Life as Art: Kelly Burke and Kelly Cude at TEDxCollegeoftheCanyons

Kelly C. Burke is a Professor of Biology at College of the Canyons where she is the Lead Faculty for Microbiology. She has been interested in the microscopic world since first looking into a microscope in the third grade, and in photography since about the same time.

Professor Burke earned her B.S. in Biology with a concentration in Marine Science from the University of Tampa, and her M.S. in Microbiology from the University of South Florida, where her favorite course was Electron Microscopy. Originally from Colorado she lived in MD, FL, NJ, and FL again prior to moving back west to California. Professor Burke is an active member of the AAUW-Santa Clarita Valley branch and is passionate about science education.
-
Dr. Kelly Cude joined the College of the Canyons (COC) Biological Sciences Department in January 2007 and has taught a multitude of courses ranging from microbiology to molecular genetics and cancer biology. Dr. Cude grew up in a coastal community near Monterey Bay California where she attended community college before transferring to the University of California, Davis (B.S. Genetics, 1998) and the University of Washington, Seattle (Ph.D. Molecular & Cellular Biology, 2004).

Her scientific field of study (and personal passion!) is cancer biology. While Dr. Cude has worked in many areas of cancer biology, including Phase II Clinical Trials at the National Cancer Institute, gene sequencing and arrays, and signal transduction, one of her favorite ways to spend time is looking at cells through the microscope: specifically, observing the structural and genetic changes in cancer cells by fluorescence and confocal microscopy.

Following her PhD studies, Dr. Cude took a full time teaching position at Western Washington University, before transferring to COC in 2007. One of her goals as an instructor is to help her students to "change their perspectives" of the living world around them through the use of microscopes. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, gardening, and making stained glass art work.

In the Fall of 2013, along with her co-presenter Professor Kelly Burke, Dr. Cude exhibited a collection of micrographs at their collaborative art show 'Life as Art" in the COC Gallery. The exhibit is now on permanent display in the Biological Sciences Department at COC.
--
What is our perception of life? Of art? Few people ever consider the microscopic world that surrounds us, that is on us, that IS us. Over a 12 month period Professor's Kelly Cude and Kelly Burke took images of the microscopic world, chronicling what was found in water, in plants, in single celled protists, in human tissues, and more. Their purpose was to expose the audience, especially their students, to this invisible, yet astounding microscopic world. As scientists, it was important to accurately record life and its intrinsic beauty. But was this art? The encouragement, by collaborators COC Gallery Director Larry Hurst and Photographer/Printer Vernon Burke, to present images based on their artistic merit alone, began a transformation in Cude and Burke's own perceptions of life and art. "It sounds weird, but I am always trying to get my students to think small...as in smaller than the eye can see. I started this project thinking it might help transition my students' viewpoint of the living world from the macro to the micro scale," said Cude. "Unexpectedly, I found myself artistically inspired by the images, for example naming a micrograph Inferno (instead of epithelial elastin fibers @ 400X) because I could actually see the flames licking at the page." "I started this project hoping to introduce the audience to the microscopic world that I love so much," said Burke. "But in the end, to my surprise, it actually changed the way I view it and it also changed my appreciation of abstract representation in art. So the project turned itself around on me!"As they progressed through the project, their images changed to art for Cude and Burke, without the need for biological explanation. Now in hindsight they feel they accomplished something greater than what they thought it would be. The public response to the science and Life as Art, as their exhibit was named, was extremely gratifying and inspiring to them both and has made them reflect and question their own perceptions of the world around them.
--
In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)