Kate Sheridan, a McGill doctoral student in biology, has been awarded the SciArt200 jury’s grand prize for their artwork Isopod field jacket, a crocheted item of clothing they contributed to the special art exhibit organized by the Faculty of Science in honour of the University’s bicentenary.
The judges selected a total of seven artworks for distinction, awarding prizes in the following categories:
Grand prize – $350
Kate Sheridan – Isopod field jacket (crocheted jacket)
Traditional media – two awards of $250
Nicole Ford – Field Lines (linocut with ink on paper)
Keisha Carter – Induce, Love, Rapture (Oxytocin) (acrylic)
Digital photography – two awards of $250
José Bustamante – Solidarity
Sarah Ford – Pileated Woodpecker
Digital modeling – one award of $250
Timothy Thomasson and Benjamin Keenan – Visualizing the ancient Maya and their environment
Honourable mention – one award of $150
Celeste Groux – A look at the universe (beadwork)
Art and science inform each other
Hand stitched from a blend of super fine alpaca and Peruvian wool, the prize-winning work took around 100 hours to complete, with Sheridan admitting that some portion of that time may have coincided with their participation in one or more Zoom meetings. Depicting a giant isopod – a crustacean the artist counts among their favourite sea creatures – the jacket not only impressed the SciArt200 judges, but also kept its creator warm and dry during long hours of field work investigating changes in marine communities.
“For me, art and science have always been inseparable. They inform and feed each other,” Sheridan says. “Last fall, I collected marine water samples off the coast of British Columbia, and I needed a warm wool jacket, but couldn’t find one that met my needs. So, I made one.”
SciArt200 judges Gwendolyn Owens (Director of McGill’s Visual Art Collection), David Covo (Associate Professor, McGill School of Architecture) and Gérald Cadet (McGill Bicentennial Director) said they “enjoyed the opportunity to participate in this very imaginative celebration of art” and expressed the hope that there may be future editions.
About SciArt200
To mark the University’s Bicentennial, the Faculty of Science called on artists from across the McGill community to submit works in any medium, expressing what science meant to them. Curated by McGill’s then Climate Change Artist in Residence, Milton Riaño, an interactive online exhibition of this stunningly diverse collection of 65 artworks opened to the public on December 13, 2021, and remains open for visitors to enjoy.