Playing catch-up: Shows, SciArtist at home, Gallery & Astronaut recruitment

Life has been extremely busy of late and I haven't had any time to update my blog, so I'm planning to make a big post about everything. You've been warned. I've opted for chronological, rather than any other sort of ranking, since I know how to do that.

Find my #naturalhistory #SciArt #mapart of #Canada #linocuts and block printed animals in minouette 's booth F🐸13 at #ooakx16

A photo posted by Ele Willoughby (@the.minouette) on Nov 24, 2016 at 8:32am PST

I did the full One of a Kind show this year. It was a busy, exhausting time! Thank you very much to everyone who stopped by to see me, purchased art and my fabulous friends and colleagues for all your great company and support! I have the greatest customers. I love that I sold art to the parents of burgeoning scientists, neuroscientists, geologists, paleontologists, historians, and all sorts of other fascinating people. And an extra special thank you to those who allowed it to happen; my husband and Dad the booth builder and installation team, my mom the chief babysitter, my trusty assistants Becca and Karla, volunteer sales help and excellent company Peggy and Carrie, carpooling friends Leslie and Queenie, entertainment and bingo queen Emma.

We had a nice Christmas here in Toronto with family.

Big @torontoetsystreet announcement this New Year's Day! We're launching a year long Pop Up gallery in the Queen West @gravenfeather complete with art shows, pop up markets, workshops, our #Etsy Newbie Bootcamp in real life and more! We've got the keys and are getting ready for our launch party opening January 28! #printmaking cc: @etsyca #Toronto #artshow #craftshow #popupshop #workshops See our team blog for more.

A photo posted by Ele Willoughby (@the.minouette) on Jan 1, 2017 at 2:32pm PST

First big announcement of 2017: the Toronto Etsy Street Team has a brick and mortar incarnation for the year. While our team mate, printmaker and friend Pam of Graven Feather gallery takes mat leave, we will be subleasing her gallery for the year! We'll be hosting art shows, pop-up markets, trunk shows, workshops and more all year long. We started with a launch paerty and mini show from team leaders on January 28th. You can still find my art at our 906 Queen St W location and stay tuned for more of our exciting plans (including my plans to curate a SciArt show this spring)! My friend Emma is taking the lead on this project and I'm glad that she has the gumption to convince me that we should do it!

That's me in my #studio in the #Toronto Star, Homes section talking about my #art, #science, #sciart and working from home. I'm holding my #honeybee #linocut #printmaking

A photo posted by Ele Willoughby (@the.minouette) on Jan 14, 2017 at 10:15am PST

My home, studio and peculiar combination of jobs and interests were the subject of this Toronto Star article. It's part of their series on people who work from home. It was pleasure speaking with them about my blend of art and science. Roger's rocking horse and hand built furniture for Gabriel were also a hit. (Geoscientists will recognize that 'general physics' should read geophysics, but it's a nice little article).

Reflections by Ele Willoughby. Linoleum block print with chine collé / 2017 / 8 x 15 in. / $180 (SOLD). On view in our LUNAR exhibit for @Printaustin through February 18th. This print stems from my experience of working at sea, where in the absence of light pollution, celestial bodies like our moon and even planets, cast bright reflections as far as the eye can see. Moonlight in turn, consists of reflections of sunlight (with some starlight and some earthlight reflected back at us). So the light on the ocean is reflections upon reflections. #art #science #sciart #exhibition #gallery #instadaily #science #artoftheday #graphic #fineart #instaart #atx #texas #art #artwork #moon #artistic #design #artnews #artshow #blockprint #instagood #illustrator #artist #creative #astronomy #visual #austin #printmaking #printaustin

A photo posted by Art.Science.Gallery. (@artsciencegallery) on Feb 2, 2017 at 11:09am PST

I am very happy to have a print in Art.Science.Gallery's show LUNAR, their official entry in PRINT Austin for 2017. If you're in Austin, you can still catch the show until February 18th. I'm also very happy to learn that their crowdfunding efforts were successful and the gallery will remain open for 2017.

Last, but definitely not least, a few of you will know, but last summer I applied to be an astronaut! Selecting Canada's next two astronauts is a year long process. I'm very proud to say that I am one of 72 people still in the running from 3772 initial applicants! There's a lot of testing still to go before they make their selections by August but it's very cool to be part of this amazing group of people. From this incredible talent pool they will have to narrow it down to two new astronauts.

If you want to find out what I'm up to in closer to real-time, I recommend following me on twitter and instagram.

COSMIC turtles

A graphic cosmic timeline, from the
Big Bang to the present day
(Credit: NASA/WMAP Science Team)

This year, to coincide with PrintAustin, Art.Science.Gallery is hosting COSMIC, a show of prints about "Origin of the Universe. Evolution of the Universe. String Theory. Dark Matter. Dark Energy. Multiverse. Unification of Space + Time. Our Solar System. Cultural Cosmology." I mean, how could I resist? I've been working in every spare moment to produce two brand new prints for the show. (As it happens, most of my astronomy related prints have appeared in previous exhibits there, so I needed new cosmological material).

My first instinct, the first images I imagined were something like the NASA spacetime diagram shown, which is a graphical representation of a lot of the major concepts of cosmology: the Big Bang, Inflation, the formation of galaxies and so forth and even dark energy and our current accelerated expansion... It's a great use of imagery to communicate science, but it's far too literal. It's a diagram, not a piece of art. So I turned to the figurative, imaginative, metaphorical, to avoid the trap of the literal.

Turtles, All the Way Down, 11" x 14" (27.9 cm x 35.6 cm)
linocut with chine-collé by Ele Willoughby, 2016

In some cultures there are origin myths explaining that the (apparently flat) Earth is in fact supported on the back of the World Turtle (occassionally in conjunction with other beasts). In cosmology - or the astrophysics of the origins of our Universe - there is an expression "turtles all the way down" which relates to a well-known anecdote, and metaphor for the problem of infinite regress. There are many versions of the anecdote. It appears, famously, in Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time, amongst other sources. The story goes that a physicist, after explaining the origins of our planet, is confronted by a disgruntled audience member who claims this is nonsense. The Earth is, according to him or her, supported by a great turtle. When the physicist asks about what supports the turtle, the answer is a larger turtle, of course. When the physicist persists and asks what supports this next turtle, why, it's "turtles, all the way down!" of, course. The same problem in epistemology is known as the Münchhausen trilemma, after after the story of Baron Munchausen who claimed to have pulled himself and his horse out of the mire by pulling his own hair, in the ultimate example of bootstrapping. (Incidentally, bootstrapping is a favorite tool of physicists, and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, is one of my favorite films).

A well-known scientist (some say it was Bertrand Russell) once gave a public lecture on astronomy. He described how the earth orbits around the sun and how the sun, in turn, orbits around the center of a vast collection of stars called our galaxy. At the end of the lecture, a little old lady at the back of the room got up and said: 'What you have told us is rubbish. The world is really a flat plate supported on the back of a giant tortoise.' The scientist gave a superior smile before replying, 'What is the tortoise standing on?' 'You're very clever, young man, very clever,' said the old lady. 'But it's turtles all the way down!'

— Hawking, A Brief History of Time, 1988

I've illustrated this expression with a variety of wonderful turtle species using collaged or chine-collé papers to show their various colours. From the top we have an eastern mud turtle (Kinosternon subrubrum), a red-eared slider (Trachemys scripta elegans), a black pond turtle (Geoclemys hamiltonii), a painted batagur (Batagur borneoensis), a Oaxaca mud turtle (Kinosternon oaxacae), a green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) and the hint of something larger.

Those who've known me a long time will know that I've illustrated this concept before, I love turtles, am obsessed with origin myths and am rather found of zaratans. I am now wondering what, if anything, is the difference between a zaratan and an aspidochelone (incidentally, also encounted by none other than the Baron Munchausen, of course)?

The second piece I've submitted for COSMIC is Noh Spacetime. So it's metaphors all the way down.

Ele Willoughby, 'Noh Spacetime', linocut 12" x 12", 2015

SciArt meet-up

Austin Monthly for October 2014 included my linocut of
Florence Nightingale in their write-up of the 'X Marks the Spot' show
at Art.Science.Gallery

Today I got to meet-up with a group of scientists/artists: Hayley Gillespie (ecologist, artist and founder of Art.Science.Gallery), Peggy Muddles (aka the Vexed Muddler, who works on the genetics of bacteria in lungs of CF patients by day, and amazing SciArt ceramics by night) and Rovena Tey (cancer researcher on mat leave and science-inspired cardmaking genius behind Handmade By Rovena)* and have a tour behind the scenes at the Royal Ontario Museum! The ROM is a rightfully famous museum, which boasts not only a world class archeological (especially Egyptian) collection, but a proper natural history museum, which has always meant that it was a research institution as well as a public museum. One of Hayley's friends from grad school is the curator of freshwater fish, and he was kind enough to give us a tour of the freshwater fish, and mammals and enlist his colleague to show us the invertebrate collection. Sadly, photographs were not allowed for security reasons (as it's best not to publicize the inner workings of a museum which houses some very valuable artifacts).

As token physical scientist, when the conversation turned to finer details of genetics and mapping family trees (if you will) of huge datasets of species, I felt like saying, "Oh! Bayesian regression! I know what that means!" with a little wink. The physical specimen themselves and the tour was fascinating. I could certainly relate to the problems of data archiving and preserving physical specimen, as these are serious problems for earth scientists too (especially the marine ones, as some ocean bottom cores need to be frozen and pressurized to avoid essentially melting or exploding, or both). I wouldn't have guessed that most of the ROM's collection of fishes is housed outside of the city, because that many tens of thousands of alcohol filled jars is deemed too great a fire risk downtown! It really is an incredible feat for these scientists to have even gathered all these species, let alone all the work of detailing and studying them, tracing their evolution, afterwards - and an invaluable resource.

We saw a few thousand sample jars of fishes, as well as some mammals (like bats) which are stored in alcohol. We saw their large collection of mammal pelts, which sort of takes your breathe away. The ROM is a museum of a certain age; at some time in the past they were gifted a large collection of mounted mammal heads (presumably from the estate of a hunter). I saw the head of a black rhino, now on the brink of extinction. It was staggering in size, even compared to the other rhino head. There were more heads of assorted quadrupeds than I knew how to identify.

I was pleased to happen to see a giraffe weevil along with a fabulous, large bronze sculpture of a giraffe weevil, on a plinth in the hallway between offices for scientists. I had only seen photos when I made my linocut. The invertebrates curator was an expert on leeches (which yes, are gathered the hard way... as any Canadian who has portaged a canoe through swampy water will be familiar). There were marvellous and/or scary arthropods including a mantis shrimp the size of my forearm, a roughly metre long South American earthworm, delicate and beautiful shell of a paper nautilus (or argonaut), adorable slipper lobster, and all sorts of other crustaceans... as well and swapped tales of fieldwork and labwork (mis)adventure.

Afterwards we were joined by Hayley's husband Cole (a psychiatrist) for a lovely lunch and discussion about that inspiring intersection of art and science. It was a real treat!

Hayley also brought me a copy of the Austin Monthly from October 2014. They included (part of) my portrait of Florence Nightingale in their write-up of the 'X Marks the Spot' exhibit at Art.Science.Gallery. It's always great to see my artwork in print, but I especially like that they've selected the perhaps unexpected. People will know her name, but as a nursing pioneer, rather than a statistician and data visualization pioneer, but she was both. She also brought me Ada Lovelace bookmarks from the 'Go Ahead and Do It' women in STEM show. Gabriel promptly ate one when I got home.

*We missed Glendon Mellow (aka the Flying Trilobite), scientific illustrator, SciArtist and Scientific American blogger, who couldn't make it.

Art shows: Sheep, Space & Bees

I feel so behind in my blogging. Sometimes wrangling a very busy toddler, running a business, making art and running a thousand-member team (thankfully with help from excellent collaborators!) and you know, basic life stuff, like buying, cooking and eating food seems like more than enough to fill my days. Recently, we had a bit of a photoshoot in my studio... and I don't mean with the official family photojournalist (aka my husband). Some of the things I do for things from secret minouette places and for the Toronto Etsy Street Team will soon be getting a little press. Can't wait to share that! All these things keep me very busy, but, I don't want neglect blogging. Let me play catch up.

Year of the Goat show at PROOF Studio Gallery in the Distillery District

Like previous years, I was happy to take part in PROOF Studio Gallery's international print exhibit celebrating the Chinese New Year. This year of course is symbolized by yang, an animal which can be translated as sheep or goat. I've leaned towards 'sheep' and included my Cloned Sheep (the 'Hello Dolly!' one) and Yang: the Sheep or Goat prints.  (I can see them in the photo: Cloned Sheep is the colourful one with the blue mat in the centre and Yang in three over to the right). The show ran from February 18th to March 1 at PROOF and then hit the road, visiting OCADU print department, the Ottawa School of Art,  Concordia University Mouse Print Gallery in Montreal and Muskoka Arts Place.

Local gallery Artisans At Work is hosting
Terra Nova & Friends Exhibit
Show runs through April 2015
Artisans At Work
2071 Danforth Avenue, Toronto
Hours: Mon: Closed; Tues & Wed: 10-6; Thurs & Fri: 10-7; Sat & Sun: 11-5pm
Terra Nova & Friends Exhibit: Mother Nature, Intergalactic & Extraterrestrial Art.
First Friday Reception: April 3, 2015, 7:30-10pm. Music by The Sidewalkers, licensed bar, treats, art, and local artists.

So, I've been framing some of my earth and space science and scientists prints for the show!

My friend (and fellow TEST leader) Christine Pensa is co-curating a show about bees in June with the lovely women of Graven Feather gallery, so I'm planning to show my bee prints there, perhaps including some new ones. See Christine's Art That Moves blog for more information, or to apply to the show.

Coincidentally, Art.Science.Gallery in Austin is also hosting a bee themed show. The Buzz Stops Here (April 18 - May 30) will feature encaustic artworks (which involves painting with melted beeswax) about the science and conservation of bees! The medium really is the message here. I've never tried encaustic, so I won't be participating in their show, but I've recently sent a big package of my bee prints to their shop the Supply Room, to be available during the show.

Caroline Herschel at EAST

Check out my portrait of Caroline Herschel, representing Art.Science.Gallery in the EAST Austin Studio Tour!

In other news, it's all OOAK prep frenzy here. RJH has made oak, maple and pine frames. I'm becoming pretty good at cutting mats (an aquired skill, let me tell you) and packaging and pricing of prints continues apace!

Oh, and if you are in a German-speaking European nation, look out for my Chinese Zodiac prints in both Happinez and Good Health magazines this December!

Go Ahead and Do It

Go Ahead And Do It show at Art.Science.Gallery (photo: M. Weinstock)

For those of us, myself included, who weren't able to be in Austin for the Opening of Go Ahead and Do It: Portraits of Women in STEM at Art.Science.Gallery, our guest curator and science journalist Maia Weinstock shared some of her photos of the art installation.

Go Ahead And Do It show at Art.Science.Gallery (photo: M. Weinstock)

Go Ahead And Do It show at Art.Science.Gallery (photo: M. Weinstock)

Go Ahead And Do It show at Art.Science.Gallery (photo: M. Weinstock)

If you are in Austin, do be sure to check out the show and let me know!

Go Ahead and Do It

'Florence Nightingale', 2nd ed., 12" x 12" on Japanese kozo paper with chine collé, by Ele Willoughby, 2014

I made a second edition of my portrait of Florence Nightingale. I wanted a simpler, darker colour scheme and to print it on larger sheets to allow more negative space around her. I'm gathering up and framing my female scientists you see, for 'Go Ahead and Do It: Portraits of women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics', a group exhibit at Art.Science.Gallery in Austin, September 13 through October 14! This is the perfect exhibit topic for me and I'm pretty excited about it. I only wish I could be there. If you're in Austin, there's an Opening September 13, and a party on October 14th, which will be Ada Lovelace Day. The show is curated by science writer and photographer Maia Weinstock, who will be hosting a Wikipedia edit-a-thon for images of women in STEM on October 13, as well as gallery owner, scientist and artist Hayley Gillespie. Maia, Hayley and about 10 other artists will also be showing their scientist portraits in all sorts of media. The title of the show is a quotation from computing pioneer Grace Hopper, whom I've yet to portray, but who is on the to do list.

Speaking of going ahead and doing it, I'm also preparing for the Hunt & Gather pop-up market at Huntclub gallery in Little Italy, August 22nd to 24th, and the In the Round show at Graven Feather on Queen West this November. Not to mention the big one: I'll be doing the One of a Kind Show from December 2 to 7th! I have a 5 foot by 10 foot booth, which we have to design and build as well as all the preparations of things to sell. But, before that, there's Etsy:Made in Canada Toronto Edition at MaRS, which I'm organizing with my trusty TESTy & 416Hustler leaders, and where I'll also be selling. Cause nothing says "taking a year off for mat leave" like organizing a show for 120 vendors after a successful 30-vendor show, doing 4 art shows in two countries, 3 pop-ups,  giving a couple of invited public lectures, running a small art business, creating art, writing, blogging, and teaching on-line. Basically, I'm almost as busy as I was previously, but now with less sleep and greater likelihood that I have a baby-related stain somewhere on my person. <sup>1


1</sup> When the baby was first born we watched all of Kingdom on Netflicks, cause other than baby care and attempting to feed ourselves, watching a gentle English TV series was about all we could muster. Basically it's Stephen Fry as tiny market-town solicitor being charming, and assorted English character actors trying to upstage him. Phyllida Law succeeds. Anyhow, there's one season with a baby where I heard the best approach to these issues. Young articling solicitor tells his boss Kingdom (Fry) that he has baby-sick on his suit. Fry's response? "Yes."

Year of the Salamander, Talk and Hearts

Axolotl, linocut on blue Thai paper with a deckle edge, 8" by 10", (or 20.3 cm by 25.4 cm) by Ele Willoughby

My Axolotl linocut is currently part of the Year of the Salamander show at Art.Science.Gallery in Austin, TX, which runs through to June 21. Gallery founder Dr. Hayley Gillespie is an artist/herpetologist, who specifically studies salamanders, so this exhibit and working with Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation (PARC) to raise awareness of salamander conservation issues are clearly a perfect fit for her. If you are in Austin, not only can use see how 22 international artists interpreted the salamander theme, you can even attend her lecture or take Herpetology 101. Get your art and science all in one place! The the amazing axolotl, by the way, known as the Mexican salamander or Mexican walking fish, is an endangered amphibian which originates in lakes near Mexico city. Unlike other amphibians, they do not usually metamorphise and develop lungs. Rather, they remain gilled and aquatic. Axolotls are used extensively in scientific research due to their ability to regenerate limbs, and in some cases, portions of their brains! They appear to have crazy hairdos, with their three pairs of external gill stalks (rami) which come out behind their heads and are used to move oxygenated water.

June 18th, I've been invited to speak about balancing art and science careers (or, what I've gleaned in my quest to be a modern-day Renaissance woman), by the Neighbourhood Arts Network as part of their 'Making A Living Making Art: Creative Business and Social Media Strategies for Artists' series at the Lakeshore Arts Gallery. They asked me to give them my Top 5 Tips which they've published on their site. If you are in the city, you can join us Wednesday June 18th, 2014 at Lakeshore Arts Gallery, 2422 Lake Shore Blvd W at 6:00 PM and hear me and Arounna Khounnoraj of Bookhou speak. I'm quite flattered to learn that NAN, which is part of the Toronto Arts Council, had me on their radar, knew I am both artist and scientist and captain of the Toronto Etsy Street Team.

I also noticed that my shop things from secret minouette places  hit 2400 hearts today! I really do love the ♥s.  Honestly, I harbour a possible absurd fondness for them. A second round-number milestone, I hit 900 Etsy followers. So, I'd like to take a moment to thank each and every one along with 960 twitter followers, 2077 pinterest followers, 633 fans of the things from secret minouette places fanpage, and last but not least, anyone who follows this blog!

IMPRESSI - Science Inspired Printmakers at Art.Science.Gallery

 

I've very excited to be showing my scientists portraits and Imaginary Friends of Science series as part of IMPRESSI, a science-themed printmaking show at Art.Science.Gallery which is part of the PrintAustin festival at many venues around Austin, TX, this January 15 to February 15, 2014!

The IMPRESSI show will also feature gyotaku (or "fish rubbing") style prints and a workshop by Inked Animal. This traditional Japanese printmaking technique usually involves inking and taking impressions of actual fish; they've extended the method to other animal specimen as well. Jed Dore of Ink & Sword makes fabulous, graphic, retro-styled screenprints on science, math and engineering (STEM) themes. Jennifer Lynch's work includes a gorgeous series on crystals. Cathy Savage, one of the Chairs of PrintAustin, has some fabulous scientist prints I've long admired. Jenn Schmitt's amazing Periodic Table Printmaking Project is a collaboration and print exchange where every printmaker was assigned an element on the periodic table to illustrate with a 6" x 6" print. I always thought I should have participated and now have a chance to do so as a few of the originals need replacing. Have a look at the loveliest periodic table you ever did see. It promises to be a great, and very original show.

PrintAustin, "this inaugural print extravaganza is a month-long event celebrating the art of original printmaking, educating the public about the traditions of printmaking as well as showcasing the innovations of the contemporary approach". Read more on their blog.

If you are in Austin, be sure to check it out - and tell me all about it! I would love to see it in person and would be there if I could.

Find minouette in the Supply Room at the Art.Science.Gallery

This is a gallery I'm really excited to be associated with! I only wish they were closer to home. Very soon, you'll be able to find minouette prints in the Supply Room gallery shop for the Art.Science.Gallery, an Austin, Texas "art gallery and science communication space dedicated to art-science fusion of all kinds" and the first US gallery "to feature exclusively science-related artworks!"

You can read more about their philosophy here, and check out their exhibitions here, find them on Facebook or twitter. They are run by fellow artists/scientists and I love that this makes me feel like it's maybe not an eccentric or unheard of career path.

I sent a series of insect related artwork, including my bee series of linocuts, to coincide with an upcoming entomology-themed exhibit. I also included some general science, history of science and scientists prints.

A Kaleidoscope of Butterflies