2nd Place at the Biophysical Society's annual Art of Science competition in 2024 went to Benjamin Stottrup for this stunning image - "Every breath you take is possible because of lung surfactant. Lung surfactant makes these intricate and beautiful patterns that vary with composition and surface pressure. This image was taken by confocal fluorescence microscopy. Sample composition is 9:1 (4:1 r:racDPPC):hexadecanol with 1.5 mol% dehydrocholesterol."
This image of a rodent optic nerve head showing astrocytes (yellow), contractile proteins (red) and retinal vasculature (green) by Hassanain Qambari and Jayden Dickson won first place at the 2023 NSW Photomicrography competition.
https://www.nikonsmallworld.com/galleries/2023-photomicrography-competition/rodent-optic-nerve-head
The processes of erosion and subsequent sediment deposition can produce some very intriguing and visually staggering imagery, whether on a small scale, or visible from satellites, as presented here.
Wherever there is nature, you will never be far from Art.
https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2023/10/dan-coe-lidar-rivers/
One of the most amazing things about Art which is meant to change within an environment as the environment changes, is the cumulative effects that change can have, when viewed over a long period of time. This artwork was meant to archive that change, as that change transformed the work of art.
It's important to revisit works like these, to get in touch with the passing of time in beautiful new ways.
My artwork probably wouldn't exist in the form it's in now, if it weren't for alluvial fans and river deltas being formed by sediment deposition in nature - I suppose that isn't the same thing as soil art, but as long as the imagery is a result of or inspired by natural processes, then my vote is still "YES". Thank you for posting!
Kim's work resulted in this beautiful image, which won 2nd place in the annual "Art of Science" image contest hosted by the Biophysical Society, in 2013!
https://www.biophysics.org/Portals/0/BPSAssets/Awards/ImageContest/
Sediment deposition/erosion is a natural process that produces some breath-taking imagery! Many thanks to Brian for this newest work!
This image was captured by Differential Interference Contrast by Dr. Lynn Boatner et al of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA for the 2003 NSW competition, where it placed 15th. ...But of course I will hone in on it because it looks so much like a landscape!
This painting was a salvage operation, from the moment when I discovered that my gesso had been replaced by a cheap impostor wearing the same bucket. The gesso cracked and fell away from the masonite, and I almost gave up on this painting - and painting in general. I didn't though, and just applied more gesso over what was left in this painting. The end result was definitely an interesting surface to apply pigment to, resembling a rocky coastline where a few puzzle-pieces of gesso held on.
My work has always attempted to echo nature, by applying some of the same processes that nature uses - in this case sediment deposition (in addition to fractal field applications), to reproduce alluvial fans, river deltas, and other geological features often found in the natural world.
Pigment is applied in a highly aqueous state by pouring it over a level painting like flood waters, which move over some areas quickly, and others more slowly. Depending on the pigment grain, the individual particles settle at different rates, collecting on the surface in differing concentrations. Just like in nature, this liquid collects from these "rivers and streams" into larger "lakes and seas", which sometimes take days to dry completely in the sun.
Each consecutive layer interacts in unexpected ways with the previous, resulting in a work that was painted by nature. As the artist I just facilitated the various processes it needed to accomplish its magic.
https://blog.yourdesignjuice.com/2021/11/an-artists-life-by-loren-hall/
Submitted to the Nikon photomicrography competition in 1990, this entry won 4th place. In addition to just being a lovely piece, it has the distinctive signs of nature repeating herself - this time in the form of an alien desert landscape! And THAT, is a tell-tale sign that some natural process art is afoot!
The more I look at these, the more I'm taken by the feeling that what I'm looking at was not only formed by nature, but colonized by nature in a seemingly random way that has a mind of its own - apart from the artist. It is this "mind" that creates a lot of natural process art, and as an artist I can tell you that it is a joy and a wonder to work with, once you can forge a relationship with it.
I do not think that this particular artist copies mold colonial distribution exactly, mapping them all out using mathematical coordinates, but there's an overall feeling that says "this is natural", not a placement that feels labored over, or over-considered, and that requires an artist for which the natural world, its preservation and presentation, is more important than the ego, or the will of the artist.
I can highly respect that.
This entry from the 2013 competition won first place, and in spite of its rather pixelated appearance, it is indeed fascinating, and visually intriguing! It was created by using fluorescence microscopy imaging, and shows "alterations in the morphology of Dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) monolayers at an air/water interface due to extended exposure (8 days) to carbon nanodiamond particles. The images show discrete dark liquid condensed phase domains in a continuous bright liquid expanded phase due to interactions with the carbon nanoparticles."
...I couldn't have said it better, myself.
I love how unique and beautiful his imagery is! I do wish he was a bit more scientific about his processes, but I suppose a healthy portion of "let's just see what happens" is necessary in science!
You're welcome, and I agree!
Not only allowed, but appreciated!
I'm just glad someone's working on it, because I have no idea! 😅
The link for this one says the following, but doesn't say how long it took each person, or a total of hours. I'd like to know that, though!
"In addition to the “Core Collection” of reefs constructed by Christine and Margaret Wertheim, the Crochet Coral Reef project encompasses a community program in which the Wertheim’s work with citizens of various cities and countries to create local “Satellite Reefs”. As of early 2023, 50 Satellite Reefs have been made including in Chicago, New York, London, Melbourne, Ireland, Latvia, Finland, Germany, and the United Arab Emirates. More than 20,000 people (mostly women) have contributed to this ever-growing woolen archipelago. At the end of this page is a chronological list of all Satellite Reefs and their host institutions."
I will, and thank you again also!
Another thing that's always intrigued me about it is that not only is it "analog", it doesn't even require electricity, at least for the audio portion. Sound waves could mechanically move a needle through warm wax which was spinning on a turntable at a regular rate with a hand-turned crank, across a screw drive. That needle would leave a spiral groove in a wax disk (or cylinder) that could be cast in metal using the "lost wax" method of casting. The reverse process would occur during playback, when the needle would read the data that was already recorded, and vibrate a mechanically amplified tympanum. I still don't know enough about the image recording process to say whether that could be done without electricity, but I know that its inception and the development of electricity happened very close together. There's no real reason I can think of why the Ancients could not have made something similar for recording audio and playing it back. The first phonographs did not use electricity!
Thank you!! That is an amzing treasure trove of information! Sorry I called that a "laserdisc"! I knew it was a disk from my memory of the website where I found that GIF, but it's so amazing to actually see it in all its analog glory. It is the precursor of the videodisk, not the digital laserdisk. I misspoke.
That gif was originally saved as "first tv broadcast" when I found it years ago, but even though I've done multiple image searches I have not been able to track down that original image! I literally scoured the internet. Thank you for your help in researching it, can you point me to any links? It always seemed strange to me that we could even see "the first broadcast" unless he had also invented video recording, but laserdisks came a bit later.
I agree, thank you, and you are very welcome!
I love it when the imaging process is every bit as fascinating and awe-inspiring as the process it illuminates!