hi and thanks for visiting the see by love. I’ll be taking a brief hiatus while I deal with a family emergency. I’ll be back in about two weeks and until then there will be no posts.
God made dirt and dirt don’t hurt, but humans definitely messed it up
I’m unsure where to begin with the updates/recaps, because all of the projects are really quite different and unique. However, I’d decided to start with the earliest project and that really lead to the birth of another. With many thanks (and a ton of guidance from) to an older and wiser student, I was applied for a SERP position at Wellesley towards the end of first year. SERP, early sophomore research program, is designed to get sophomores involved with research during the academic year. I highly recommend getting involved in research if you are interested (feel free to email me if you’re unsure how to go about it). Anyways the lab I applied to focuses on in short geohealth (mainly with respect to lead). Geohealth is a little difficult to explain because of its fluidity and expanse but it’s a field that pairs geosciences (earth sciences) and public health. It’s very applied, which I love. I also love my lab (which is why I’ve stayed here since joining) and my members, they’re all fantastic humans
I started out analyzing lead in compost, which consisted of sifting compost to separate the soil by grain size and then making cups or burritos. (side note: I didn’t know lead in compost was an issue before joining// this would be the first of many learning experiences in the lab) We’re interested in these finer particles because of their effect on human (especially kids) health. These finer particles are easier/more likely to be inhaled (and absorbed) by people when they’re outside playing and the ground is dry. If you’re unaware about why this is dangerous, lead is extremely toxic to people; it causes neurological and developmental issues in children and adults. If you’re also wondering where all this lead came from/how it ended up in the environment, there were/are multiple sources beyond the obvious lead paint and leaded batteries (which please properly recycles bad boys//do not throw them out with your regular trash, in some states like Texas that is illegal). Another major factor was leaded gasoline. The gas you put in your used to be leaded to prevent engine knocking, I believe, and for other mechanically reasons. After people realized how terrible and detrimental lead was, it was removed from gas, hence why gas at the gas station is label unleaded. However, all that lead doesn’t just go away once we stop using it. It sticks around, and it loves to stick to many things.
Anyways, after sifting the compost (and there were few steps before we are able to begin sifting process) we made cups or burritos depending on the analysis method we were using. The analysis depended on what we were looking for in the compost, because we mostly analyzed lead levels in compost sometimes, we were after other information on different elements. Cups were made for mainly for lead analysis and the burritos (which are tiny miniscule aluminum cylinders of compost/soil) were used for very specific elements (Carbon Hydrogen Sulfur Nitrogen). Sometimes the results were worrisome and frightening, because often times the compost or soils we are analyzing readily available to everyday people. Sometimes it was compost or soil from people’s homes other times it was compost that was available for purchase for consumers. It’s a serious cause for alarm when think about people using them around children or in-home gardens.
Side note: I actually posted this right before leaving for a 3 week codesign project in Colombia, I probably won’t see any comments or respond rather quickly
Oliver Lee Jackson Recent Works (National Gallery of Art//DC)
I stumbled upon this exhibition. If you follow me on Instagram, you would think I’m this super artsy person and while I have developed an appreciation for art and what it reveals. I wasn’t always into art. I just didn’t think about it much growing up because I was more focused on science and literature but then I noticed the beauty and history in art and design. I also think my love of fashion and food helped further develop my interests in other arts. When I first visited DC in 8th grade I immediately fell in love. DC will always be one of my favorite places, I love the people, food, and the museums. I absolutely adore museums, they’re some of my favorite places to visit and just be. So, the fact that DC has tons of museums and exhibitions that are constantly changing is overwhelming in the best possible way. This feeling is the main reason why I decided to visit DC for a weekend earlier this summer (and every hotel in Maine was booked). I planned to visit three museums: Women in the Arts, Museum of the Palestinian People, and the Hirshhorn, but I ended up visiting a fourth museum the National Gallery of Art. I had never visited the National Gallery of Art before but after seeing some adverts for the Oliver Lee Jackson exhibition on the metro I had to see the paintings in person.
A little background on Oliver Lee Jackson, who’s also one of my top painters of all time, is a multifaceted artist (he’s a painter, sculptor, printmaker, and draftsman). He’s 84 and was born in St. Louis, Missouri. Although currently based in Oakland, CA he started his career through artistic community engagement such as creating an arts program at Pruitt & Igoe (a housing complex in St. Louis) in the 1960s. He also became involved with BAG (the Black Artists Group) as a consultant and collaborator on multimedia presentations for the African American community. He’s been an Artist in Residence and Visiting Artist at numerous institutions like Wake Forest, UC Santa Barbara, Aix-en-Provence, Harvard, and Flint Hill School, to name a few; and his works are in the permanent collections of The National Gallery of Art, MoMA, The Met, LACMA, and the Detroit Institute of the Arts in addition to numerous other public and private collection. You can read more about him here on his website, and you can check out some of my favorite works from his current exhibition which is on view at the National Gallery of Art in DC until Sept 15, 2019, below.
