Chrysalis (III) by Matsys

About the project:

The latest in a series of projects exploring cellular morphologies, Chrysalis (III) investigates the self-organization of barnacle-like cells across an underlying substrate surface. The cells shift and slide across the surface as they attempt to find a more balanced packed state through the use of a relaxed spring network constrained to the surface. Each cell is composed of two parts: a cone-like outer surface made from cherry veneer and a non-planer inner plate made from poplar veneer that stresses the outer cone into shape. Each of the 1000 cell components are unfolded flat in the digital model, digitally fabricated, and hand assembled.

These science inspired silk scarves are available from the Artologica Etsy store.

Microscopy by Anne-Cécile Reymann, Manuel Thery, iRTSV in Grenoble, France

Cells by Laura Katherine McMillan

McMillan on her project:

I began this series of embroideries as a way to fuse my background studies in anatomy and kinesiology with my passion for textile art. Revisiting old text books brought back not just information I would have to memorize for its function but a wealth of beautiful imagery. I began to see the cells as a series of intricate textures and shapes.

Creating this series made me think about how our view of something as merely functional can overshadow its inherent beauty.

Science is lovely in silk (at least it is in the hands of Karen Kamenetzky).

Kamenetzky on her work:

I dye, paint and stitch cottons and silks to create boldly colored wallhangings inspired by microscopic/cellular imagery - a kind of visual invented biology with textiles. I find this imagery metaphorically rich since all change fundamentally happens on this infinitesimal level.

Japanese artist Mika Aoki uses the ethereal quality of glass to get us to look differently at subjects like viruses, reproduction and the origins of life.

Jennifer Judd-McGee does these cute drawings on the pages of vintage botany books and sells them in her Swallowfield Etsy store.

Artist Carissa Weber finds inspiration from nature, right down to the cellular level. 

Retired scientist Ed Munn’s continuous, single line drawings of plants are based on the fundamental properties of living cells. He uses a single continuous line to represent how living cells are enclosed by a single continuous layer.

Since his retirement, Munn “has been seeking a way to represent the detailed structure revealed by electron microscopy in a form that will convey some feeling of the hidden beauty of living cells within the context of the familiar external outline of plants and animals thus bringing it to the attention of the non-specialist.” 

To find out more about these drawings and the science behind them click here.

Love biology? Love art? Well, look no further than Artlogica’s store on Etsy.