Artist in residence

The College now has an artistic dimension, thanks to the Leverhulme Trust Artist in Residence programme. Devon artist Pery Burge is working in the Thermofluids Lab in the Harrison Building during this academic year.

Pery uses inks, water and other fluids to explore natural processes; creating images of fluid flow and the patterning of light by photographing or filming the surface tension-driven flows of ink as it moves by itself on the water. The images are often time-rich, simultaneously showing forms at different stages of development. Pery hopes this aspect can show us something of the processes of nature, echoing those which generate cosmic phenomena or microscopic life forms and illustrating how transformation is a critical element.

Her art has been presented in a variety of venues, including scientific conferences and the New Scientist calendar. The objective of the residency is to give Pery access to large scale experimental equipment for her work, to experiment with new techniques for her art (such as using the 3D Visualisation Suite); but most significantly to promote interaction between her and academics and researchers working in the College. Read Pery's journal on her website for updates featuring lab-related activities. Pery's work was recently featured in an article in the Huffington Post.

Pery gave our first Inspiring Science lecture last November.

On Saturday 3 March 2012 Pery won first prize for the Institute of Physics South West Photography Competition. She was awarded the first prize of a Kindle at the IOP SW Branch Festival, held at @Bristol.

Pery said “Because I'm an artist working in the scientific domain, this prize from the IOP is particularly special for me.” She was enormously pleased with her prize, as it is a great way for her to catch up with reading, especially whilst on the move.

Pery’s entry below, called 'Sci-fi Garden growing', shows two stages in the development of soap film, separated by less than one second. It was created recently in the Fluids lab, Harrison Building, using equipment built especially for her by the Workshop. In the image, vortices have grown like plants through the oncoming flow, becoming rounded and sometimes bifurcating as each set of shapes from 'foreground' and 'background' modifies the other.

Many of Pery's works are available for sale - please contact her for more details.