{"id":5309,"date":"2017-09-28T15:15:36","date_gmt":"2017-09-28T19:15:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/artthescience.com\/magazine\/?p=5309"},"modified":"2021-11-22T08:39:00","modified_gmt":"2021-11-22T13:39:00","slug":"creators-jennifer-willet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artthescience.com\/magazine\/2017\/09\/28\/creators-jennifer-willet\/","title":{"rendered":"CREATORS – Jennifer Willet"},"content":{"rendered":"

Name:\u00a0<\/strong>Jennifer Willet<\/a><\/p>\n

Which came first in your life, the science or the art?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Art. I always knew as a child I wanted to be a professional artist. My grandfather was an artist. \u00a0I completed my BFA at the University of Calgary (U of C) in 1997, and my MFA at the University of Guelph in 1999. \u00a0During my undergraduate degree I worked primarily in traditional media, but explored topics surrounding science, technology, medicine, subjectivity, and the human body. \u00a0While I was a student, I had the opportunity to draw anatomical studies of human cadavers at the School of Medicine at U of C. \u00a0This was my first opportunity to work in a scientific space as an artist\/interloper. \u00a0It was an exciting and challenging experience for me. \u00a0I loved the tools, the strange architectural spaces, the community standards at play in the anatomy lab between the doctors – the staff – the medical students – and the human remains. \u00a0I loved the feeling of transgression, of seeing what is not meant to be seen. \u00a0I had a great deal of empathy for the individuals who donated their bodies to medical education, and often found it difficult to be surrounded with so much death, especially as my family was suffering the loss of a loved one during that time. \u00a0I only visited a few times, but I still admire the drawings I produced during my visits. \u00a0Many years later, I worked in the same anatomy lab as an AV technician. \u00a0I think these experiences sparked my desire to work in other highly specialized institutional scientific laboratories as an artist, cultural critic, and observer.<\/p>\n