The development of the microscope was a game-changer in the 1600s, opening a new world of cellular discovery to biologists who were no longer limited to what they could see with the naked eye.
But it would be a couple centuries before they could effortlessly share what they were seeing on their slides with others in their fields. In the years that advancements in microscopy outpaced those of photography, these scientists had to rely on their pencils.
Lauren Makinen, an environmental sciences senior, sketches the diatoms she observes under a microscope during the class Algae, Art and the Environment.
“Before photography came on the scene, drawings were really the only way you could translate microscopy,” said Dr. Trisha Spanbauer, an assistant professor in The University of Toledo’s Department of Environmental Sciences. “It’s one example of a very rich history around the interface of art and science.”
Spanbauer explores that interface in Algae, Art and the Environment, a course that blends traditional instruction on single-celled algae called diatoms with open-ended discussions on the interpretative and documentary value of art in science. It culminates with a hands-on project that incorporates elements of both, challenging students to use microscopes to analyze diatom samples and then to use art to creatively interpret them.
Ashton Allen, an environmental sciences senior set to graduate in December, is working with his partner to create an algae-inspired deck of euchre cards.
“All the suits are going to be different diatoms,” he said.
Spanbauer is uniquely suited to teach Algae, Art and the Environment: She holds a bachelor’s degree in visual art and art history and worked in arts institutions for several years before she headed back to the classroom in pursuit of a doctorate and a career in academic research.
She specializes in aquatic ecology and paleolimnology.
Algae, Art and the Environment was inspired by a conversation with her students during a more traditional environmental sciences course on phycology, or the study of algae, in 2020. She noticed that she piqued their curiosity with some remarks on the history of algae and art — a particularly rich one, as she notes, populated with scientific illustrators like Adolf Schmidt, Ernst Haeckel and Charles Reimer.
When she organized a voluntary lesson in watercolors before a class, in which students could try their hand at illustrating diatoms, she was surprised by the response.
“Every single student showed up,” she said.
Algae, Art and the Environment is now offered every other year as an upper-level laboratory course open to students of all academic disciplines.
It makes for an intriguing elective for students like Allen, whose interest in microscopic aquatic ecology also fuels his work under Dr. Thomas Bridgeman, an expert in harmful algal blooms and director of the UToledo Lake Erie Center.
Allen brings a hobbyist’s interest to the art side of the course.
“It’s been really interesting so far,” he said, speaking during a recent class as he and a dozen or so classmates studied diatom samples under their microscopes. “I didn’t realize how much of an artist a scientist used to have to be.”
Lauren Makinen is another environmental sciences senior enrolled in the course.
She took a lot of high school art courses before shifting her focus toward the sciences at UToledo, she said. So when she learned about the opportunity to combine her two interests, she was quick to enroll in Algae, Art and the Environment.
“This is a lot different from other courses that I’ve taken in the Department of Environmental Sciences,” she said. “It’s a really good blend of science and art.”
Makinen is leaning toward watercolors for her final project.
“Have you ever seen watercolor paintings of leaves, where the color gets darker toward the veins?” she said. “I want to do something similar but with diatoms.”
