Anatomy and Art

Well, we wound up deciding not to show with EAST after some rigamarole about showing work in a bar setting as opposed to a working studio.  But the show is on just the same, and we will be there throughout November starting on the 5th.  Do come see us!

http://www.austinartistsnetwork.com

Looks like I’m finally going to get around to showing again!

I’ve been working on a little side project lately at work.  For a long time now, I’ve wanted to get into making 3D printable educational materials.  Our focus on accessibility of late may allow me to do just that.  Did you know that you can download a font for braille, just like any other font?  So I’ve been playing around with a braille version of the periodic table of the elements.  Obviously, this does no good in a web image, but when incorporated into a 3D printable file, suddenly useful.

I haven’t had the opportunity to test this with a printer yet, but I’m working toward that.  Once I have that, I can make adjustments to the digital file and perfect it from there.

I think that if I can optimize this for use, and if schools actually download and print them, that this could be a great addition to our educational offerings.  Really, I’m surprised that I don’t see more of this kind of tool around already.  I really think that we will in the years to come.

Entry just opened up for Bombay Sapphire’s artisan series.  I’m thinking of submitting some work.  The contest is nationwide.  Maybe you would like to submit something too.

https://www.bombayartisan.com/

The prizes are geared to help you get your work out.  There is a good bit of legalese in there about their rights to use submitted images though.  The submission window is open into August, so there’s plenty of time to look that all over more closely.  It might just be a really great opportunity.

Just a quick post here to highlight Vanessa Ruiz’s recent TEDMED talk “Reinvigorating Anatomy Through Art.”

Vanessa is also the force behind Street Anatomy, which she founded in 2007.  If you haven’t already, I highly recommend checking it out.

The next TEDMED conference will be held November 30th through December 2nd in Palm Springs, California.  Other videos of TEDMED talks can be found here.
http://tedmed.com/videos

We’ve been getting into more gross anatomy level illustrations at work lately.  For a lot of images we’re still working with the Zygote model.  But for many views, the model doesn’t quite illustrate what we need.  Last week I spent some time refreshing myself with the bladder and I’m pretty happy with how the final illustration turned out.

It was fun getting into the form and detail of an organ again.  I hadn’t done that for a while.

I recently found this, going through some old files.  I’d initially posted it here years ago and then pulled it down when I was having some disagreements with a teacher (no one mentioned here).  But it’s a nice little memory of my first time working with a patient.

Sometimes I still miss getting to work with people like this in my current career path.  I love what I do now, but there was something special about anaplastology that just isn’t like anything else I’ve ever done.  I was pretty good at it too.

Anyway, here’s an old and dear memory of it
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Well today has gone just fantastically.

Today I had my first delivery of a prosthesis to a patient.  And I couldn’t have asked for it to go any better.  We made it a little heavy on the red, at the patient’s request.  Red is the color that fades the fastest, and he didn’t want to come back in another year.  I was so nervous about overdoing it, but it came out fantastically.  He was so happy, and Dr. Reisberg even warned me about raising the bar too high on my first patient.

It looked really good on him, and I’d show you a picture of that, but I didn’t ask his permission to show those photos online.  Anyway, he left with a smile on his face, and even as red as the ear was, it looked quite natural against his face.  The only tell was when you were looking at both ears and comparing.  And because we worked so much color into the instrinsic silicones, it will continue to look good for a long time.  I’m so excited.

We got to try something with the acrylic substructure too.  I was working with Camille Rea this time, and she tried something with the substructure that I think was just brilliant.  Rather than relying on a small lip to mechanically hold the acrylic inside the silicone, she drilled holes directly into it.  The way everything fit together, it was possible to do that, and I thought it was a great idea to provide extra mechanical retention.

You can see here how the silicone wraps around the acrylic substructure, allowing access to the clips.  Those little holes are going to help prevent any possible separation of the materials as the prosthesis ages.

I feel like we sent this man away with a really good prosthesis that’s going to last a long time.  I love that.  What a fabulous experience.

David S. Goodsell talks about his process…

The video comes from his recent win at the 2016 Welcome Image Awards for his ebola painting.

We had an exhibit in South Austin not long ago that featured some Salvador Dali works.  And while those were great, and while I was also excited to find some Dr. Seuss works in the same show.  I wanted to type a bit about someone you may not be so familiar with already.  As you first walked in to Art On 5th (which isn’t actually on 5th St at all, but that’s not really important right now), it was impossible not to be taken with a sculpture.

The piece is called “Undersea Queen” and it’s beautiful.  It was not only strikingly eye catching as you walked in, but the included detail continued to impress as you came in for a closer look.

Having spent a lot of time doing anaplastology work, it was clear that these details were taken as impressions, and then worked into the sculpture.  That’s the kind of detail that impresses me, so I wanted to know who this artist was.

So now I’m going to share with all of you, the work of Chris Guarino, who seems to have roots in Denver, San Francisco, Chicago, and now also Austin.  I have to admit, I half expected to find a fellow biomedical visualization alum when I saw Chicago mentioned on his website.  This is just such an exquisite use of impression taking and casting for fine art sculpture.  But instead I found his site on life casting.  So I just wanted to draw a little extra attention where attention is due.  I’m refraining from reposting any images directly from his website here, but please do take a look at the linked sites here.  There are some fantastic pieces in there.

Chris Guarino is also planning an upcoming solo showing at the same location this May 21st which will include work from his Masquerade series, as well as some new pieces.

I recently finished another painting.  I’m calling it “Remembrance.”

This one took a long time and was perhaps the messiest picture I’ve gotten myself into yet.  I did some new technique work with a sponge that turned out pretty well in the end.

I’m proud of this one.  And I believe she already has a buyer off in Oregon, so I’ll only be keeping this one for a short while.  That’s how some of them go.  I’m going to make sure that I have a good image to work with for prints before sending her off though.