Bio-Art Mixer 4

Bio-Art Mixer #4

Come to our fourth BIO-ART mixer in February! Feb 22, Friday, 20196.30-10 pm. 121 Shaffer Art Building, 1st floor, Syracuse University

Please make sure to spread the word in your departments and advertise! It’s great fun for students, faculty, and friends! 6.30 pm – Talks

This time we have three speakers: Sam Van Aken (Studio Arts, Sculpture), Sally Ann Prasch (College of Arts and Sciences, Chemistry) and Caitlin McDonough (Scott Pitnick and Steve Dorus’s laboratory, College of Arts and Sciences, Biology) each of whom will give 20 min talk followed by a discussion moderated by William G. Osborne III.

8.30pm- ConfabDiscussions will be followed by informal talks and refreshments at room 118A, Shaffer Art!

Sam Van Aken (School of Art, Associate Professor, Studio Arts (Sculpture)

Sam Van Aken is a contemporary artist who works beyond traditional modes of art making, crossing artistic genres and disciplines to develop new perspectives on such themes as communication, botany, agriculture, climatology, and the ever-increasing impact of technology. The Tree of 40 Fruit, is a single grafted tree with the capacity to grow more than 40 different varieties of stone fruit, including peach, plum, apricot, nectarine, cherry, and almond. One of them is planted on campus, next to the Sacco and Vancetti mural. Professor Van Aken will talk about his newest projects. https://www.samvanaken.com/

Sally Ann Prasch (Glassblower, College of Arts and Sciences, Chemistry)

With a background in both science and art, Sally Prasch will talk about how the material of glass melds both art and science together. Glass models of living organisms and scientific glassware produced in her workshop will be shown. https://praschglass.com/

Caitlin McDonough (PhD candidate in the Center for Reproductive Evolution).

Caitlin McDonough will talk about her research on the landscape of gene expression in the female reproductive tract. Inside the cryptic environment of the female reproductive tract, the male ejaculate interacts with female structures and secretions to ensure that reproduction occurs at the right time, the highest-quality offspring possible are produced, and only individuals of the same species reproduce. Although female reproductive systems exert enormous influence on the outcome of reproductive events, we know surprisingly little about how they function. In the fruit fly model organism, I use a systems-level approach, combining molecular, genetic, and evolutionary methods to develop a more detailed and dynamic understanding of female contributions to successful reproduction.

What is the Bio-Art Mixer? The Bio-Art Mixer is an event where art and life sciences meet, where faculty and graduate students are invited to share their research, get ideas for their new projects, or to simply view their own work from the perspective of a different discipline. Every meeting will include short presentations by artists and biologists, with plenty of time for informal conversations. The mixer will take place twice a semester. Our ambition is to make the Bio-Art Mixer a foundation for future exhibitions, demonstrations, and new collaborative projects involving art and the life sciences, to inspire interdisciplinary research across the universities in the region, and to engage local communities. The Bio-Art Mixer is an initiative of Heidi Hehnly, Ph.D. Assistant Professor at Syracuse University, Biology Department, and Boryana Rossa Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Transmedia Department at Syracuse University in collaboration with the Canary Lab.