A new EP album Microworld Reflections will be released Spring 2014. Four new tracks for flute have been written, and performed, by Jacqui Smith based on interpretations of atomic force microscope images as part of this project. If you would be interested in receiving a free CD, subject to availability, please check here.

Imaged a few samples of alpaca and cat hair to aid Jacqui S's musical interpretations. ~James

Alpacas. (C) The Vaux Hardy Alpaca Farm, Bazouges La Perouse, Bittany, France

~James

I think it might take me a little while to prepare a detailed blog entry that would do yesterday's visit justice. However, in the mean time, I thought it would be worth me blogging here the formal feedback from the TAG members. In their information packs, there was a form to provide written feedback about their thoughts on the day. Specifically, there were 2 questions (I didn't want to over-burden!):
Q1) What did you learn today? and Q2) How was today important for you/how did it inspire you?

Here are the responses:
Q1. The different shapes and patterns that hair creates.
Q2. It help me to think of different ways shapes can work together.

Q1. I understand a lot more about the images we saw before and how the cuticles relate to each other.
Q2. Still a bit unsure about how I am going forward!
(Mine was the dodgy sample! - do you want more?)

Q1. Will take time to assimilate. Good to know more about aim of project and discussion interesting.
Q2. Will find out when I sit down to draw etc.

Q1. That there is a lot more to be learnt about hair than one imagines!
Q2. It was interesting to learn about the structure and what happens to it. Not sure I can apply art to it, but will try. I wonder how age affects what happens to it?
(Thanks, James, you made it interesting)

Q1. What the project is about!!
Q2. Very important, need to go away and do some thinking!!

Q1. -
Q2. Look at DNA - strands, connect sticks, how DNA twists.

I think that getting across the overall aim of the project has been generally quite difficult, i.e., the "not sure what we are supposed to do" questions kept popping up. I set out to deliberately to keep this a bit vague as I didn't necessarily want the artists to reproduce AFM images per se using various paint media etc, but to reflect upon the micrographs and for them to respond in a way that says something about their own identity inspired by the microscale images. I explained this a bit more fully during the session, especially near the end when gathered around the microscope after most of the feedback forms had been completed. I mentioned that I could imagine an artwork that might not look much like an AFM image, but some descriptive text along side the exhibit would reveal an insight/thought process with reference to the microworld. Lynda and Jacqui S provided some helpful examples, which will be blogged about in due course. I was left with the impression that most people were "getting it", albeit they would need to do more thinking. Not a bad thing. ~James

Thinking about composing a piece of music that follows the cuticle scale edge patterns that vary along the length of a hair. ~Jacqui S

Started working on 2nd piece - working title 'Archeological.' ~Jacqui S 

Completed 1st composition for flute - tentatively called 'Proteins on RNA1.' ~Jacqui S