Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Work, work

 

For those who have wondered what I do by day, here's a video created in the course of my 'real' job. What you're looking at is basically a fly around of a fairly late stage zebrafish embryo. The orange and purple are nuclei within the embryo proper and the grey is a layer of cells that envelope the yolk.

I work on the image analysis pipeline, Starrynite, that goes from volume data of developing embryos to segmented cells moving over time (or in this case not moving).  I also built the analysis and rendering scripts that segmented the cloud of detected nuclei into layers based on geometry and cell density, in order to create this movie highlighting the structure of the embryo and the correspondence between the image and segmentation.

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Art Call: Frenzy into Folly

Openings, an artist's collective I'm a member of has just put out their call for work for their 2012 exhibit. It is a theme that seems perfect for an election year. Details below.


Frenzy into Folly
Deadline for submissions: Monday, February 20, 2012 
 Openings invites artists to submit proposals to participate in Frenzy into Folly, a group art exhibition taking place in Fall 2012 at the Church of St. Paul the Apostle in NYC.
 Fren٠zy   (frěn٠zē) n.,  1. A state of violent mental agitation or wild excitement.  2. Temporary madness or delirium.  3. A mania; a craze.
Fol٠ly  (fǒl٠ē) n.,  1. A lack of good sense, understanding or foresight. 2.a. An act or instance of foolishness.  b. A grand but misguided idea. 3. A thing built to satisfy a fancy or conceit, often of an eccentric kind. 
 Openings is a collective of visual artists whose mission is to explore the connections between creativity and transcendence.  Each year the group presents an exhibition addressing a particular theme.  The theme for the 2012 exhibition is Frenzy into Folly.  Artists are asked to submit a detailed proposal for artwork in any medium which explores their interpretation of this theme, addressed either personally, publicly, politically, aesthetically, or spiritually.  Artwork will be exhibited within the unique space of the interior of the Church of St. Paul the Apostle on Columbus Avenue at W 60th Street in New York City.



Submission Guidelines 
Artists are asked to submit the following materials:

      Detailed Visual Proposal for Frenzy into Folly: This should include images of finished artwork you are proposing to show, or clear and descriptive text/drawings/sketches/schematics of a proposed artwork for the exhibition.  Artists are encouraged to visit the exhibition space within Church of St. Paul the Apostle in advance of sending their proposal. 
      Proposal Statement of 250 words or less describing the proposed artwork and how it addresses the theme of Frenzy into Folly.
      Contact information: name, address, email, telephone, website url.
      10 jpeg images of recent work (no greater than 800 pixels or 11 inches at 72 dpi) each labeled with title, medium, dimensions and artist’s name.
      Current CV.
      Artist statement of 250 words or less.


Eligibility:  
This call for entries is open to any visual artist over the age of 18.  All submissions must be received via email to frenzy@openingsny.com. There is no fee for submitting a proposal; however, we will request a fee of $50 once you have been accepted into the exhibition.  This fee will go towards the cost of promotion, hanging, publicity and opening reception.  Artists will be selected by a jury of current Openings members. All selected artists will be asked to schedule a studio/work space visit with one or more of the exhibition’s curators as a way to show/discuss works in progress as they relate to the theme of the exhibition.  The suggested studio visit will also be used as an opportunity to record photo/video material for the purposes of generating PR for the show.  Artists or their representative must be present for both the delivery and installation of artwork as well as the de-installation and removal of artwork on the dates specified below.  Openings and the Church of St. Paul the Apostle will not accept or store works delivered in advance of the installation day and cannot store artworks after the de-installation date. Openings reserves the right to refuse to exhibit artworks that differ substantially from submitted proposals.

Event Schedule:
February 20, 2012: Completed submissions due via email
March 16, 2012: Notification of selected artists by email/phone
March 29, 2012: Artist meeting, exhibition space walk through
July 21-23, 2012: Studio visits with selected artists
August 13, 2012: Deadline to submit work-in-progress reports
September 13, 2012: Delivery/Installation of exhibition at Church of St. Paul the Apostle
September 14, 2012: Exhibition opens to the public
September 20, 2012: Opening Reception
October 29, 2012: De-installation of exhibition

Please send all submissions via email to frenzy@openingsny.com
Any questions pertaining to Openings or the exhibition can be directed to frenzy@openingsny.com.  
The deadline for submissions is Monday, February 20, 2012 at 5:00pm EST.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Sense

"Elinor agreed with it all, for she did not think he deserved the compliment of rational opposition."
Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility

This blog's title reflects the hopeful idea that I'd occasionally write about all the enlightening reading I would be doing. Though I have an hour and a half commute, I mostly feel like I wind up looking at the pictures in Science and Nature. Whether I collect any wisdom that way remains to be seen. This week however I've been enjoying the marvels of technology by reading poorly OCR'd Jane Austen on my phone. I wonder why it is that duty bound folks who achieve any benefit by their adherence to good practice are totally absent from the modern fictional landscape. I've always thought following the example of a Jane Austen heroine might make a man of me. Live in hope.