Fluid Exhibition Installation Views
The Brink Gallery, Missoula, MT, July, 2011

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Fluid Series explores my interest in nature as a mapping system of energy. Informed and inspired by both micro and macro views of the Universe as well as other scientific visualization models such as fluid mechanics and fluorescence microscopy, these acrylic on mylar sculptures, interpret and make visible, the fluid energy of matter, creating a bridge between art and science.

Rebecca Kamen, 2011

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Divining Nature: An Elemental Garden

Two years ago, the Periodic Table entered into my consciousness.  Memory of the Table took me back to 11^th grade chemistry class, a magical room full of mysterious smells, test tubes, Bunsen burners and that rigid, gridded chart of letters and numbers hanging in the front of the room.  Now decades later, this mystifying chart has re-entered my thoughts, demanding another look – but this time, through the eyes of an artist.

The genesis of this project has taken me on the most remarkable journey.  Travels to India and Bhutan, as well as researching rare alchemy books at the Chemical Heritage Foundation in Philadelphia, have informed this project in ways I could never have imagined back in high school.  Powerful relationships started emerging, becoming the catalyst for exploring the Periodic Table as a bridge between art and science.

Buddhist mandalas, representing a cosmological view of the Universe, inspired the layout and the concept for an elemental garden.  Because gardens have always served both functionally and metaphorically as an intersection of art and science with nature, they are sites of transformation. In these awe-inspiring places, matter changes from one state to another. Similar to the metamorphosis of an atom that becomes a new element when the number and arrangement of its parts changes, Divining Nature: An Elemental Garden transforms chemistry’s Periodic Table of letters and numbers into a garden of sculptural elements based on geometry and atomic number.

The exhibition has two components: a small, introductory installation based on Plato’s five original elements, and a large sculptural installation inspired by the eighty-three naturally occurring elements in the Periodic Table.  Two architects played a significant role in the development of this project.  Dialogues with Jiyun Park were instrumental in thinking about the Periodic Table in new ways. Alick Dearie assisted in manifesting my vision of placing the elements of each column of the Table on separate but overlapping Fibonacci Spirals, creating the layout for the installation.

During the conceptualization phase of this project, a sound component was envisioned as part of the installation.  Bio-musician Susan Alexjander, with her haunting soundscape inspired by the wave frequencies emitted from atoms in the elements was the perfect collaborating partner for this aspect of the project. Sound adds a whole new dimension to the experience of the sculpture and installation.

Divining Nature: An Elemental Garden represents an exciting challenge for me at this stage in my development as an artist. It provides an opportunity to create a large-scale installation exploring the Periodic Table as a three- dimensional object of beauty through sculptures inspired by the most ethereal aspect of an element – its orbital pattern.  This project also celebrates the inter-connections of the Universe.  Shapes created by these electron patterns are based on the same principals of Sacred Geometry that have inspired the Fibonacci spiral of the installation layout and are found in all aspects of nature.

Rebecca Kamen

COMPOSER BIO

Composer Susan Alexjander’s work is about the interconnections between light, sound and our universal stories.  She’s a presenter, musician, and perpetual student whose CD’s and film soundtracks have achieved international acclaim in galleries, publications, and performances.

DIVINING THE SOUNDS OF ELEMENTS

The soundscape consists of translated frequencies from the first 83 elements. The original frequency, in the form of a radio wave, is called a Larmor Frequency and comes from the nucleus of each atom. No one quite knows why an atom emits this nuclear vibration but they are used scientifically in magnetic imaging (among other things).  Five elements emit no Larmors:  neon, argon, iron, nickel, and promethium, so alas, are not represented.

Although the Larmors are originally on the electromagnetic spectrum, I feel fine about ‘pretending’ they are sound.  Mapping radio waves to sound reveals relationships of all the elements together. So although the pitches by themselves are fascinating, it is their combination that creates exciting harmonies and motion….the stuff of life.

The Larmors are in the range of megacycles, so during the ‘mapping’ process of converting them to sound each high number is octavised, or cut in half, at least 10 times to reach an audible range. The resultant sound frequencies are most often microtonal, that is, not found exactly on a keyboard. My software can create the exact hertz number (or frequency) on my Yamaha DX7 synthesizer. Once the pitches are collected into the synthesizer then the artist hat goes on. From there it’s a process of intuitively finding just the  right combinations of sounds that feel harmonious and beautiful. The close, tight intervals often create shimmering effects.

There has been no attempt to consciously put hydrogen with oxygen, or carbon with a chemical mate, in this design. Rather the intent has been to let the ears rule and find the pathways of beauty to be revealed. After combinations of sounds and rhythms were found, they were downloaded onto tracks using Digital Performer software on a Mac, cut and spliced, switched around and combined, etc. to create the 11 minute sound design.

Included in the soundtrack is part of a piece I completed at Banff, Canada some years ago that was based on a design of the five Platonic Sacred Solids. The rhythms are derived from sound samples of rocks hitting each other. Anyone who has been to Banff knows that the quartz granite rock there is quite magical.

Susan Alexjander
Portland Oregon, 2009

Elemental Matters Installation View
Chemical Heritage Foundation Museum, Philadelphia, PA
February – December, 2011

Keith Ragone, Exhibition Designer

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]]> http://rebeccakamen.com/gallery/divining-nature-sequential-light/feed/ 0 http://rebeccakamen.com/gallery/aps-exhibition-artist-statement/ http://rebeccakamen.com/gallery/aps-exhibition-artist-statement/#comments Mon, 07 Mar 2011 03:49:09 +0000 sandywang http://rebeccakamen.dreamhosters.com/?p=164 Continue reading →]]> Many people look at old books as obsolete, especially in the digital age of accessing information.   As an artist, I have always perceived books as a creative opportunity to inspire profound form.

The books viewed during my residency at American Philosophical Society library, in Philadelpha, have taken me on the most remarkable journey.   Some of my favorite ones have recorded natural phenomena in the actual hand of the author.   One of the most exciting observations has been how drawing was a visual, capturing device for scientists before the invention of the camera.   Looking at the sketchbooks of Lewis and Clark, the incredibly detailed bug drawings of John LeConte, and John Benbow’s, sketches in The Bee Book, to name a few, I found myself humbled by the authors’ need to record their observations not only via the written word, but through beautifully rendered form.

Technically, the sculpture has been greatly influenced by hydrologist, Luna Leopold’s beautiful river drawings.  These complex river maps, describing the layering of scale and elevation of a particular landscape has had a profound effect on the development of the work. The process of layering graphite and acrylic on mylar, also visually portray the significance of pages in a book.  Each layer like a book page, when viewed together creates a complex visual story, giving meaning to form.

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