Moving from right to left, I was working on filling in all of the empty spaces with the orange beads that represented nuclei of cells in the background. It was taking much longer than I expected, so I decided to take a break at have some fun at this point. While listening to the podcast... Continue Reading →
After returning from the winter break, I was eager to start working with the next color - orange. This turned out to be a very slow and painstakingprocess. These orange beads are a bit larger than the seed beads that I typically use and they needed to be tightly packed. I often struggle with turning off the scientific... Continue Reading →
Last weekend, I mostly finished sewing the first layer of yellow rondelle beads. In the original microscopy image, the cell nuclei were colored bright blue, due to being labeled with Hoechst stain, which labels DNA. In Darcy’s version of the image, she switched this color to pale yellow, which makes them look more delicate and... Continue Reading →
Darcy and I have decided to move forward with the image she called “Mapping Manhattan”. From the beginning of our collaboration, I told Darcy that I would like to create something that would represent the synthesis of the field of neuroscience and the context of New York. Initially, I sent her a sketch that I... Continue Reading →
While in between projects, I decided to learn some new beading techniques. I recently came across some amazing beadwork on Instagram by Julie Mars (@jamfinearts) and got inspired. I have a ton of multicolored beads that I don’t use for my main projects, so I decided to use them for learning how to bead around a... Continue Reading →
This work and its counterpart started out as a little sketch in my bullet journal. I had the idea of creating two "identical" pictures. One showing empty space in the shape of a neuron and the other being its mirror image that is filled with an actual cell. Here's the birth certificate of this idea.... Continue Reading →
Following my "Stages of Grief" series, I have set out to create a piece to represent the very first stage - DENIAL. While in my earlier pieces I did my best to stay true to scientific form, here I have come to border abstraction. This piece turns the biology on its head, showing the outline of a... Continue Reading →
Last year, I wrote about my negative view of a large percentage of abstract art (with some exceptions). My view of SciArt has always been that true scientific images/concepts should be accurately depicted (with some room for slight embellishment). While many people show the true natural beauty of scientific images, I also see a lot... Continue Reading →
I have always been a sucker for fancy and intricate scientific devices. I don't want to say instruments, because that would imply electronic equipment. Although even there, if it has to do with imaging cells, I'm in! But I am referring more to items that you can actually touch and interact with, especially on a... Continue Reading →
This quote was recently posted on Facebook in association with my latest piece "Sunrise". I am so thankful for the kind words from one of my customers Carla Harris! "I love the art of Yana Zorina, a neuroscientist whose artworks are inspired by her field of scientific research. I have been following this blog for... Continue Reading →
