Mary Courtney is joining the Chemistry Department as an artist in residence for the next 10 months, funded by a grant from the Leverhulme Trust.

Her project is called "Verse Reaction", and here is an outline of what she'll be doing:

“Verse Reaction”

We will reveal the aesthetics of Chemistry - minds, machines, laboratories, imaging and data, by creating and curating Chemistry images that are beguiling or beautiful. These rarely seen images, shared by staff and students, will be combined with poetic reactions and the voices and sounds of Chemistry, to form a unique and unusual body of work of cohabiting worlds – “VERSE REACTION”.

A second element will be drawing on the nanoscale using high resolution probe microscopes - and offering opportunities to chemists to express a different side to their creativity. The Residency will culminate in an audio-visual digital exhibition on the large public screen in the heart of the campus. More widely, the archive generated will take the wonder of Chemistry to the outside, as well as bringing an alternative perspective of art into Warwick Chemistry.”

Mary will be based in Electrochemistry, and we hope that staff and students will share images, movies and data, and interact with her so that she can showcase our work with a new perspective!

The image above is from one of her first visits to our labs, entitled "Resting legs and the fish bubbles".

To find out more, you can chat to Mary (she will be here typically a couple of times a week) and check out her website:

www.marycourtneypoetry.co.uk