March 14, the NC State Crafts Center opened “Exploring the Micro-World: Where Science Meets Art,” a presentation and exhibition about microscopy. The exhibit featured a collection of images and videos taken by students, staff and faculty using microscopy techniques.
There, groups of students heard Professor Eva Johannes from the microscopy program speak about the microscopes used to capture the images. Attendees also listened to graduate students speak about the stories behind their research and the importance of the images they took.
The images were taken in the Cellular and Molecular Imaging Facility, or the CMIF, at NC State, where Johannes is the director.
“It was nice to see the younger undergraduate students able to sort of see graduate-level work and the results, and then they could maybe imagine themselves doing that,” said George Thomas, director of the Crafts Center.
In planning this event, the Crafts Center focused on showcasing how the microscopy program can inspire creativity to primarily undergraduate students.
“At the Crafts Center, we believe that education is knowledge, but until you put that to work, it’s not valuable,” Thomas said. “Any time we make a product, that’s craft, and so when they’re taking the research and they’re changing the world through their research, through our knowledge of health … then they have turned that into a craft.”
The images on display use a variety of resources available at CMIF, such as transmitted light and advanced fluorescence microscopy techniques.
Gabrielle Corradino, a graduate student in the marine, earth and atmospheric sciences department who likes to spend time at the Crafts Center, said, “I work with some of these super-types of microscopes, and so I was taking a look. My images are not as clear as these, and so I was taking a look to see what types of microscopes they used.”
One of Corradino’s favorite works on display was “dopamine-producing nerve cells of five-day-old zebrafish brain.”
“[The work] was incredibly interesting because it looked at a specific nerve cells within the fish, and it looks nothing like I would think a nerve cell would like,” Corradino said. “The colors in it were magnificent. It has a really nice picture to it. I could put that up in my house and people would have no idea what that is which is cool.”
Corradino also enjoyed “pollen grains,” which was an image of magnified pollen grains that were illuminated with blue light.
“Especially in spring time, we interact with pollen a lot, a lot of times through allergies,” Corradino said. “I like this picture because it shows pollen in a different way. We’re normally always sneezing or getting headaches from the pollen, but this is a very artistic image that shows pollen in a very beautiful way — the way it’s all symmetric for the individual pollen pieces from the plant.”
Through events such as workshops and exhibitions conducted by faculty members, the Crafts Center is trying to reach out to more students, according to Thomas.
“At the Crafts Center, we’re trying to reach out into the sciences, into education and connect in different ways with the university,” Thomas said. “We’re just looking for new ways to connect with the student groups and with the academic side to help bring education beyond the classroom.”
Recently, the Crafts Center hosted an exhibit titled “Disappearing Frogs Project Exhibition.” The exhibit was concerned with the disappearance of frogs and attempted to educate the public on this issue through art.
On April 18, the Crafts Center will host a group of five young woodworkers to talk about their business models and what encouraged them to get into the craft.
Images from “Exploring the Micro-World” will remain on display through mid-April in the Crafts Center.
