Biology Inspired Art of Ilka Bauer #ArtTuesday
via Art the Science
Biology, first and foremost. Biology is the science I initially chose to study, and it will never cease to inspire me. Ultimately, however, the boundaries between disciplines are not that rigid. For my PhD, I studied the long-term development of boreal peatlands, which meant exposure to broader aspects of environmental science: hydrology, carbon cycling, paleoenvironmental reconstruction, and climate change science. While I find these subjects less directly tangible than biology (and certainly harder to draw!), all of them may influence my work conceptually.
My main form of expression to date has been drawing, and a year ago, I would have told you that the materials I use are quite old-fashioned: paper, pencils (graphite and colour), and ink, with the occasional digital piece for variety. But after developing a coherent body of work for a solo show in early 2019, I really felt I needed some time to experiment. So between then and now, I have tried all sorts of things. First, I ventured into 3D, which involved using paper, driftwood, old textiles, photographs, and even an old room divider. I loved the creative process involved, so this is definitely something I plan to develop further. I have also tried to push the boundaries of my drawing. For my my most recent piece I used acrylic ink on wood panel, which made for an interesting cross between drawing and painting. Working on panel also makes it easy to work large-format, which I love. So in the short term, that is what I plan to do more of.
Every Tuesday is Art Tuesday here at Adafruit! Today we celebrate artists and makers from around the world who are designing innovative and creative works using technology, science, electronics and more. You can start your own career as an artist today with Adafruit’s conductive paints, art-related electronics kits, LEDs, wearables, 3D printers and more! Make your most imaginative designs come to life with our helpful tutorials from the Adafruit Learning System. And don’t forget to check in every Art Tuesday for more artistic inspiration here on the Adafruit Blog!