The “found-art vacuole”—people learn in different ways

ABSTRACT

Based on my reading, and on my own experience, I have come to realize that people learn in different ways, and this can include the use of different media. This is one reason I have worked with various artists to portray the topic of autophagy through paintings, music and dance. Indeed, comments from members of the audience who have attended one of my seminars often suggest that a particular artistic approach ‘hit home’ and added meaning to them about the topic. In this issue of the journal I describe another such project—‘the-found-art vacuole’—that utilized the talents of an amazing watercolor painter, Scott Hartley. The object of Scott’s painting is the only artophagy composition that I have ‘made’—assembled is a more accurate word. Doing so was quite fun, but after examining many of the ‘antique’ items that form the ‘found-art vacuole’, I realized that it would be nice to have a painting that was done in exquisite detail. The requirement for detail immediately made me think of Scott, whose work I was familiar with from the Ann Arbor Art Fair. To quote a line from the Belleville News-Democrat describing Scott’s taking first place in an art competition, ‘He began by doing landscapes, and eventually found a different style for his work: the intricacies of urban architecture, of alleys and fire escapes in a city neighborhood.’ This does describe the nature of Scott’s work, but you have to see these paintings to appreciate the detail.

KEYWORDS:

• Art
• autophagy
• learning
• sculpture
• stress
• vacuole

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences [GM131919].