Celebrating the Body Beautiful
U-M team blends art and science to achieve educational and profitable results
Artists have known for centuries that the body is a beautiful thing. Now, a Health System team celebrates the artistry inside the body as well.
Bio-Artography began last year as a unique blend of science, art and public education, in which research photo images were displayed and sold at the Ann Arbor Summer Art Fair to benefit graduate and postgraduate training at the U-M Center for Organogenesis. The Bio-Artography team is selling its images again at this year’s fair, July 19-22.
UMHS students, postdocs, staff and faculty submit their own research photos to the Center. Then, Cell and Developmental Biology faculty members Deborah Gumucio, Ph.D., Kathy Sue O’Shea, Ph.D., and Kim-Chew Lim, Ph.D., along with Center coordinator Rebecca Pintar, prepare the images for a jury of local artists, which selects the most attractive for display at Art Fair. Images also are for sale on the Center’s Web site.
“This year’s Bio-Artography booth features a combination of favorite images from last year plus many new images, including brain, bone and intestine,” says Gumucio.
Last year, the Center made $14,000 through booth and Web sales. Participating artists get a small 5 percent commission. “The majority of proceeds support up-and-coming new scientists,” says Catherine Krull, Ph.D., assistant professor, Cell and Developmental Biology. Check out this Q&A with Dr. Krull.
Artists staffing the Art Fair booth also have the opportunity to talk with the public about important scientific issues such as the use of animals in research, the evolution of body design, the use of stems cells and the pure biology behind the images.
Gumucio notes, “The artists also have the opportunity to discuss science with the nine- to 16-year-old crowd and turn them on to the beauty of scientific discovery.”
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