{"id":1850,"date":"2016-04-17T12:56:28","date_gmt":"2016-04-17T19:56:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/psquared\/?page_id=1850"},"modified":"2021-03-27T14:40:20","modified_gmt":"2021-03-27T21:40:20","slug":"juxtaposing-art-and-science","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/psquared\/juxtaposing-art-and-science\/","title":{"rendered":"Juxtaposing art and science"},"content":{"rendered":"

The process of making a protein portrait requires us to put next to each other the thinkings<\/em> of scientific concepts and the feelings<\/em> of artistic expressions. \u00a0As you go through this process, be prepared to talk a lot. \u00a0Human language works well in both domains, and so it becomes a matter of communicating verbally about thoughts and feelings, often putting these together in the same sentence.<\/p>\n

The explorations for\u00a0each of us may be a sort of three-step waltz that goes\u00a0something like this:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Find<\/em> what viscerally appeals to\u00a0me. \u00a0What are my interests? \u00a0What feels exciting?<\/li>\n
  2. Find <\/em>some related protein science in the databank or elsewhere. \u00a0Is there a visual match? \u00a0Is there a clever coincidence or even a pun that brings the science into the picture?<\/li>\n
  3. Juxtapose<\/em>\u00a0artistic appeal and scientific understanding\u00a0in a Protein Portraits project.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Spelled out below is an example of how I have run through steps 1, 2 and 3. \u00a0We can call this particular example the art of venom<\/em>.<\/p>\n

    The art of venom<\/h2>\n

    First, I outlined an area of inquiry\u00a0that sparks my\u00a0curiosity and stimulates my\u00a0sense of artistry. \u00a0Like\u00a0many people, I am curious about animals that defend themselves using venoms, poisons and toxins. \u00a0Most of us have had a personal experience with\u00a0insect venoms<\/a> (stinging ants, wasps and bees<\/a>) or\u00a0spider venoms<\/a> (black widows, brown recluses). \u00a0Maybe you are beguiled by the deadly beauty of poison dart frogs.<\/a>\u00a0 In my own case, I used to keep a pet rattlesnake in my dorm room. \u00a0The contrasting colors and angular skin pattern of the diamondback rattlesnake inspire my artistry.<\/p>\n

    Second<\/em>, I investigated the scientific literature to learn how protein molecules are associated with the action in a typical encounter between “the stinger” and “the stung”. \u00a0The active ingredients of many venoms often include one or more kinds of\u00a0protein molecules, often enzymes that induce pain and inflammation by tearing apart\u00a0the victim’s membranes and molecules, or in other cases sticky proteins that bind to the\u00a0victim’s important molecules, creating\u00a0havoc. \u00a0The scientific literature is at our fingertips. \u00a0We can search the Protein Databank using just about any search term. \u00a0When I searched the term “rattlesnake venom”, I was instantly offered\u00a023 protein structures<\/a> to examine. One of the protein structures in this\u00a0search is crotoxin B (2QOG<\/a>), an enzyme (a “phospholipase”) that cleaves\u00a0lipid molecules\u00a0in the vicinity of a rattlesnake bite, disrupting membrane barriers and thereby causing pain and severe tissue damage.<\/p>\n

    Third<\/em>, I am now in a position to juxtapose my scientific\u00a0curiosity with my artistic inklings. \u00a0Take a look at the\u00a0\u00a0two images reproduced below. \u00a0What does one image say about the other?\u00a0Can I forge a work of art by joining my real-world impressions with my scientific understanding?<\/p>\n

    \"diamond<\/a>

    Diamondback skin pattern<\/p><\/div>\n

    \"Crotoxin<\/a>

    Crototoxin B (2QOG)<\/p><\/div>\n

    The match in patterns between the snake skin and the protein structure could very easily be enough for me to carry this project forward to a full-fledged protein portrait. \u00a0Of course I would still need to plan out the project as far as the use of artistic medium, blending of visual qualities between the macroscopic and the microscopic, and I would also want to dive deep into many other aspects of the co-inspirational elements that unite the science and art of venoms. \u00a0But this is the sort of starting inspiration that leads to a successful final project.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The process of making a protein portrait requires us to put next to each other the thinkings of scientific concepts and the feelings of artistic expressions. \u00a0As you go through this process, be prepared to talk a lot. \u00a0Human language … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":196,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":114,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1850","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/psquared\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1850","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/psquared\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/psquared\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/psquared\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/196"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/psquared\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1850"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/psquared\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1850\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2720,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/psquared\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1850\/revisions\/2720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/psquared\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}