Թϱ research and art come together in ‘Spark of Life’ opening Wednesday, Nov. 13
The Art Galleries at the Թϱ and Թϱ’s Histology and Imaging Core are again collaborating to offer “Spark of Life: Abstraction, Microscopy, and Discovery,” opening Nov. 13 at the Թϱ Art Gallery in Portland.
The exhibit is presented in collaboration with Թϱ’s Histology and Imaging Core, a laboratory facility embedded within the Center for Pain Research (CPR), a National Institutes of Health-funded Center of Biomedical Research Excellence. The work centers around the photography of the imaging lab in conversation with contemporary artwork.
Emphasizing the materiality of abstraction, the artwork in this exhibit works together to build a complex sense of harmony revolving around a small framework of formal strategies. Each artist and the scientists behind the imaging examples are working with a unique voice to communicate a singular idea; each in turn offers us a look at dynamic growth that refers back to the physical world.
Featured artists include Jackie Brown, Meg Brown Payson, Carter Shappy, and the scientists of the Թϱ Histology and Imaging Core.
The exhibit opens as Թϱ is in the process of relocating the College of Osteopathic Medicine, Maine’s only medical school, to its Portland Campus for the Health Sciences. The move is part of a multi-year effort to integrate all of the University’s health professions degree programs onto one interprofessional campus that will be unique to all of New England.
“I'm grateful to the Center for Pain Research and lab manager Peter Caradonna for the chance to offer a new iteration of our contemporary art and histology conversation,” remarked Hilary Irons, director of . “The contemporary artists represented in this show are doing amazing work around the topic of hidden worlds and biomorphic form, and it is such an exciting group. We are thrilled as well to be able to recognize and honor the upcoming move of Թϱ’s College of Osteopathic Medicine to Portland with this exhibit.”
“Spark of Life: Abstraction, Microscopy, and Discovery” will be on display at the Թϱ Art Gallery in Portland, located at 716 Stevens Ave., through Feb. 16. An opening reception will be held on Wednesday, Nov. 13, from 5 to 7 p.m.
Image: A 20-micrometer-thick section of mouse retina labeled with antibodies designed to bind to two neuronal subtypes (CGRP - yellow; NF200 - magenta) with cell nuclei labeled by a DNA dye (DAPI - cyan). Fluorescent signal was imaged using laser scanning confocal microscopy in Թϱ's Histology and Imaging Core.