Yes, actually I would love to see your goldfish

(above, Venus at her Mirror, East Pacific Rise by Lily Simonson, photo used with permission)

A couple weeks ago I had the opportunity to see a presentation by Lily Simonson and to talk with her afterward. Lily is a wonderfully talented artist who has embarked on some spectacular adventures during which she has immersed herself in the marine realm. From these experiences she has re-created fantastic yet realistic portrayals of marine creatures and their environments.

In her seminar she conveyed a sense of appreciation and wonder for all that nature has to offer. She pondered the curiousness of moths as insects with mammalian-like fur…creatures that defy categorization and seem too bizarre to be real. She recounted her experiences on an oceanographic cruise with benthic ecologist Lisa Levin. Each day, as the scientists on the cruise sampled sedimentary invertebrates, Lily created an outdoor mural on the wall of a scientific van, painted from the sediment itself and featuring the creature in a dramatic yet ephemeral way. She showed us examples of paintings she created using a combination of traditional and glow-in-the dark pigments in order to re-create the eerie nature of bioluminescence within the inky ocean.

She inspired me not only with her art, but also with her passion for exploration. She captivated us with an example of one of her antecedents, Maria Sibylla Marian, a 17th century Dutch entomologist, naturalist, painter and explorer. Following in these footsteps, Lily continues to re-invent this tradition of the explorer/artist/naturalist. By embedding herself in scientific expeditions within extreme environments, Lily has been able to create new views of organisms that very few people have seen before. As scientists, we don’t always find new species or see new environments, but we do often get to make discoveries, and piece together bits of knowledge that are completely new. When you think about it, that is truly awesome.

So…yes, Lily Simonson is kind of a rock star, and she came back to our lab to talk with us for a few minutes. And what did I do first? In my excitement to connect with her as an artist, I showed her the paintings made by Falmouth High School Students to depict the research in our lab. The paintings really are beautiful and creative, and I think Lily did think they were really cool. Then I showed her the sketch notes I had done during her talk, including scribbles based on some of her paintings. That was kind of fun too…Lily pointed out that she is an artist depicting scientific subjects, and I was a scientist making art (she was being generous) based on her work. As Ph.D. student Hanny Rivera observed, “yeah, it’s all very meta.” We went on to have a fun and wide-ranging conversation, and my lab members and I really enjoyed it.

…but I was thinking about it later. She’s this wonderful artist who has given time to meet with us, and the first thing I do I show her my scribbles and some (wonderful) paintings in my lab. It would be like if I went to visit her studio and she said “oh great, you’re a marine biologist, let me show you my goldfish!” That would be weird, right? I thought about it. Maybe it was a little weird, but it was also earnestly well-intended. I don’t mind a little nerdy enthusiasm, and I’m guessing Lily doesn’t either (after all she has chosen to surround herself with scientists time and time again). So yes, I would love to see that hypothetical goldfish.

p.s. If you live in the Boston area and want to see Lily’s work, you are in luck! She has an exhibit at the Harvard Museum of Natural History until June 30 2019.