first day of spring!

Its the first day of Spring in this part of the globe, and a lovely morning at that!  Just visited BibliOdyssey, a wonderful blog with brilliantly researched material which never fails to amaze me, and found some interesting links to Chemistry in Art and other fascinating sites...all science related. Having visited Embiggen Books on the weekend (see previous post) my mind is tuned to Science and Art today. Sol Le Witt: a Wall Drawing retrospective was referred to ...so I have just watched a Timelapse of a wall drawing here.  This artist's Wall Drawing 766 (below) is created using colour ink washes, first installed in Paris. It is one of 98 such works shown here. Quite a number can be watched on Timelapse.

Back to BibliOdyssey, today's Sept I post is titled Streamlining and is full of intriguing images... and details re the work. At the conclusion of the post are the links to Other things - the first point is Chemistry in Art where I discovered some curious sites....like Rhizome.org's Tiny Sketch 200 Character Processing Competition. Click here and investigate these (literally) moving images. Some really were engaging. Have a look at Lib4tech's portfolio.

    

   

Images from Lib4tech's portfolio

If you were to ask me if I were a big fan of Science I would have to say increasingly so. Once upon a time my concerns were focused primarily on discovering Art through revered artists, not necessarily because I was enamored with them all, but because I was fascinated with the artist's life, working process, subject matter etc and wanted to know more. Many phases and preoccupations later, awareness and appreciation of the profound complexity of life I find can often be enhanced through exposure to imagery and ideas from physics, or any number of scientific realms. An appreciation for coastal environments, or botanical species, or knowing how moss grows or why certain foods, plants, herbs etc are so good for us.... this knowledge comes through crossing into  other dimensions of thought and research. This investigation may not necessarily evident in all the work...bit it informs and expands the sense of engagement with the subject.

Fearing what we don't know and understand is a mistake easily made...certain scientific endeavours have led to profound calamity, massive ethical debates and irrevocable change. Another reason I believe we cannot turn away. Discernment is an often times inconvenient but essential part of maturing into fuller awareness and participation in this complex life... and dealing with complexity and paradox is something I believe the maturing artist has to contend with and respond to... and perhaps offer as a gift in a sense to one's community.

Not every scientist at work,  novelist writing, designer, innovator, artist who paints, restaurant that opens its door is going to serve us well. Discernment plays a huge part in sorting what is of value, what could be of value with more time, effort, understanding, knowledge and what is left.