Chimera, an Art Opening at Syracuse University, and presenting at CNY Zebrafish Meeting

The Hehnly Lab had an eventful weekend that kicked off with the opening of Chimera, a menagerie of Art/Bio studies from Bio and Art students along with professional artists that ended with a juxtaposition of Microscopic Micrographs, Murals, and Illustrations filling Shaffer Hall. The BioArt Class and subsequent art show, Chimera, was a labor of love from Hehnly lab members Nikhila Kirshnan, Debadrita Pal, Abrar Aljiboury, Mike Bates, and Favour Ononiwu who worked closely with BioArt students. The class was co-taught by Heidi Hehnly (Biology) and resident Artist in the Hehnly Lab, Boryana Rossa, who is an Associate Professor in The School of Visual and Performing Arts.

The Lab also attended the CNY Zebrafish conference where Debadrita Pal (Hehnly Lab Postdoc) and Nikhila Krishnan (Hehnly Lab Senior Grad Student) presented their work orally. Yan Wu (Hehnly Lab Postdoc) and Jonah Da Silva presented their work in the form of posters, and Favour Ononiwu attended. Congrats to everyone that presented.

Below is a series of photos documenting both events.

Congrats to Denise Magny!

For being awarded an Academic & Research Achievement Award from the Biology Lab in her Senior year. Its been a pleasure having Denise in the lab for her undergraduate research experience!

Denise

Congrats to Jonah and Thomas!

Congrats to Jonah Da Silva for being awarded the Biology Summer Research Award and SOURCE award for summer semester, and Thomas Cammerino for being awarded a SOURCE Research Award for Fall semester! Great Job!

CHIMERA- Syracuse University's first Bio-Art Show

I'm so excited to help out with this Bio-Art show with Boryana Rossa and our fabulous students. If you are in the Syracuse Area, come check it out.

CHIMERA:

This exhibition features finished works and works in progress that have been made by students and artists who utilize techniques and knowledge from the field of biological sciences, apply discussion from humanities and look for visual and textual expression that comes from the arts.

During the global pandemic, the need for an integrated approach to education that includes both art and science has become imperative for fighting collective distrust in science. Our attempt is to create widely accessible view of the work done in scientific labs and open discussion about its social importance that comes from both sciences and the arts.

While taking the bio-art class the students, who have scientific or artistic backgrounds, studied examples of bio-art, had hands-on experience with microscopy and other biological techniques, and discussed their work reaching beyond their disciplines. The works in the exhibition present varieties of topics, starting with self-portraits, portraits of ecological systems, visual exploration of macro and micro worlds, ethical and personal exploration of the role of the scientist in the society, and the body as a political arena.

Guest artists are presented with signature and award-winning works. Jennifer Willet looks at the topic of co-existence, play and collaboration of human and microbial worlds, Paul Vanouse reflects upon industrial society’s shift from human and machine labor to forms of microbial manufacturing, and Adam Zaretsky presents “The Errorarium,” a device for exploring the gamification of the forced genetic errors that may appear in chamber-grown botanica.

CIMERA is part of the programming of the Bio-Art Mixer, where art and life sciences meet, faculty and grads share their research or look at it from the perspective of a different discipline. Initiated by Heidi Hehnly, Ph.D. Biology, SU; Boryana Rossa Ph.D. FMA.

Supported by CUSE Seed Grant, Department of Film and Media Arts and Department of Biology.