Artist-scientists Mark Kessell, Ellen K. Levy and Lothar Schmitz will participate in a symposium centering on the juxtaposition of science and art on Monday, April 5, in the Hampton Room of the Elizabeth Hubert Malott Commons on the Scripps College campus. The series of presentations and following panel discussion are made possible through a generous grant from the Mellon Foundation, and all events are free and open to the public. For additional information on this program, please contact Professor Susan Rankaitis at (909) 607-4439.
While numerous contemporary artists create work inspired by various fields of the sciences, much less attention is paid to those artists who actually are or were practicing scientists. In this symposium, each artist-scientist will offer a visual presentation illustrating the trajectory of their artwork and discuss how their work in science has impacted their work as artists.
Presentations times are scheduled as follows:
- 11:30 a.m. Mark Kessell
- 12:30 p.m. Ellen Levy
- 4:15 p.m. Lothar Schmitz
- 5:15 p.m. Panel discussion with Lothar Schmitz, Ellen K. Levy, and Mark Kessell.
Dr. Mark Kessell is a full time artist and professional photographer living and working in New York City. He is known for his use of the daguerreotype to express a contemporary aesthetic and has had recent exhibitions at The International Center for Photography, Santa Barbara Art Museum, The Museum of Photographic Arts, Gallery Lichtblick (Cologne) and Ricco Maresca Gallery in New York. His work was recently featured in Lyle Rexer’s The Antiquarian Avant-Garde, published by Abrams. Dr. Kessell, who formerly practiced medicine in Australia, received his M.D. from the University of Western Australia in Perth and, more recently, his M.F.A. in photography at the School of Visual Arts in New York.
Biologist and digital artist Ellen K. Levy teaches art and science at School of Visual Arts and Brooklyn College in New York. Recently elected president of the College Art Association, she holds a BA in zoology from Mt. Holyoke College, diploma in painting from the Museum School of Fine Arts in Boston and recently completed an intensive course in complex systems at Massachusetts Institute of Technology on a NECSI-sponsored scholarship. Her many exhibitions include The National Technical Museum in Prague, the New Britain Museum of American Art, Institut Cochin de Genetique Moleculaire in Paris, and the Chapel Art Center in Hamburg. Ms. Levy is also an accomplished curator and writer whose essays have been published in Journal of the History of Neuroscience, Leonardo and Art Journal.
Sculptures and site-specific installations by Lothar Schmitz have been included in the Florence Biennale and Palazzo Dei Consuli, Gubbio in Italy, UberMain and Barnsdall Municipal Galleries in Los Angeles, while his performances and multi-media projects included working with artists Rachel Rosenthal, Linda Sibio, Robert Wilson and the group, Das Brot. Dr. Schmitz, who was a recent recipient of grants from the Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department and California Arts Council, received his PhD in Physics from Ruhr-Universitat Bochum in Germany. He is currently a research physicist at UCLA’s Tokamak Laboratory. He is the author of over forty scientific papers in referred journals such as Physical Review Letters, Plasma Physics,and Physics of Fluids/Physics of Plasmas.
The Scripps College host committee for this Mellon Foundation Symposium includes Scripps College students Melissa Chan ’04, Chelsea Jones ’05, and Rachel Kirby ’06 as well as Fletcher Jones Professor of Art Susan Rankaitis.