College Hour with artist Josie Iselin: An Ocean Garden

American River College had a wonderful College Hour talk by artist Josie Iselin, who beautifully blends art and science in her work. Josie presented her latest collection, An Ocean Garden, which highlights the delicate elegance of seaweed.

September 12, 2013 - College Hour | Raef Hall 160

An Ocean Garden: Science in Art

Josie Iselin is the photographer, author and designer of seven books, with new projects in development in her San Francisco studio, Loving Blind Productions. Her books focus on those forms in nature we find at hand and in particular, at the beach. Her mission is to produce enticing, original and well-designed books that combine art and science, leaving the reader with new information about, and an appreciation for, the world around them.

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Background

 

In 2012 Rick Topinka (Biology, ARC) and Josie both attended Jepson Herbarium workshop Seaweeds of Central California, and Rick gave a Biology department talk last year about his experience at the four-day workshop.

Wild about seaweed! @RickTopinka talk summary (via tweets) on #storify http://t.co/1pzXZpsU
— Ken Kubo (@kmkubo) September 29, 2012

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Artist Josie Iselin's talk

At the College Hour talk Rick introduced Josie. 

An Ocean Garden w/ Josie Iselin - @RickTopinka introduces College Hour talk #AmericanRiverCollege pic.twitter.com/GKlxO5HJp0
— Ken Kubo (@kmkubo) September 12, 2013

Josie was trained in photography, with a BA in Visual and Environmental Studies from Harvard and an MFA from San Francisco State University. Her current artistic work uses a flatbed scanner and computer to create her imagery.

Josie Iselin experiments with using a scanner as a camera | College Hour talk #AmericanRiverCollege pic.twitter.com/x5AgmvoBet
— Ken Kubo (@kmkubo) September 12, 2013

Josie Iselin, trained as a photographer, makes exquisite use of a scanner for her #art - ARC College Hour pic.twitter.com/JJSgxf3uc2
— Ken Kubo (@kmkubo) September 12, 2013

Josie gave us a behind-the-scenes look at her artist studio. 

Her work table...

And her flatbed scanner and computer...

Josie showed us some of her captivating seaweed images from her upcoming book An Ocean Garden.

Bonnemaisonia californica

Smithora naiadum & Gregia menziesii

Ulva lobata

Nereocystis luetkeana

You can view more of her portfolio at josieiselin.com.

Josie Iselin, today's College Hour speaker at #AmericanRiverCollege: her web portfolio http://t.co/3vp1sNYebT
— Ken Kubo (@kmkubo) September 12, 2013

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Rick Topinka and Josie Iselin

Josie does a book signing for College Hour!

Her forthcoming book An Ocean Garden will be ready in February/March 2014.


Update: The ARC Current (the college newspaper) published an article on Josie Iselin's talk