I thought I might find this exhibition, Science, Technology & The Future of Art, to be engaging and eye opening but I didn’t expect to find it moving – but I was moved!  And largely due to the top award picks of Juror, Gail White, Associate Professor of Art at Stanford. It was the science and technology combined with aesthetics of beauty and the nature of the human heart and inquisitive mind that really won me over.

First Place was awarded to Howie Katz and Ytaelena Lopez‘s Cancer Stage installation. Photos of cancer cells applied to floor tiles, which could easily be mistaken for marble, provide a comfortable and empowering access point from which to examine the cells and perhaps our own fears.

                             

Artist Howie Katz with his girlfriend Tania on Cancer Stage (above).  Detail of Cancer Stage  (below).

Second place went to Alexis Arnold‘s crystalized books, she had three on exhibit, Holy Bible, To Kill a Mockingbird and I think it was the Dictionary – all sparkling tributes to the decline of our literary culture. At first I thought this was like an icy Siberian equivalent to a good old book burning party but then I realized this was past the point were the written word held enough power for burning, it was more akin to the cobwebs of neglect and the rot of mold and mildew! Sublime!

     

 

 

 

 

 

Third Place went to Lennell Allen‘s Transition Electron Micrograph, Before You Take A Breath # 01. “Electrons focused on emulsion coated glass or film” give us a cellular, structural views of new forms and new possibilities.

 

Scotty Gorham‘s interactive light installation, Pulse, was a show stopper!  By connecting to the circuitry of the piece the viewer’s pulse was expressed in violet light. “Cause mood rings are just too subtle!

 

     

Seda Saar was awarded an honorable mention for her C prints, Chroma Continuum which, along with her Chroma Dance work play with the illusions of depth, translucency and movement, exploring tensions between dimensions and containment and perception.

Seda Saar‘s Chroma Dance C print.

 

Photographer Ron Dell’Aquila not only had a beautiful photograph, Total Annular Eclipse Sequence, Hat Creek 2012, which took an honorable mention, on exhibit, he was also demonstrating the use of the BlueTooth Selfie Stick to promote his upcoming PAL selfie workshop on November 23. With it’s telegraphing rod, adjustible angle setting and remote shutter, the stick acts as a super long arm (Ron should also offer a course on how to shoot artwork under glass at exhibitions – my shot didn’t do any justice to his work). It was a real crowd pleaser and a lot of people had a turn at it.

I was excited to give it a whirl as my best angle is a bird’s eye view (hard to manage with short arms). Perfect solution! It also solved the the problem of gallery lighting which is designed to illuminate the work – not to flatter the people. By looking up into the light my entire face was illuminated.

Selfie with my Interference – Shimmering Water and Lavender Lake photographs.

Selfie with my Interference – Blue Pool photograph. Both these images courtesy of Ron Dell’Aquila and his iPhone 6.

My favorite art couple, Ron Dell’Aquila and Mei-Ying Dell’Aquila in front af a gorgeous mixed media painting, Entier, by Rosine Aberge Ferber whose solo exhibit Playful Vision was showing in the Corridor Gallery.

Keep it up Seth Schalet and Anna Speaker,  these shows just keep getting better and better!