An artist's view inside a laboratory

By Jane Elliott
BBC News health reporter

What does this picture look like to you?

Glass slides with histological dyes

A stained glass window, a modern artist's impression of a clock face, or perhaps a 'Lazy Susan' offering dishes of colourful food at a dinner party?

In fact it's none of these. What you are looking at are glass slides and histological dyes in Petri dishes.

This is just one of a number of images aimed at relating the experiences non-scientist Pauline Pratt had spending time in a laboratory.

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Over a ten-month period, Pauline was able to spend her days working in close proximity to the scientists she was studying.

They taught her how to use sophisticated microscopes, how to grow cell cultures and how to track the special dyes used to spot cancer cells.

I can't understand the complex science, but I can understand their interest and enthusiasm Pauline Pratt In Pictures: Inside the lab

In exchange, they watched her paint and video in their laboratory and got a glimpse into how their work is perceived.

Pauline has now produced an exhibition based on her residency at the University of Southampton's School of Medicine.

Clinical scientist Dr Anton Page said he hoped the finished product would present science in a more user-friendly way.

"It will get science to a wider audience and it is important that we connect and that the public is involved.

"People are paying their taxes to fund us and if they can get an idea of what we are doing then so much the better."

He said watching art being created had been fascinating.

"It was interesting to see how she, as an outsider, shows how we do research work and how she observed us."

He said the unit hoped to house at least one of Pauline's pictures when she finished exhibiting the work and added that there could be even more collaborations in the future, with her and other artists.

'Positive feedback'

Pauline said she felt the residency had benefited both herself and the science team.

"I am very pleased with what we achieved. I felt we supported each other and developed into colleagues.

"I have certainly learnt a lot and it has been fantastic.

"Originally one of the ideas was that I would work in a studio at the university, but there was so much exciting stuff in the lab that I used the material available there.

"I felt by using the materials available to me in the unit that I had an idea of how the scientific community was working.

"I can't understand the complex science, but I can understand their overall interest and enthusiasm."

She said that, as well as appealing to a lay audience, the exhibition was getting positive feedback from other scientists.

"One scientist who was looking at the images was able to tell me exactly what he was looking at."

New environments

The residency was funded by a grant from the Leverhulme Trust, which aims to bring artists into research or study environments where creative arts are not part of the normal activities.

Colin Blakemore, chief executive of the Medical Research Council, said artists could help to enhance science understanding.

"Bringing science and art together can help each side of this cultural divide to understand the other.

"The Medical Research Council has been pleased to work with artists - including scientists-turned-artists - to build bridges between the two sides of creativity, and to use the immediate engagement of art to bring new perspectives about science to the public.

"I shall never forget joining enthusiastic pupils in Ba Yi High School in Beijing, China last year, who were taking part in an MRC arts-science workshop run by artist Judith Devons.

"The response to our art-science projects has been overwhelmingly positive, especially among young people.

"Some have said the way they look at science has been altered permanently. And researchers have found new ways of communicating their findings to the public."

The exhibition, which has been at the Winchester Gallery, will be at the New Greenham Arts, Newbury, in June.