On Exhibit
"Tales From a Test Tube: the Mixing of Art & Science"
When art and science get together, something amazing is bound to happen. Together, they create a playground for our imaginations in multiple new dimensions. They allow us to experiment with new ideas, materials, and endless possibilities. They both have influenced the course of history and, in the best cases, have made a positive contribution to the planet. Our unique space, like the "Tales From a Test Tube" series of exhibits, provides a unique mixture of art & science through architecture and working laboratories. This exhibition offers a broad palette for you to explore the synergistic relationships between these two realms.
2009-2010 Exhibitors
Beyond Benign is about teaching Green Chemistry and realizing its unlimited potential. It is chemistry that binds us all together. It is chemistry that has cured the worst of illnesses. It is chemistry that can save plant and animal species. Chemistry might just be the last hope to heal a damaged and polluted planet and many of its forgotten inhabitants. It is the vision of Green Chemistry that ultimately embodies the potent idea of holistic living. This is where the adventurous merging of art and science will help lead the Green Revolution to a successful future for all living things.
Each participating artist and youth provides a catalyst of understanding of how closely linked art and science can become. For example:
- Betty Busby's exuberant, colored quilts that captures a cell’s extraordinary microscopic beauty.
- John Chervinsky, who describes his work "as an attempt to find metaphors within the laws of nature that can be universally applied to every day life."
- Textile artist Nancy Crasco's algae inspired artworks that is motivated by the natural world and the impact that humanity imposes on its order.
- Cuban artist Carlos Estevez, whose scientific paintings offers a poetic perspective of the human condition and psyche.
- Bob Harmon's powerful personal iconography and use of one of the world's most unique photographic glass invented by a chemist.
- Ted Larsen's quest for new non-art materials and his going experimentation with contexts, hybrids, and scale.
- David Moore's abstractions which are alive with energy and purpose. His art feels like it is fluidly dancing through space creating shapes of joy and freedom.
- Wendy Small's elegant and surrealistic photogram of kissing birds which makes you think about the emotive in nature.
- Eliza Stamps's intricate drawings that utilize the concept of "holonomy" to represent tangible structures as well as abstract conceptual patterns and ideas.
- Experience the green revolution in the dozens of artworks made by students from the Innovation Academy Charter School in Tyngsboro, who are learning about Green Chemistry’s 12 principles and how they too can make a difference.
Key Partners & Contributors
A Letter from Resident Artist, Jerry Beck
A couple of years ago, I met John Warner and Amy Cannon and immediately felt some chemistry between us. I know this sounds corny, but sometimes you meet people who affect you this way. When I heard they were both scientists, green chemists, and educators, I asked them to tell me more about green chemistry and how it fit into the green movement. I soon realized they were creating a revolution…and I wanted to be a part of. I tried to impress them by saying I was an ardent environmentalist and that my first public artwork in college was inspired by the activist work of Greenpeace. Finally, I mentioned my dad was a high school science teacher, as if that would cement the deal.
You see, growing up I always got a thrill when my dad would take me to his science classroom on the weekends to get something he forgot. It was like going to an amusement park. The walls, ceiling, windowsills, tables, floors, and fish tanks were packed full with living things, laboratory equipment and artworks. There were snakes, ants, rocks, plants, planets, rocket ships, skeletons, microscopes, x-rays, human skeleton, a model showing the inside of earth, and abstract things found under a microscope. Sometimes my dad would open his “DO NOT ENTER” cabinet of wonders containing dozens of odd-shaped jars, old boxes and test tubes filled with weirdness. As if a wide-eyed magician, he would put on a show for me revealing his creepy troupe of characters, such as the embryonic albino pig floating in formaldehyde, the six- armed carrot, pre-Columbian Indian skull, dinosaur teeth fossils and my favorite, a brain stuffed in a mayonnaise jar he said was our Uncle Earl who he, like Dr. Frankenstein, was going to bring back to life.
When art and science get together, something amazing is bound to happen. Together, they create a playground for our imaginations in multiple new dimensions. They allow us to experiment with new ideas, materials, and endless possibilities. They both have influenced the course of history and, in the best cases, have made a positive contribution to the planet. This exhibition offers a broad palette for you to explore the synergistic relationships between these two realms. We hope you can visit us!
- Jerry Beck
Jerry's new show at Clark Gallery
More about our exhibiting artists & their work can be found at:
Partner With Us!
Become a part of the Green Revolution and join Beyond Benign’s new Art and Science program. For more information contact: Jerry Beck at: Jerry_Beck@beyondbenign.org or call 978-590-3759