Copyright 2000 by Edward Willett

Art and science are too often thought of as opposites, when in fact they are anything but.

What is science, after all, but an attempt to make sense of the world, to detect the order lurking in apparent chaos (and sometimes, the chaos lurking in apparent order)? And what is art, but exactly the same thing?

An interest in art and an interest and science certainly aren't contradictory. There are many scientists who are also composers, musicians, painters or writers. I love science--my other column is a science column, don't forget!--but I'm also a novelist and singer. I have a good friend, Kathy Tyers, who holds a degree in microbiology--and is also a classically trained flutist, plays Celtic harp, and writes science fiction novels.

Right here in Regina, there's a place where you can find art and science mingling together quite convivially. It's a place I know well, because I worked there for five years: the Saskatchewan Science Centre.

Art and science mingle from the moment you enter the Science Centre, and are confronted by the feature exhibit, a four-story cross-section of the universe, from the depths of the Earth to the depths of outer space. It's a multi-media work combining photographs and painted representations of the planets, all extended to infinity by mirrors, that wouldn't be out of place in a gallery--assuming you could find one big enough to display it. It's accompanied by a single quote, by Nobel-prize winning scientists Albert Szent-Gyorgii: "To see what everyone sees, and to think what no one has thought."

To your right, on the wall, is a blue-and-gray work that represents swirling galaxies in the unusual medium of quilted cloth. A quotation is embroidered around its edge: "Our thinking expands as it circles. It moves in spirals as galaxies wheel across the Universe."

Upstairs, on the main exhibit floor, you'll a large, cloud-girdled globe, painted by local artist Ward Schell; a huge metal sculpture of the twisted, double-stranded DNA molecule, built by Jim Phillips; a mural that shows how DNA works within our cells, painted by Jane Seawsell; and a colorful, playful depiction of Wascana Centre by Jim Donison, filled with balloons, bicycles, dancers, joggers, and Albert Einstein holding a globe--fun details that all tie in with the exhibits surrounding the display. Everywhere, you'll see photographs, drawings, paintings, cartoons. The Science Centre is packed with eye-catching imagery of all types.

The intense level of imagery is deliberate, says Barry Ellingson, a graphic designer at the Science Centre for the past 12 years. "We're not a prestigious gallery, we're a have-a-good-time kind of place," he says.

The Science Centre's images serve three goals, he says. Some are straightforward explanatory aids, to help illustrate a specific concept. Others are designed to be more evocative, to help people think beyond the immediate exhibit to other applications of its concept to the world around us. For instance, an exhibit on bone stress includes an image by one of the Group of Seven painters of trees bent by a powerful wind. No words accompany the artwork, but it's a vivid illustration of how all living things are subjected to similar stress.

Finally, some images exist just to provide visual stimulus, to make the Science Centre more interesting and appealing. Everywhere you look in the Science Centre, you should see something interesting--and you do. "Images capture people's interest more than just text," says Ellingson.

Over the years, the Science Centre has brought in many visiting exhibits that make an explicit connection between art and science. A visiting exhibit on memory, for instance, several years ago, was built around a collection of paintings by San Francisco artist Franco Magnani of the small Italian town of Pontito, where he grew up, but which he hadn't visited for years. A photographer visited the town and attempted to take photographs of the scenes depicted by Magnani, to explore the way his memories of the town had evolved over the years. Another visiting exhibit, Design Excellence, showcased the winners of an international design competition, featuring everything from gorgeous pepper-grinders to breathtaking musical instruments.

But even when no visiting exhibit is on display, the Saskatchewan Science Centre is a place where the boundaries of art and science melt away. Next time you visit, don't just push the buttons and pull the levers: take time to look at the images that are all around you.

Who knows? You, too, may just see what everyone has seen--but think what no one has thought.

Posted February 19, 2002