Science Art and Ceramics by B. Duygu Özpolat

Infesting the cabinets with worms, bugs, and all things squirming, this show dares us to get curious and find beauty in what repels, and to love nature not despite its strangeness, but because of it.

Read an interview with Duygu about her artwork here.

A4 – Candy-striped leafhopper swarm (11 bugs, slip-cast ceramics)

Meet the candy-striped leaf hopper. On the top right is the original ceramics piece I made, but I ultimately wanted to have a swarm of these hoppers, as you see in this exhibition. The slip-cast swarm present many colors, while the real animal (photographed in the middle right) does not really live in swarms and it typically comes in the colors seen in the photograph. These little hoppers are actually quite widespread in North America, you do not need to go to an exotic place to find them. They are quite small, so they often go unnoticed but on a warm summer day, you may spot them in your backyard.

A6 – Parapodia garden (multiple pieces, slip-cast ceramics)

These pieces are inspired by our favorite worm’s little legs (scientists call them parapodia). The white circle in the photo on the top right highlights one of these little legs. Worms use these legs for many purposes, such as locomotion, sensing their environment, and building a tube to live in.

B5  – Cone snail hunting a polychaete worm (handbuilt ceramics, plastic and wire)

Cone snails are extremely venomous animals, and they hunt their prey in very clever ways. This piece represents a snail hunting a worm and this scene is inspired by a research study my lab participated in: Our collaborators isolated substances from the cone snails, and predicted that these substances were similar to mating signals our worms release, to attract each other. Indeed, when we tested these on our worms, they behaved like as if there is a mate nearby. We think that in the wild, the “clever” snail mimics the worm mating signals, fooling the worms to think there is another worm nearby. When the worm gets closer, the snail shoots its harpoon and catches the worm! Oh yes, they have a harpoon too.

Ologies podcast has interviewed my collaborators in this episode. Give it a listen!

B7 – Peacock spider (handbuilt ceramics)

One of the cutest, most colorful, dorkiest, silliest, AND smallest of spiders! Peacock spiders are a type of jumping spiders, and they are almost exclusively found in Australia. Their tiny bodies can be mostly around 4–5 mm (0.2 in) in length. They have sexual dimorphism, meaning males and females look different from each other, with the males being colorful and having the dance moves. If you haven’t seen a peacock spider dance before, you MUST watch this video.

B9 – Black membracid (handbuilt ceramics)

Membracids, commonly known as treehoppers, are the tiny architectural wonders of the insect world, famous for the bizarre and elaborate "helmets" they wear on their backs. Beyond their looks, these insects act like miniature vampires of the plant world, using needle-like mouths to drink sap while communicating with each other through vibrations sent directly through the stems of plants. I cannot recommend enough making a search online and checking out all the other wild shapes these insects evolved. Here is a video of this ceramics piece.

B10 – Phyllodocid worm (handbuilt ceramics, gold luster)

This little dragon is actually a segmented worm (annelid), and it is one of my favorite worms (but I must admit, I have like 1000 favorite worms and counting).

B11 – Blue weevil (handbuilt ceramics, wire, polymer clay)

Blue weevil beetle, Eupholus bennetti. Almost entirely made of clay except I had to add the antennae after the body was made. The antennae are made of wire and polymer clay painted with acrylic.

B12 – Blue membracid (handbuilt ceramics)

Another membracid! Perhaps you can tell from this one’s face, membracids are close relatives of cicadas, but if cicadas had drag queen cousins, or the Burning Man going friends, that would be membracids I suppose. The piece you see in the curiosity cabinet is a new version of this one above. Unlike this original piece, the piece on display is slip cast. It has been a fun and technical challenge to figure out how to slip cast these elaborate pieces. (Thank you Mary Rhein!)

B13 – Nereidid worm (handbuilt ceramics)

In Greek mythology, Nereids were the 50 daughters of Nereus, the old man of the sea. They symbolized the beauty and kindness of the seas and were often referred to as goddesses of sea or sandy beaches. Some millennia later, another group of sisters would be named after Nereids by scientists: the family of Annelids known as the Nereididae. Among the ranks of Nereididae, Platynereis dumerilii (first described by Audouin & Milne Edwards) is the most famous species of the genus Platynereis. While the worm Platynereis dumerilii and its sisters may not be widely appreciated for their beauty as the original Nereids, these impressive worms quickly become the beloved lab companions of those who study them. Unlike the daughters of Nereus who lived in the Aegean Sea, today’s Nereids are all over the world, including many research labs like my lab at WashU. (This text, originally also penned by Duygu, was adapted from this article)

MANY THANKS TO:

My husband, partner in crime, and insect nerd Ryan Null

My lab members, past and present

All photographers who go find and documents these amazing creatures

Intersect Arts Center and staff (Kasper, Megan, Seth, my pottery studio community)

My teachers and guides in the art world: Betsy Johnson, Sarah Caruso, Mary Rhein, and my mom Nursel Arlı

NIH, NSF, WashU, and MBL for funding my research