Original Article on UFV Announce – April 24, 2014
Davida Kidd (Visual Arts) and Debbie Wheeler (Biology) recently collaborated on a collograph project.
In Davida’s words:
“This Cyborg Print Media collograph project was one in which we were challenged to create an insect with a mechanical component. Additionally, a creative story was to take the place of the standard artist’s statement. As part of the research for this project, I met with Dr. Debbie Wheeler, an instructor in the Biology department, for the purpose of getting information and inspiration from the ‘bugs’ in the science lab.
“I took photos of the ones I was most interested in. The huge Malaysian Dead Leaf praying mantis (Deroplatys lobata) was the one that immediately grabbed my attention. It was huge, as well as having an interesting, almost beautiful sculptural form!
“To integrate this creature with something mechanical, I decided to play off the mantis’ own natural instincts — killing other bugs. In this case, those ‘bugs’ were computer viruses. This imaginary partly computerized mantis, which I named “Mike, the Mechanic,” was woven into a short story as a Private Investigator looking for a killer, in the manner of a Mickey Spillane story. The setting is within a CPU.
On critique day, “Mike the Mechanic” was just one of the many stories in the cyborg city.
Thanks to Dr. Debbie Wheeler for taking the time and effort to show me around the Entomology department. I presented her with one of the final prints from the edition which was a combination of traditional collograph with digital technology. The background behind the bug was sourced from the scan of a computer motherboard. Mike the Mechanic ( bug) hunts computer viruses!”