Dandelion Seeds
Dee Breger has spent her career specializing in photomicrography from the scanning electron microscope, and she uses her prize-winning images to bring the cloistered realms of science and technology accessible to the general public. Besides publishing three books and currently working on several more, her work has been featured by the New York Times Magazine, a BBC documentary, and numerous other media. Breger's images have been shown in various international museums such as the Victoria & Albert in London and Liberty Science Center in Jersey City, as well as in traveling exhibitions, corporations, and private collections.
Her breathtaking images weave through a fascinating world inhabited by minimonsters, invisible seashells, and much much more. Intimate views of the astonishing beauty of a tarantula's fur, pollen or white blood cells caught in the act of doing their thing, or the tiniest minerals representing cosmic impacts on Earth stretch our awareness of scale, time, and place. The microscopic journey reveals familiar objects in a new way, while more exotic images from research samples show how tree rings can be read like a book, or what the tiniest plants and animals at the bottom of the food chain can tell us about climate change.
Artist's statement:
Scanning electron imagery is currently the only way we can see ultramicroscopic objects as they really exist. In using this unique technology to create revelatory art, my goal is to create an arresting picture of the microworld that inspires a sense of wonder at its elegance, astonishment at its diversity, and delight in the stories it has to tell. I feel that my images must not only stir the imagination with visual punch and educational content, but also represent the highest achievements in technical operation of the microscope and subsequent digital enhancement of the original micrographs. As a scientist I strive to maintain the integrity - the truth - of the specimens. As an artist I want my images to be dramatic and beautiful, and to speak to the viewer's heart.
Dee Breger
Director of Microscopy
Department of Materials Science
Drexel University
Philadelphia, PA
www.ldeo.columbia.edu/micro
www.lsc.org/antarctica/front.html
"Journeys in Microspace" (Columbia Univ. Press, 1995)
The Remarkable Microworld
Velcro
Cosmic Impact