Comments on: Art that smells like a lab http://gonzolabs.org/2009/10/art-that-smells-like-a-lab/ Home of the Gonzo Scientist Wed, 14 Jul 2010 21:01:48 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 By: Niall Hamilton http://gonzolabs.org/2009/10/art-that-smells-like-a-lab/comment-page-1/#comment-31 Niall Hamilton Wed, 28 Oct 2009 23:58:18 +0000 http://gonzolabs.org/?p=199#comment-31 My name is Niall Hamilton, I'm one of the microbial artists involved with the microbial art site. I started doing microbial art shortly after completing an honours degree (1st class) in microbiology, it started while I was working at an industrial/environmental microbiology consulting laboratory in 2002. During my degree I had very little to do with the fungal side of microbiology and the amazing variety of colour/morphology in the fungal species really struck me when I started to get involved with the environmental microbiology. (I since went on to complete a medical degree [& now work as a doctor]though I still do some microbiology part-time when I can.) Microbiology is an area that often comes across as quite dry & while working as a microbiologist, I was looking for a way to express my enthusiasm for it to my friends. Christmas was approaching so I thought I'd do a personal 'microbe' Xmas card. So taking a few species isolated from windowsill dust, I decided to swab out an appropriate seasonal image onto an agar plate. It was quite well received and I thought, why stop with just seasonal images? So I continue to culture more microbial art & photograph it. I do a mix of the images created with the microbes as the 'paint' and micro/macrophotographs that are a bit more abstract but demonstrate the beauty and elegance of the fungal forms in microbiology. I strongly believe that science-based art is a easy way to remind us of the depths & mysteries of the world around us. For example - the 'snowman' image created uses yeast isolated from the edge of a sink plughole - a small area of slime that itself is a complex multi-species biofilm. Microbiology is a fascinating area and hopefully pieces that are made from microbes isolated from windowsill dust and sink slime will make people wonder a bit more about the microbial world around us and maybe even spark an interest in it. When Ryan contacted me with the idea of setting a site to showcase microbial art, I was delighted to be involved. It's the obvious next step for exposing people to this unique form of art that reflects a passion for microbiology. My name is Niall Hamilton, I’m one of the microbial artists involved with the microbial art site. I started doing microbial art shortly after completing an honours degree (1st class) in microbiology, it started while I was working at an industrial/environmental microbiology consulting laboratory in 2002. During my degree I had very little to do with the fungal side of microbiology and the amazing variety of colour/morphology in the fungal species really struck me when I started to get involved with the environmental microbiology. (I since went on to complete a medical degree [& now work as a doctor]though I still do some microbiology part-time when I can.)

Microbiology is an area that often comes across as quite dry & while working as a microbiologist, I was looking for a way to express my enthusiasm for it to my friends. Christmas was approaching so I thought I’d do a personal ‘microbe’ Xmas card. So taking a few species isolated from windowsill dust, I decided to swab out an appropriate seasonal image onto an agar plate. It was quite well received and I thought, why stop with just seasonal images? So I continue to culture more microbial art & photograph it. I do a mix of the images created with the microbes as the ‘paint’ and micro/macrophotographs that are a bit more abstract but demonstrate the beauty and elegance of the fungal forms in microbiology.

I strongly believe that science-based art is a easy way to remind us of the depths & mysteries of the world around us. For example – the ‘snowman’ image created uses yeast isolated from the edge of a sink plughole – a small area of slime that itself is a complex multi-species biofilm. Microbiology is a fascinating area and hopefully pieces that are made from microbes isolated from windowsill dust and sink slime will make people wonder a bit more about the microbial world around us and maybe even spark an interest in it.

When Ryan contacted me with the idea of setting a site to showcase microbial art, I was delighted to be involved. It’s the obvious next step for exposing people to this unique form of art that reflects a passion for microbiology.

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