"In Search of Meaning" is artist Lylie Fisher's latest collaboration with scientific research centers, including the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center and UC Davis. This ambitious project explores the realm of particle physics and specifically bubble chamber experiments conducted in the 1960s.
Symmetry Magazine featured the project in its December 2006 issue:
"For artist Lylie Fisher, particle physics is much more than a field of science. It is art: "Like art, particle physics deals with the invisible," says Fisher. "One portrays emotional and spiritual experiences; the other studies unseen matter and energy. Science is the voice of the rational mind, and art is the reverberation of questioning." It is philosophy: "Particle physicists, like theologians, wish to understand our beginnings," she says. "They want to know how we came about from the great unknown."
"Fisher uses her art to reveal a hidden beauty and meaning in particle physics experiments. "My quest is to draw out the intrinsic beauty of the occurrences, and allow the images to breathe beyond the scientific realm," she says. Using layers of resins, pigments, and varnishes, Fisher can transform a flat, abstract-looking print into a work of art with depth, color, and texture. Using historic 1960s bubble chamber images from SLAC as her starting point, Fisher has created a series of paintings, titled "In Search of Meaning." The finished pictures glisten like burnished membranes; the particle tracks appear to float over a richly-textured background."
Fisher says "Each artwork begins with an enlarged photographic image from a bubble chamber experiment. In utilizing these results, I view them primarily as lyrical images and work with them "independent of the scientific ponderings. These experiments reveal a minuscule galaxy that physicists predict replicates the dawn of time. My intention is to work with these images and apply rich, colorful layers of traditional art materials, in turn creating artworks that communicate permanence within a transient state."
Prof. Richard Lander, who worked on bubble chamber experiments, will give a brief explanation of the scientific background of the experiments.
The lecture was be held on Tuesday February 6, 2007 at 7:30 pm in Alpha Gamma Rho Hall of the Buehler Alumni and Visitors Center.
This lecture was free to the public and was sponsored by the High Energy Frontier Theory Initiative and the UC Davis Physics Deptartment. Call 530-752-4086 for more information.
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