Ana MacArthur (anama)

ALUMNI   FROM  THE  BIOMIMICRY  GUILD  COSTA  RICA  WORKSHOP  OF  2007

I have been a  light and environmental artist for 27 years.   My urge has been to plumb the depths of the electromagnetic energy we call "light" devoting this search to the interrelationship between the subject matter/medium of light and a deep ecological perspective. A strong thread in much of my artwork has been to "educate" about issues of energy generation and the evolution of light technologies.  As part of my artistic repertoire, I have made holograms on and off for 20 + years.  I was a key member of the Museum of Holography in New York in the 80's. At the time I met many holographic scientist and this ushered in many experiences of collaborating with engineers or scientists on future projects. It has been a process I find extremely rewarding.  In 1988 I co-founded and partnered for 17 years, Aurorean, one of the few dichromate holography labs in the world.  For a series of years, my artwork has been intuiting biomimetic solutions as a means of us living with greater symbiotic intelligence, and within the limits of the resources of our planet. 

My approach with my creative endeavors involves extensive research on my projects, which then unfolds in the final work as an unorthodox mode of disseminating information.......the point is "creative communication".   My current engagement with biomimicry, along side of my artistic endeavors, is the offering of my services as an educator of youth (middle school and high school), informed by a background in environmentally conscious ways of thinking, a close relationship with nature, and artistic, hands on methods of engaging in and absorbing knowledge....."learning".   Of great impetus for this is my own early education in youth with a high school in the  progressive state of Oregon, one of two pioneering states in the US with early environmental policy making. If children understand the principles while young, they will make better choices as adults.  I have been designing curriculum and teaching courses in optics and light for high school and middle school students, including employment by Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) as part of their photonics education outreach program.   I was hired by the photonics education department at SNL to make a website for the "New Mexico Alliance for Optics and Photonics Education" and a second website for the Photonics Program at an Albuquerque high school.  The later website emphasized relevant environmentally sound technologies evolving from the field of photonics. 

I began an artistic project two years ago with the Victoria amazonica, which took me twice to the Amazon rainforest of Brazil.  I have been interfacing with both biologists and institutions in North America that have some knowledge of this organism. It is especially the time spent in the magnificent surroundings of this plant, the Amazon rainforest, that I have been most moved to listen to her inherent knowledge.