symbolic of the underlying metaphysical principle of the inseparable relationship of the part to the whole.

Sunflowers contain spirals that move clockwise and counter-clockwise.These patterns are derived naturally from the Fibonicci Sequence, closely related to the Golden Mean (phi).

The nautilus seashell and the spiral galaxy bare an uncanny resemblance. 

QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

About Sacred Geometry (con’t).

Human dimensions are also governed by certain geometric

patterns and relationships.

Da Vinci’s Vetruvian Man as the cosmografia del minor mondo

(cosmography of the microcosm).

• a palm is four fingers

• a foot is four palms

• a cubit is six palms

• four cubits make a man

• a pace is four cubits▪

• a man is 24 palms

• the length of the outspread arms is equal to the height of

a human being.

• from below the chin to the top of the head is one-eighth

of the height of a human being.

• on average, human beings are 8 heads tall.

QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

About Photomicrography

Through photomicrography—the process of photographing something under magnification, taken through a microscope —nature's infinite assortment of patterns, colors, textures, and shapes takes its rightful place in the art world. Herein lies symmetry.

There are crystal structures reminiscent of a Miro, metals with a Pop Art quality, and plant fiber textures that Cartier-Bresson would love to have photographed.

Wild Cucumber

About Photomicrography (con’t).

What Are Photomicrographs used for?

Photomicrographs are useful to professional fields and industry, including the life sciences, bio-research, medical science, material science and forensics science. For example, photomicrographs are used in pathology, to create images of cells for additional reference. Photomicrographs commonly accompany scientific publications which can range from the discovery of a new virus to research about the inner workings of plant cells.

Making a Photomicrograph:

Below is a link that shows how a photomicrograph is made of myoblasts, precursor cells important in repairing muscles.

The nuclei are shown in blue,the cytoskeleton in red and muscle protein in green.

Making a micrograph is an 11 step process that involves staining with antibodies, exposure to various wavelengths of light and computer controlled color enhancement ( the colors of various substances are artificial - they are not naturally occurring).

How a Micrograph Is Made

Samples of Photomicrographs

Vodka Crystal

Samples of Photomicrographs (con’t.)

Pigment Cells and Lens from the Compound Eye of the Honeybee

Artists Inspired by Photomicrography - Klee

The Impact of Photography on Painting

Tropical Blossom by Paul Klee demonstrates the influence of photomicrography. In looking at the development of the camera and how it has influenced artists of other media, such as paint, we could say the camera obscura spurred the development of the rules of perspective. Many Art historians believe that photographic printing influenced the development of Impressionism. As film speeds improved, with time-lapse photography, the study of movement in man and animals impacted Futurist and Cubist painting. Then came photomicrography, which opened up a whole new world. Such photos were to influence Paul Klee in his studies of naturalistic abstraction.

QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

Artists Inspired by Photomicrography - Leslie Sobel

Diatom Abstraction II, encaustic on panel( photomicrograph of diatoms - a single-celled algae)

Micrographic landscape, encaustic & photomicrograph on panel, 24 x 36

Artists Inspired by Photomicrography -Aoife O'Donnell

Removed from their usual context of the laboratory, these new genetic portraits seek to interrupt the traditional notion of the self-portrait in photography prompting the viewer to consider the transformations and changes occurring inside the bodyon a cellular level, and questions when the alternative portrait produced by scientific imaging moves from the generic to thepersonal.

QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

Self-Portrait, Saliva 100x

QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

Self-Portrait, Hair Follicle 100x

Artists Inspired by Photomicrography - Terrence Lundy

“ For more than 30 years I have been inspired by the abstract images that can only be seen at high magnification through the microscope. I am a trained microscopist and a practitioner of the nearly lost art of photomicrography. I have collected thousands of photomicrographs and these microscopic subjects provide the basis and color palette for the images I paint. So, whether I am painting or assembling, my art is always developed from these shapes, textures and colors.” - Terrence Lundy

Photomicrograph Analysis Using the Elements of Art and Principles of Design

Soy Sauce

Grade 3 Student Work 3D Sculpture Sample:

from Photomicrograph to Relief Sculpture

Spherulites - Radial Chain Growth When a Polymer Crystalizes

Polymer Spherulites as a Relief Sculpture

Grade 4 Student Work 3D Sculpture Sample:

from Photomicrograph to Relief Sculpture

No Center Protein No Center Protein Sculpture

QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.