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

Feature in the news @UofSC and new drawings

Read the full article @ Art Shines light on 19th century neuroscientist.

I was really excited and flattered when Dan Cook took a keen interest in my drawings included in the The Arte Corporis: Exploring the Anatomical Body exhibition. Featured in the show were fourteen of my drawings I have made during the last year through the direct study of Santiago Ramón y Cajal's scientific drawings.  Each drawing was made on site at the John Porter Neuroscience Research Center, National Institute of Health, Bethesda, MD.  My studies of Cajal's work at the NIH are constructed through the use of pens and marker - thus no erasing.  

Images from the exhibition were posted on this blog in March @ The Arte Corpis.  

 Dawn Hunter, Study of Cajal's Pyramidal cell scientific drawing, Berkeley Art Museum, graphite on paper, 11" x 14"

I had the opportunity to draw another set of Cajal's drawings at the Berkeley Art Museum earlier this month. This time, because of museum restrictions, I drew his work in graphite. As always, when I study his drawings, I draw the whole situation of each drawing.  Shadows cast from the drawings are included as are the boundaries created by the matts.  I do this because his drawings were constructed with unconventional formats.  Not only does this approach make spending long hours researching and drawing his works more creatively interesting but more importantly, it serves to emphasize the content and context of his research.   A sample of the works I drew are featured in the above work and below:

Dawn Hunter, Study of Cajal's Olfactory cortex scientific drawing, Berkeley Art Museum, 11" x 14"

Dawn Hunter, Study of Cajal's Microglia in the grey, scientific drawing, Berkeley Art Museum, graphite on paper, 11" x14"

Sketchbook Biography

I have had an opportunity to draw just about everywhere, everyday.  Below is a sampling of drawings from travels and at home during the spring and summer of 2016.

Dawn Hunter, Utah, marker and pen on paper, 11" x 14"

Dawn Hunter, Berkeley Marina, marker and pen on paper, 11" x 14"

Dawn Hunter, Riverbanks Zoo, marker and pen on paper, 11" x 14"

Dawn Hunter, Columbiana, marker and pen on paper, 11" x 14"

Dawn Hunter, Babette Cafe, marker and pen on paper, 11" x 14"

Dawn Hunter, Sea Lions, marker and pen on paper, 11" x 14"

Dawn Hunter, NIH Building #10 Atrium, marker and pen on paper, 11" x 14"

Dawn Hunter, NIH, view from John Porter, marker and pen on paper, 11" x 14"

Dawn Hunter, Berkeley Marina, marker and pen on paper, 11" x 14"

Dawn Hunter, Lake Murray, marker and pen on paper, 11" x 14"

Dawn Hunter, Kitchen Window featuring the Boov, marker and pen on paper, 11" x 14"

Dawn Hunter, Bedroom Window with Sleeping Cat, marker and pen on paper, 11" x 14" 

Dawn Hunter, Aquarium, marker and pen on paper, 11" x 14"

Dawn Hunter, Botanical Gardens, marker and pen on paper, 11" x 14"

Dawn Hunter, Gazebo, marker and pen on paper, 11" x 14"

Dawn Hunter, Summer Highlights, marker and pen on paper, 11" x 14"

Dawn Hunter, Botanical Gardens, marker and pen on paper, 11" x 14"

Dawn Hunter, Backyard, marker and pen on paper, 11" x 14"

Dawn Hunter, Casa Latina, marker and pen on paper, 11" x 14"

Dawn Hunter, Berkeley Marina, marker and pen on paper

Dawn Hunter, Backyard_2, marker and pen on paper, 11" x 14"

Dawn Hunter, Botanical Gardens, marker and pen on paper, 11" x 14"

Dawn Hunter, Aquarium, marker and pen on paper, 11" x 14"

"The dawn laughs out on orient hills 
And dances with the diamond rills; 
The ambrosial wind but faintly stirs 
The silken, beaded gossamers; 
In the wide valleys, lone and fair, 
Lyrics are piped from limpid air, 
And, far above, the pine trees free 
Voice ancient lore of sky and sea. 
Come, let us fill our hearts straightway 
With hope and courage of the day." 

-excerpt from A Summer Day by Lucy Maud Montgomery

Every birthday should be a blast...

...and today it is a blast from the past.  In celebration of Santiago Ramón y Cajal's birthday I decided to feature one of my oversized drawings from my graduate studies at UCDavis:  Butterflies in Her Stomach.  For Cajal, the father of Modern Neuroscience, the intricate components of neurons and nervous tissues were  “the mysterious butterflies of the soul… whose beating of wings may one day reveal to us the secrets of the mind.”  The full quote is featured below.

Like the entomologist in search of colorful butterflies, my attention has chased in the gardens of the grey matter cells with delicate and elegant shapes, the mysterious butterflies of the soul, whose beating of wings may one day reveal to us the secrets of the mind.

- Santiago Ramón y Cajal 

Dawn Hunter, Butterflies in Her Stomach, charcoal and conte on paper, 120" x 150"

Dawn Hunter, detail, Butterflies in Her Stomach

Dawn Hunter in front of artwork in her studio, UCDavis, 1992

"Springing" into Action

Despite being punny and funny, it should be said that springtime is always my most productive studio time. This past April's studio time has once again demonstrated my creative pattern.  Below is a sampling of some works completed and some works in progress.

The brain is a world consisting of a number of unexplored continents & great stretches 

of unknown territory.  - Santiago Ramón y Cajal 

Dawn Hunter, study for Cajal inventory, marker and pen on paper, 11" x 14"

Dawn Hunter, studio shot featuring Cajal Inventory in progress as well as other works, April 2016 

Dawn Hunter, Resting Butterflies study for Cajal Inventory, acrylic on paper

Dawn Hunter, Cerebellum study for Cajal Inventory, acrylic and marker on paper

Dawn Hunter, Fons Via Retiro Gardens study for Cajal Inventory, marker and pen on paper

Dawn Hunter, large painting based on sketchbook page, acrylic on canvas

Dawn Hunter, detail of large painting based on sketchbook page

Dawn Hunter, detail of large painting based on sketchbook page

Dawn Hunter, sketchbook page for large painting, marker, acrylic and ink on paper

To learn more about my handmade sketchbook book, please visit this previous Blog posts: 

• Picking up where the previous pages left off
• Handmade Sketchbook work about Santiago Ramón y Cajal Continues

 And Spring arose on the garden fair,

Like the Spirit of Love felt everywhere;
And each flower and herb on Earth's dark breast
rose from the dreams of its wintry rest.

- Percy Bysshe Shelley from The Sensitive Plant 

Domestic Bliss, Immediate Observations

Here are a few of my daily sketchbook drawings from the last month.  Spring is in the air and the season has obviously influenced my use of color and subjects selected.

Dawn Hunter, Kitchen Window featuring the Boov, marker and pen on paper, 11" x 14"

Dawn Hunter, Barbie Tots for Darcy, marker and crayon on paper, 8.5" x 11"

Dawn Hunter, Bedroom Window and Sleeping Cat, marker and pen on paper, 11" 14"

April Poem

In April fleecy clouds float by

Like cotton candy in the sky

April is tip-toeing into the land

Touching each leaf with her delicate hand.

~ Author Unknown ~

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.