Author: abradbur@andrew.cmu.edu

abradbur-Project-01: Self Portrait

selfportrait

function setup() {
    createCanvas(600,600);
    background(122,231,199);
}

function draw() {
    fill(207,152,147);//hair
    noStroke();
    ellipse(300,160,100);
    ellipse(300,290,250,250);
    fill(248,229,238);//face + neck
    noStroke();
    rect(275,435,50,60);
    ellipse(300, 300,240,250);
    fill(255,107,107);//glasses
    rect(330,270,60,50,10,10,10,10);
    rect(220,270,60,50,10,10,10,10);
    rect(170,290,260,10); 
    fill(248,229,238);
    rect(334,274,52,42,10,10,10,10);
    rect(224,274,52,42,10,10,10,10);
    fill(39,45,51);//eyeballs
    ellipse(360,300,25);
    ellipse(250,300,25);
    rect(270,370,60,5);//mouth
    fill(255,107,107);//tongue
    rect(290,375,20,30);
    ellipse(300,402,20);
    fill(39,45,51);
    rect(298,375,5,22);
    fill(78,205,196);//nose
    triangle(300,340,305,300,310,340);
    fill(207,152,147);//eyebrows
    rect(328,250,60,10);
    rect(218,250,60,10);
    fill(254,254,254);//glasses shine
    triangle(375,270,380,255,385,270);
    triangle(375,270,380,285,385,270);
    fill(58,190,255);//shirt
    noStroke();
    rect(245,505,110,10);
    rect(235,520,130,10);
    rect(225,535,150,10);
    rect(215,550,170,10);
    rect(205,565,190,10);
    rect(195,580,210,10);
    rect(185,595,230,10);
}

This project ended up taking a lot longer than I thought it would, primarily because I had to think in coordinates and simple shapes, rather than just drawing like I’m used to. I enjoyed it though, and I’m pretty pleased with the product. It forced me to draw in a simple, yet crisp, style that I’d never bothered to try. I might use this piece as an icon in the future.

Alysa Bradbury-Looking Outwards-1

An image of the Hylozoic Veil as it hangs in The Leonardo in Salt Lake City, Utah.

This art piece is called the Hylozoic Veil, a living construction of sensors, chemical beakers, and delicate acrylic links and fronds. Created by Philip Beesley, Hayley Isaacs, and Benjamin Wiemeyer, and displayed around the globe, it is a marriage of science, computer programming, and art. It is currently displayed at three stories high in The Leonardo, a museum located in Salt Lake city, Utah. When guests enter the museum, the Hylozoic Veil senses human presences and reacts, unfurling plantlike fronds, or stretching and compressing subtly. It even has sections attached to beakers, which filter and collect chemicals like Carbon Dioxide, much like the processes of several living organisms. The project itself was, according to Beeler, modeled off of protocells: “prototype cells that use inorganic ingredients combined into cell-like forms.” Its construction took the work of several volunteers, as well as the writing of entirely new programs in order to manage the complex chemical processes that make the project tick, including the millions of microsensors. The project itself is not meant to be seen merely as a sculpture, but as an environment. It breathes as guests engage with it, and lives on when the museum closes for the day.

Close up on one of the several beakers dotting the Veil.

This piece inspires me because it embodies the marriage of art and science that I aspire to in my career, as well as the ingenuity and delicacy that went into it’s construction. It kindles thoughts of a future where, should the forests on the earth ever disappear, something as eerily beautiful as this may replace it. It is exciting to think about what future projects this may inspire, and what other artistic “environments” may arise.

Philip Beesley’s Website and his own post about the Veil