Students contrast miniature, mammoth landscapes for art project

A string of black-and-white photographs adorns the walls between the doors to the lecture halls in the Science, Mathematics and Technology Education Building. People passing through SMATE, or glancing in its windows as they walk past, can see these photos and may wonder what it is they are actually looking at.

In a class titled SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope) and the Reconfigured Landscape: Miniature/Mammoth, art students were asked to juxtapose a “micro” image taken with Western’s SEM with a “macro” landscape. Their professor, Garth Amundson of the art department, says students were allowed to interpret the “landscape” part of the assignment, so it was open to whatever they wanted to do.

Gathering in the SMATE foyer, the students talk enthusiastically about their project. First and foremost they say they want to thank Erin Macri, Instrument Center Services Coordinator, who helped them with the SEM and made the project possible.

One of the students, Jarod Faw, says the SEM is both trying and rewarding.

“Using the machine takes a lot of time, but it’s totally worth it,” he says.

Another student, Joe Rudko, says one of the great things about the project is that it bridges science and art, and for Amanda Turner, it meant finding a whole new realm of photo subjects.

“I got to explore new ways of taking pictures of things, like a log, that I normally wouldn’t,” Turner says.

Allison Avery says the class took SEM images of everything from skin samples to glitter to dead leaves, and they were surprised at how the micro world under the SEM seemed to mirror the macro world they used in their interpretation of a landscape. Jumping back into the conversation, Rudko says, “It’s like Horton Hears a Who!”
In the pieces, the students’ SEM and macro landscapes are placed right next to each other with their edges touching so they form one image.

Rudko says there is a certain power in having two images that can play off each other put together like this. But Alecia Gaussoin says it also presents a challenge when deciding which images to use in the final piece.

“We had to go past what we like to what really worked well together,” she says.

The final pieces will be on display in SMATE until March 15, so drop by and experience the wonders of the micro world.

For more information on Western’s photography program, visit http://www.wwu.edu/artphotography/index.html.