Art students to display microscope photography

Photography students from Western Washington University's Department of Art have embraced scientific technology for their next large-scale assignment. Using the Scanning Electron Microscope, students in Garth Amundson's ART371: Photography II class have explored the miniature world on a colossal scale.

Conceptually, they considered the contrast between the microscopic and their worldview. Using the diptych format, they literally juxtaposed these two interpretations by setting them side-by-side. One image was produced with the SEM, while the other was shot using a Canon 5D camera.

The photographs are on display in the hallway of the Fine Arts Building through March 10.

The project poses questions about abstraction, figuration and the surreal landscape, bridging the world of fine-art photography with that of scientific technology. Photography's history is bound to the scientific world, as it was only recently separated from the categorization of science within the last 50 years. This type of interdisciplinary collaboration is at the very core of contemporary artistic practice.

Featured students include Kimmiree Bolla (Ellensburg), Bailey Carrell (Steamboat Springs, Colo.), Camille Crocetti (Albuquerque, N.M.), Greg Crooks (Freeland), Scott Edwards (Buffalo, N.Y.), Angela Gallagher (Flowery Branch, Ga.), Kelly Hill (Fall City), Spencer Isitt (Spokane), Annmarie Kent (Stanwood), Lincoln Lute (Boise, Idaho) and Dylan Vogel (Sandpoint, Idaho).

Special thanks to Erin Macri and Charles Wandler from Scientific Technical Services, Nathan Cranston, Kevin Lowdon and Ashley Garrels.