2021 Highlights Review: Brooklyn, Cajal, Las Vegas, Simulacra, and New Websites - oh my!

Dawn Hunter, nine square reflection of 2021 featuring my portraits of Cajal and recreations of his scientific illustrations. All images are marker, pen and ink on paper that I created about Cajal through researching his scientific drawings on display at the National Institutes of Health, and other primary sources as a Fulbright Scholar at the Instituto Cajal.

Brooklyn Botanical Gardens

I focused time and creative energy on self-care this past calendar year. During the summer, I drove from South Carolina to Brooklyn, New York to immerse myself in the city and the natural beauty of the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens and draw. This past summer, other terrific events were happening in New York, like the Cézanne exhibition at MoMA. Taking in different cultural events was enriching, but I found my time drawing at the BBG to be the most spiritually, emotionally and creatively replenishing.

Brooklyn Botanic Garden, marker and pen on paper, 11" x 14"

Japanese Garden, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, marker and 

pen on paper, 11" x 14"

Me, sweltering in the heat, but loving it, while drawing 

at the BBG.  June 2021.

2021 and Aesthetic Instincts: The Intersection of Art and Science

I have continued my artistic journey with Santiago Ramón y Cajal.  Despite the challenges of the pandemic, 2021 has been an extremely productive year.  I have continued an active engagement in my artistic series about Cajal.  To that end, new opportunities include:  selections from that series were featured in the international publication UpperCase (featured July 28 on this blog in the ¡Muchas gracias! post), I had a solo exhibition of the entire series in Las Vegas, and works from the series were chosen as featured artwork in the 75th Anniversary Exhibition for the Fulbright Foundation (held online). 

I presented a lecture about Santiago Ramón y Cajal to CSN students, faculty and the general public of the greater Las Vegas area on October 19, 2021. 

View of my exhibition at the College of Southern Nevada, Las Vegas

The evening of my lecture, October 19, 2021

75th Anniversary Fulbright online, juried and curated, Exhibition:

It was an honor to have my work selected and featured in the 75th Anniversary of the Fulbright Foundation.  The time I spent at the Instituto Cajal was priceless and life changing.  When I began this series, I never dreamed that I would have access to his original journals, sketchbooks, personal photographs, histology slides, scientific equipment and personal objects.  You can learn more about the Fulbright exhibition by clicking:  HERE.

Re-creation of pages from Cajal's first sketchbook from Valencia, marker and pen on paper, 11" x 14"

Drawing Cajal's death mask, Instituto Cajal, Madrid, Spain.

Re-creation of inside back cover of Cajal's first sketchbook from Valencia, Fulbright Espana, Instiuto Cajal, Madrid, Spain.

100th Anniversary of the Instituto Cajal!

Continuing opportunities include that in celebration of the 100 anniversary of the Instituto Cajal, my work has continued to be displayed at the Instituto Cajal.  My work also continues to be displayed alongside Cajal’s work at the National Institutes of Health.

I currently have 10 drawings from my Fulbright research on display at the Instituto Cajal in celebration of its 100th Anniversary.  Below are two of the drawings from that display.  

For more information:  Instituto Cajal, Av. Doctor Arce, 37 28002, Madrid tel: 91 585 47 50 fax: 91 585 47 54

Drawing of NIH researcher Benjamin White's talk, marker on paper, 11" x 14", 2017.

Cajal's hands, microscope, pyramidal neuron, and mini self-portrait from his sketchbook juxtaposed with his retirement statement and design details from his Nobel Prize - the photographic source imagery was originally black and white. Color has been added and the color of the Nobel Prize design details has been altered, marker and pen on paper, 11" x 14."

Select work on display at the John Porter Neuroscience Research Center:

Cajal exhibition case for scientific drawings.

My work on display alongside Cajal's scientific drawing.

My portrait of Cajal, Man as Sunflower, graphite, ink and acrylic on paper, 11" x 14"

Savannah and Simulacra

I was honored to have my artwork, Secluded Play selected for the Simulacra exhibition at the Sulfur studios in Savannah, Georgia.  The show consisted of many works of diverse media, materials and themes. My works Vegas Garden and Secluded Play were both select for inclusion in the show.

Vegas Garden, graphite, pen, ink and acrylic on paper.

Secluded Play, graphite, pen and ink on paper.

New Websites!

Lastly, as I wrap up 2021 I am overhauling my website.  Within the process I realize that I have created too much work thus far in my lifetime to be featured on one website. Trying to organize it for one place has proved difficult and overwhelming. 

During March of 2021, because my current Cajal series is so comprehensive, I consolidated all of my Cajal portfolios on my parent website: www.dawnhunterart.com. 

I felt unsure what to do with my other portfolios, like Spectacle Spectacular, Personified Doubles & Complementary Opposites, Blue Cerberus, etc. I concluded that a sister website was in order. Thus, www.dawnhuntergallery.com was born. To eliminate confusion, I have branded both sites the same, linking back to each other. 

In addition to the portfolios I mentioned, I am also featuring new projects, like my Darcy Inventory, an installation selected for ArtFields 2022. I have also uploaded on the website my entire teaching portfolio at UofSC and included a curation of twelve other portfolios of my personal artwork, highlighting my Spectacle Spectacular series, that can be viewed:  HERE. Please visit both sites to browse and enjoy!

As we ring in the New Year, let us be reminded of these words of wisdom from Cajal:

"Time and concentration allow the intellect to perceive a ray of light in the darkness of the most complex problem."

― Santiago Ramón y Cajal, Advice for a Young Investigator

Have a Happy New Year everyone!  I wish you all lots of love, friendship, good health and great success during 2022!  XOXO

Always, 

Dawn 

Dawn Hunter, December 2021

A Walk with Cajal among his Canopy of Trees

¡Feliz cumpleaños, Cajal!  (1 de mayo de 1852)  Hoy tomemos el tiempo para disfrutar de los placeres simples del sol, el aire fresco y los árboles. Y a todos, espero que tengan buena salud y seguridad durante este tiempo inusual.

Dawn Hunter, Cajal editing a student's thesis, La Residencia de Estudiantes, marker, pen and ink on paper, 11"x 14"

The writing below has been revised and updated to mirror the content of this topic on my website.  www.dawnhunterart.com:

For anyone who is a Cajalian, it is a personal journey. Cajal, this historical and monumental figure in neuroscience, can reach out and expose his humanity through his work, writings, and drawings in a simple, profound, and relatable manner. He accomplishes this by describing his painful childhood experiences, his self-deprecating humor regarding his ego, and the generosity he expressed to his students. When he is the most vulnerable is through his drawings. Despite the scientific intention – his beating heart, personal vulnerability, and passion of mind are communicated through his drawings' line quality. This ideographic expression is why so many of us recognize and perceive his drawings as art, and this quality is why his work continues to be discussed, emulated, and admired.

Cajal's first-person narrative in his biography, Recuerdos de mi Vida, makes one feel as though he is confiding exclusively in them over coffee at a cafe. He is transformed from the storyteller into the best friend of the favorite pupil. Through his written words from the encapsulated past, he springs alive into the present, becoming a privy partner in creative, intellectual, or objective quests. With humility and wisdom, like Siddhartha before him, he inspires the highest ideals of human capability in artistic expression and scientific research..

Some descendants of his disciples and family are fortunate individuals because they know him the best in many ways. Not as an ideal historical figure, but through those who were closest to Cajal. Their family and friends' real-life experiences interacting with him. Including stories that have been passed down through generations plus real "treasures," cherished, personal mementos from Cajal.

It was distressing when I arrived in Madrid at the Instituto Cajal, to conduct my Fulbright research, to learn the Cajal family home in Atocha was being remodeled into condominiums. Cajal had a direct hand in the house's design and final construction, thus the renovation felt like a great loss of historical significance. Seeking comfort, I conceived of a project which entailed retracing Cajal's afternoon walks in Retiro Park, Atocha, and at La Residencia de Estudiantes. On the weekends, with my daughter in tow, we would sit at the entrance of the Cajal home and draw the cityscape from that vantage point. My goal, to find sites and trees at places that were in existence when Cajal was alive and immerse myself. Through viewing the environments that are layered with the past intertwining with present as much as possible I sought to see through his perspective some of his day-to-day routine, thus creating my own momentos of Cajal.

― Dawn Hunter, March 2021

Dawn Hunter, Velazquez Paseo del Prado, pen, ink and acrylic on paper, 11" x 14"

Dawn Hunter, Monumento a Ramón y Cajal, Retiro, marker, pen and ink on paper, 11" x 14"

Dawn Hunter, Sunday Morning Meditation in Atocha, marker, pen and ink on paper, 11" x 14"

Dawn Hunter, Anthropology Museum, Atocha, marker, pen and ink on paper, 11" x 14"

Dawn Hunter, Retiro Park Evening Walk, pen, ink and acrylic on paper, 11" x 14"

Dawn Hunter, Retiro Park Evening Walk, II, pen, ink and acrylic on paper, 11" x 14"

Dawn Hunter, View from the Front door of the Cajal Home, Madrid, pen, ink and acrylic on paper, 11" x 14"

Dawn Hunter, Drawing of the trees across from the Cajal home in Madrid, marker and pen on paper, 11" x 14"

Dawn Hunter, Drawing of Retiro park near the Cajal home in Madrid, Spain, marker and pen on paper, 11" x 14"

Dawn Hunter, Re-creation of Cajal's school photo badge and a "selfie" he took after returning to Spain from a tour as a military doctor in Cuba.  The plant foliage was drawn from the observation of plants that are at the Instituto Cajal, Madrid, marker and pen on paper, 11" x 14

Dawn Hunter, Drawing of the Observatory across from the Cajal home in Madrid, marker and pen on paper, 11" x 14

Dawn Hunter, Paseo del Prado, pen, ink and acrylic on paper, 11" x 14"

Dawn Hunter, Cajal's hands, microscope, pyramidal neuron, and mini self-portrait from his sketchbook juxtaposed with his retirement statement and design details from his Nobel Prize - the photographic source imagery was originally black and white.  Color has been added and the color of the Nobel Prize design details has been altered, marker and pen on paper, 11" x 14"

Draw for a reason, draw for the love of drawing!

Below are posted the drawings from my visit during June to the National Institute of Health.  Rain or shine, for two days I was was gleefully and completely immersed in the activity of drawing.

Dawn Hunter, study of Ramón y Cajal's Calyx of Held scientific drawing, marker and pen on paper, 11" x 14"

Dawn Hunter, study of Ramón y Cajal's Growth Cone scientific drawing #2, marker and pen on paper, 11" x 14"

Dawn Hunter, study that juxtaposes Ramón y Cajal's Calyx of Held scientific drawing with the landscape, marker and pen on paper, 11" x 14"

Dawn Hunter, study of Ramón y Cajal's Growth Cone scientific drawing, marker and pen on paper, 11" x 14"

Dawn Hunter, study of Ramón y Cajal's Astrocytes drawing with Don Quixote, marker and pen on paper, 11" x 14"

Dawn Hunter, National of Institute of Health:  Atrium of Building number 10, marker and pen on paper, 11" x 14"

Dawn Hunter, National of Institute of Health:  view from the John Porter Neuroscience Center during the rain, marker and pen on paper, 11" x 14"

Intellectual work is an act of creation.  It is as if the mental image that is studied over a period of time were to sprout appendages like an ameba - outgrowths that extend in all directions while avoiding one obstacle after another - before interdigitating with related ideas.

- Santiago Ramón y Cajal

The Arte Corporis

"The Arte Corporis: Exploring the Anatomical Body exhibition will showcase anatomically and medically inspired contemporary art including drawing, painting, and ceramics. The artists in the exhibition employ their own connection to the study of medicine and anatomy through a wide range of applications and approaches."

I currently have fourteen drawings, that explore Santiago Ramón y Cajal's scientific drawings, on display in The Arte Corporis:  Exploring the Anatomical Body  exhibition in the McMaster Gallery housed in the School of Visual Art and Design at the University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC.  The drawings of mine on display are works that I created while at on-site visits at the NIH.  Scientific drawings by Ramón y Cajal are currently on display at the John Porter Neuroscience Research Center. To understand his scientific drawings and how they are put together, I have been making regular trips to the NIH so that I can draw the actual works.

Other artists in the exhibition include Melissa Gwyn, Lisa Temple Cox, and Mallory Wetherell.  This exhibition is held in conjunction with the symposium, organized by Dr. Andrew Graciano, Art, Anatomy and Medicine since 1700, hosted by the Columbia Museum of Art from March 31-April 1, 2016.  The closing reception for The Arte Corporis will be March 31, 2016 from 5:30-7:30PM.  The McMaster Gallery is located on the first floor of the School of Visual Art and Design, McMaster College @ 1615 Senate Street on the USC campus.  For more information about the exhibition contact McMaster Gallery Director, Shannon Rae Lindsey, email:  slindsey@email.sc.edu or by phone:  803-777-5752.  

Below are some photos of the show.

A visitor looks at Lisa Cox-Temple's work, right.  The display of my drawings are on the left.

The display of my drawings in the show.

A closer view of the display of my drawings in the show.

Detail, of one of my works from the show.

Melissa Gywn's work, left and two works by Mallory Wetherell, right.

A work by Mallory Wetherell.

A work by Lisa Temple-Cox.

Three works by Lisa Temple-Cox

Two works by Melissa Gwyn.