Where Art and Science meet

In summarising my year recently I realised that I never got chance to share with you about my experience taking part in the Creative Reactions Pint of Science event last year. Better late than never as they say!
Pint of Science takes place in 32 cities across UK, 300+ across the world and 21 countries and in Cambridge, Creative Reactions comes in on that to add some art to the mix, partnering artists with scientists. The scientist shares what they are working on and the artist creates art in response to this scientific research. Then during Pint of Science week both the scientist and artist give a talk in a pub to the general public about their work, and the week ends with an exhibition of all the artists creations.

Sounded like fun so I signed up! – it only dawned on me later that these weren't going to be just any scientists but Professors and leaders in their field at Cambridge University type scientists! Would I even understand the research, let alone be able to put it into my own words and represent it visually? How would I make this an honouring response to significant study rather than a frivolous caricature?

I was partnered with Dr Paul Fletcher, a Professor of Health Neuroscience whose research is on proneness to hallucinations! After an initial panic and flood of inadequacy I knuckled down to bending my head around the science and an idea, a title and an image came to mind.
I contacted Dr Paul to check I wasn't way off track and to express my desire to, at least at some level, create something that was honouring to his work. This was the kind reply I received:

“Thanks for taking the time to think about your work in the context of mine - I do indeed feel honoured by your willingness to do so.
As far as I can see you've hit the nail directly on the head. And gone beyond it to say something really interesting about filling in the gaps.
Your eloquent description has inspired me to reflect a bit more on a recent study that we've done…..Certainly, the way you've responded has given me a stronger sense of what I should cover in my talk and I am extremely keen that my talk should reciprocally do honour to your work."
AMAZING!

Here is my painting as it progressed, it's called MIND THE GAP

This is my explanation: We make sense of the things around us through a combination of the world we have experienced and the world that is in front of us. Our brain fills in the gaps between the two as best it can, adjusting to the patterns it learns along the way. Hallucinations can be seen as a consequence of a disturbed negotiation between brain and world, as someone strives to make sense of the ambiguous.
In my painting I symbolise the patterns we've learnt from our experience (internal), layered with the input we receive from our senses (external), and consider the gap between these two that our brains try to fill to make sense of the world around us.
If you are interested in reading more about Dr Paul's work follow this link: http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/how-hallucinations-emerge-from-trying-to-make-sense-of-an-ambiguous-world

The crowd at the pub seemed to be there more for the science talk than the art I think, but it was a great opportunity to try something new, all good experience. The end of week exhibition was buzzing, it was so lovely to see people seriously engaging with my painting and very interesting to see all the other artists responses to their scientists work.

Here are some of the other pieces of art in the exhibition.

It was a BIG challenge, one of those things where you don't realise what you've let yourself in for until it's too late, but I'm definitely glad I did it!