February 6th  - Susan Brisco - Coming together of Art and Science - Macro to Micro world of plants

Sue started her lecture by telling us that she had two aspects to her work - traditional and contemporary

She undertook a 3 year Diploma in Botanical Art with the Society of Botanical Artists. She made sketches of pieces out in the field and then made detailed compositions back in the studio. She was marked on scientific accuracy and colour by tutors who are both botanists and artists. Susan told us that this had made her gain great confidence in using watercolour.

While studying plants in detail for this Diploma, she became interested in pollens and particularly those which caused Hay fever. Sue said it was a privilege to be given Arts Council England funding for her 'Sneeze' project. This was to investigate pollens in microscopic detail and then use them for drawings and installations She showed us Willow pollen and Hazel pollen under 6000 times magnification. Some of them even seemed to have 'faces'.

Sue worked in collaboration with Doctors , Professors and technicians to get the detailed images using scanning electroscopy.  She than had to decide on the Art projects.

Sue's first piece was a mix of drawing, film and sound . The drawing was in the style of Michelangelo showing lungs . The film and sound were added to this

She then did a series of chalk drawings on a black surface of the pollen walls.

 











  

Studying the pollen under the microscope on slides inspired the installation below. the colour came from the dye that was used on the slides. Sue painted on glass for this piece of work with detailed drawings of different pollen grains

    

Sue also created postcards which were put together in an envelope with part of a Goethe poem ' The metamorphosis of plants' on the outside. Science is imagined through poetry. This poem also gave titles to her pieces 

Sue was pleased that the project reached 10,000 people both on line and physically.

A fascinating lecture. Thank you Sue.