Not the world’s most succinctly named art collection, then knit an anatomically correct brain. (If you the Museum of Scientifically Accurate Fabric didn’t know that the brain was just that, you’d want Brain Art does, however, fill a unique gap in the art to wear it.) As the museum gained attention in world. The online museum exhibits textile artwork the blogosphere, Harbaugh started receiving sub-inspired by neuroscience research, dissection, and missions (some of which, to put it politely, were neuro-economics. anatomically correct but had nothing to do with
Featuring fabric renderings of PET and MRI scans, brains). He did decide to include artist Patricia or three-dimensional models of the brain itself, the Jauch’s shadowy explorations of single neuron works pinpoint the accidental beauty of scientific recordings, which are astonishingly stark and lovely. imagery. With crafts ranging from quilting to appli- The museum continues to grow in renown (it was qué, embroidery, beadwork, knitting, and crocheting, featured in Science magazine), but remains an the artists use fabric, yarn, metallic threads, wire, online entity for now. Norberg’s knitted brain can be zippers, and beads. One quilt even features magnetic seen at the Boston Museum of Science, and one of core memory (a precursor to modern computer chips). Taylor’s quilts is at the Lewis Center for Neurosci-
Founded by Marjorie Taylor and Karen Norberg, ence Imaging. The rest are on display at home and and curated by Bill Harbaugh (Taylor’s husband), in Harbaugh’s office. Still, “it’s been a lot of fun,” the museum is a bizarrely gorgeous collection of Harbaugh says. “You see where the hits are coming textile art. Taylor, a psychology professor and quilter, from, and they’re major neuroscience institutions.” started out by quilting images from neuroscientists —Arwen O’Reilly in her department. (Each square in Marjorie Taylor
#2 shows the brain during a different activity.) >> Brain Art Museum: neuroscienceart.com
Norberg, a physician doing research in economics,
References:
Archives