Anatomy and Art

Well, it’s that time of year, and for the first time in four or five years, I’m headed out to Burning Man.  I’m really excited about the opportunity to make the trip again, and I’m looking forward to seeing how the event has changed while I’ve been away, and maybe even getting some perspective on how I have changed in my time away from it.  In the time since I last went, I’ve found a new career dream, I applied and completed the graduate program that I just finished.  I don’t think that I had even heard of anaplastology or thought of the idea of medical art the last time I was there.  I was focusing on anatomy in art around that time in my life, but had no idea the paths that would open for me.

I know that living in Chicago has changed me.  Any time you uproot and move, it changes you.  I know that my studies have changed me.  This program has been a huge challenge, and it has been a part of shaping the me I am today.  I look forward to conversations with old friends about the things that I have learned and the new dreams I have for the kind of work and life I want for myself.

A lot of people work very hard every year to create amazing art installations and beautiful things for this event.  I don’t have anything like that to bring at this point.  Believe me, it’s easy to get to thinking about what one would do with unlimited funds.  With the work I’ve done in the last year, the temptation becomes to make all kinds of anatomical art out there for people to interact with and play with in the middle of the desert.  But even without being able to do anything like that, I feel like I’m bringing some piece of the outside world with me.  I’m glad for the time I’ve taken away from this event, and for the things I’ve learned, and work I’ve done.  And now it’s time to go back, and challenge myself with desert living again, and learn a little more about myself outside of the academic environment again.

There is such a spirit of possibility out there.  Even just getting such a coveted ticket this year, well the odds were tough, but here I am going.  The people helping me get there, and who I will stay with are such ‘anything is possible’ people, that they never cease to inspire me.  I had to give some thought to allowing myself to be away from my computer and distracted from the job hunt to go, but I feel like this is the right decision.  I hope to return enriched, and ready for the next steps to come.  After all, if 50,000 or so people can come together to build a city in the desert for a week and then tear it all down just because they want to, what can’t we do?

So I just stumbled on to the works of Richard Tennant Cooper.  It’s strange, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of information on the artist out there, but his images seem to be carrying on, on their own right.  So here’s me, propagating that circumstance by putting up a couple images here as well.

I’m not sure if he’s playing to the frightening nature of medical work, or perhaps the idea of riding that line between life and death.  Maybe he just likes things that are spooky.  But it’s interesting work.

You can find more images by searching under his name, just very little information about the guy.

As I sit here typing this, a very good friend of mine is currently undergoing hand surgery.  We’d actually talked about me maybe coming and taking pictures of the whole thing if her doctors were comfortable with it.  But such things really are much more easily arranged through the surgeons than they are through the patients.  So now, she’s in there with just the surgeons, which I hate, since they’re keeping her awake for this.  And I’m also missing what could be my last chance to view a hand surgery.  That may sound odd if you’re not involved in my line of work, but I had wanted and planned to see a hand surgery as part of my training in anaplastology.  Particularly for the somatic work, it made sense to get a closer look at things.  But the timing never worked out and it didn’t come to be.

Hands are such fascinating complicated pieces of anatomy.  I hate that my friend hurt hers while coming to see me in celebration of my finishing grad school no less!  But right now, I’m on the patient’s side of the equation.  And I’m trusting that she’s in good care.  And I’m hoping that someone in there is talking to her and keeping this from being a terrible experience for her. If anyone could keep good spirits about them through a thing like this though, it’s my friend, Jasmine.

She told me that they’re reducing one of her carpal bones.  It’s not a procedure I’m familiar with.

This is about as familiar as I get with the carpal bones.  And it’s been a couple of years now since I got this involved in knowing about them.  Starting from the most commonly broken big one at the base there and working around, their names are scaphoid, lunate, triquetrum, pisiform (that little ball on top of triquetrum), hamate, capitate, trapezoid, and trapezium (which I keep thinking could be the one my friend is having reduced today since we’ve been calling it a broken thumb.)

But aside from their names, basic shapes, and a little bit of trivia about them, I really don’t know much about these little guys we have all jumbled up in our wrists.  I wish I was in there right now, getting the low down what they’re doing for my friend.  But I’m not.  So, like millions of friends and loved ones of patients before, and millions more to come, I can only think good wishes to her and hope for the best.

Today I spoke with a woman about blood supply shortages.  And I just thought that it was worth reminding people that the summer months tend to see a drop in the over all blood supply.  Local blood banks would be happy to receive donations from fine folks like you.  So if you’re the type to go and do that sort of thing, here’s your nudge to make the trip this month.

If you’re in Chicago like me, LifeSource would be happy to see you.  And Heartland has several locations throughout Illinois.  The Red Cross also accepts blood donations and has centers nationwide.

Because blood has a limited shelf life, it is ideal for people to donate throughout the year to keep supplies strong.

And the job hunt is on! Been getting a lot of flattering feedback about my work lately, but I’m still trying to figure out the big step into gainful employment. And in the meantime, I’ve started another painting again. I’m still sorting out exactly where this is going, but it’s a start that I can work with.

Actually, it occurs to me that being between grad school and work right now, maybe I should be promoting some of my previous paintings for sale a little bit more.  So here are a few that I have around presently that are available for purchase, and if you ever care to peruse the full collection, I keep a record of every one I make over at http://snapshotgenius.com/paint Any image you click on there will tell you if it is available for purchase, has been sold, or was made as a gift there.  But for now, here are a few of my paintings that are presently available for sale.  And if you should ever care to inquire about pricing, I can be reached here, or via direct email Sara(at)anatomyandart(dot)com.

So I started to write a bit about the conference a few days back, while I was still in Baltimore.  Now that I’m home, I wanted to say a little more about the experience.  First of all, the event was held in a beautiful hotel, the Grand Tremont in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor.  This is a quick shot I snapped with my laptop during one of the lectures.

And we saw most of the big lectures from that room.  That is where Linda Wilson-Pauwels gave her presidential address, encouraging participation and volunteerism within the AMI.  And directly after followed Juan Velasco from National Geographic.  I knew that National Geographic had a well deserved reputation for it’s imagery, but I really had no idea the level of work they were putting into keeping up that reputation.  Their process was fascinating to hear about.  In particular, I was surprised to learn that so many of their images start with the creation of a physical 3D form.  I just don’t know of anyone else doing that as part of their process toward their 2D images.

We also got a talk from animator Drew Berry that day.  His work is really some of the best out there  in the world of biomedical animation.  I’m just going to put up this piece of his work on malaria that’s up on YouTube here, in case you’re interested…

He’s also done some fantastic work with DNA, which looks like it is getting more widespread recognition and will be making it’s way into an experimental music video. One can’t help but wonder what getting these sorts of images into public consciousness does for mass understanding of how our bodies work. It seems like at least on some small level, even if unstudied, it would lend to some innate level of understanding.

We then broke into the business lunch, and further workshops for the day. The business lunch focused a lot on re-branding of the AMI as an organization. As a student member, I’m only allowed to listen in, and not vote on any of that, but it will be interesting to see where these efforts take us.

Over the course of the conference, I couldn’t help but be inspired by the talks that people were giving and think about things I might like to try when I got home. I definitely intend to do a little work with Zbrush and Mudbox while I still have student access to the Lynda.com tutorials. And I absolutely need to download the Molecular Maya plug in and start working with that. The creator, Gaël McGill was one of the speakers at the conference as well, and I very much enjoyed meeting him. I also found myself wondering if I wouldn’t perhaps be in a good position to give a talk about working with physical 3D forms and digital 3D forms and how knowledge in each area can benefit the other. And I found myself inspired to create a web forum for anaplastology patients and anaplastologists to share information and anecdotes with each other while listening to a talk about community building and branding by Katherine Jones of Milkshake Media which was behind the Livestrong campaign for the Lance Armstrong foundation. And it is most definitely time to re-cut my 3D Graphics and Animation Demo Reel to include both the blood vessel fly through animation and my now award winning animation on the BSSO and Osseous Genioplasty. I also need to add that award to my resume and well, I checked with my adviser and there isn’t anything I need to wait for before listing myself as a graduate of UIC’s program rather than a student seeking said degree, so that’s a fairly big change in the resume to make.

Yup, so plenty to do, and for starters, I finally got around to polishing up a still frame from my blood vessel animation to show as just an illustration. Here that is…

It’s been a great trip, and now it’s good to be home.

Ha!  My Sliding Filament animation broke 100,000 views on YouTube!!!
That’s so cool!

Hello Readers!  I am writing this time from the basement of a lovely little youth hostel in Baltimore, Oregon.  Yesterday wrapped up the final day of the 66th annual conference of the Association of Medical Illustrators.  As usual there were lots of ideas floating around, and a real wealth of knowledge spread across the attendees.  I have about a million things I’m excited to get back and try now, *and* I had the added good fortune of getting an award of merit for the new animation!

Thank you AMI for another wonderful opportunity, and I’m excited to be here another couple days and get to learn a little more about Johns Hopkins before I head back to Chicago.

Well, I am officially one week into being finished with my graduate work.  Well, I suppose that’s a very technical statement, as there are plenty of things for me to keep going with, but as far as my school is concerned, I am done.  And I must say it’s been a fine week.

And now, it’s time to pack up and get my things together for the annual AMI conference.  This time it is happening in Baltimore.  And I am particularly excited to be able to get a look at Johns Hopkins while I’m out there, specifically their anaplastology clinic.

I feel fortunate to have the opportunity to attend such a conference with such perfect timing after finishing up school.  I think this will be the perfect move to get my head into the task of finding a career, after so much time as a student again.  And it will be nice, getting to meet and talk with people without the pressures of academic assignments looming overhead.

In short, YAY!

Yesterday I finished a new painting.

This tree has been keeping me sane throughout my last weeks of grad school.  Thank you tree!  And yesterday I finally had time to finish it.