Julia Krolik
Founder | President | Director of Creative/Research
Alex Pedersen
Co-founder | Vice President | Director of Operations
Julia Krolik is a polymath. Formally educated in the sciences, her work has taken numerous turns and includes research involving micro/molecular biology, statistics, geospatial analytics, public health, water quality and hydrogeology. As an exhibiting artist, focusing on science, art and new media, Julia has created works for CBC, the Ontario Science Centre, the Toronto Urban Film Festival and the Scotia Bank Photography Festival. Her diverse background enables a rare cross disciplinary empathy and she continuously advocates for both art and science through several initiatives. Julia is the co-founder and Creative/Research Director of Art the Science, an organization dedicated to uniting and empowering artists and scientists to collectively advance scientific knowledge. She is also the co-founder and CEO of Theory Jar, a creative technology agency, currently working on a software tool that translates scientific jargon into everyday language. Through her data consulting agency Pixels and Plans, Julia frequently works with various organizations, helping them with outreach, data visualization and knowledge mobilization, often using creative technology.
Alex Pedersen is a critical scholar and social scientist. During her degrees, Alex recognized a dearth of knowledge transfer between the academy and the general public. To address this gap, she extends her empirical research through multiple mediums including: publications, formal lectures, public speaking events, radio, theatre and photography. In diversifying access to her research, Alex honed a unique set of skills to plan, design and produce events for a wide variety of audiences. To date, she was responsible for several successful lecture series, community events and fundraisers across diverse settings. Most notably, Alex organized and implemented the 2015 Chancellor Dunning Trust Lectureship and was an advisor for the “Free Queen’s” Steering Committee (an initiative encouraging graduates to bring their work to the wider public). In addition, she has written numerous successful grant applications. An activist at heart, Alex advocates for critical thinking in and beyond academic institutions.
Owen Fernley
Director of Technology
Catherine Lau
Director of Program Evaluation
Owen Fernley is an engineer and experimentalist. He has experience programming computational engines in Fortran and C and is currently building front-end web tools in javascript to aid in exploration geology. He enjoys the discovery of new methodologies to best fit a technological solution, and strives for efficiency as he carries his software through the inevitable asymptote of completion. At his core, he is an improvisational piano player who applies the same methodology to the use of technology in the projects he pursues. He co-created Decomposing Pianos, an experimental music collective focusing on projects related to art, science, experimental music and new media. Through these projects, he prototyped his first independently realized programs, and now builds custom software of his own design.
Catherine Lau is a science communicator. Despite being formally trained as a behavioural neuroscientist, Catherine has let her artistic side flourish in an effort to communicate science in a creative manner. Drawing inspiration from neuroscience and her own research, she has created mixed media pieces that were winning entries at Laurentian University’s ICEBATS (art and science) competition and Newfoundland & Labrador’s Arts and Letters Awards Program. Catherine has harnessed a diverse skill set through experiences in science writing, educational programming, exhibit design/prototyping and digital media production. Her interest in using art to communicate science has inspired her research in Canadian art-science organizations and programs. Ultimately, she hopes to develop resources that will contribute to the growth of art-science collaborations and science culture.
Liam Rémillard
Director of Development & Partnerships
Megan McNeil
Director of Engagement
Liam Rémillard is currently pursuing his doctoral degree in infectious disease epidemiology at Queen’s University. Liam’s research interests involve the use of spatial-temporal methods to inform geographically-targeted interventions in Ontario. Although Liam has published peer-reviewed journals and presented research at various academic venues, he has realized that these common methods of knowledge translation do not always reach the intended audiences. Liam was drawn toward Art the Science because he sees this organization as an innovative and novel means to connect scientific research with a broader audience. As the Director of Development & Partnerships, Liam will be dedicated towards seeking strategic partnerships, pursuing funding opportunities, and growing the network of advisors.
Megan McNeil is passionate about all forms of art and forging relationships between artists and audiences in innovative ways. She has studied Musicology, Film, and Arts Management and is the former General Director of Modern Fuel Artist-Run centre in Kingston. Recently diagnosed with adult-onset epilepsy, she has spent countless hours in medical environments. Now her current interests include neurology, seizure treatment and contemporary art therapies
Dr. Anna Majury
Clinical Microbiologist
Elaine Whittaker
Bioartist
Lowell Cochrane
Chief Creative Officer
Dr. Majury has a long history of public health and infectious disease practice having trained and worked as a Veterinarian and with specialized training in Veterinary Infectious Diseases. She also attained her PhD at Queen’s prior to completing her (human) clinical microbiology residency training in Toronto after which she joined Public Health Ontario in 2000. Currently the majority of her research explores environmental health and microbiology with a focus on water, and in the context rural and remote communities and on public health intervention and policy. Her research approaches issues a holistically, with a public health/population/ecohealth lens and works towards knowledge generation, translation and problem solving in real time. Outside of work, Anna is a devoted mom of three wonderful children, and, in her spare time, she pursues her artistic side, primarily through painting and fabric arts, and her love of the outdoors through ventures such as kayaking and riding. Finally, she is a strong animal ethics advocate and works through various channels to support both the ethical treatment and employment of non-human animals by humans.
Elaine Whittaker considers biology as contemporary art practice. Her artworks intersect art, science, and medicine, exploring the forces that make us human—from the foundational processes and materials needed to form an organism, to the microscopic world of cellular ecologies. Her practice is principally based in installation, and includes sculpture, painting, drawing, digital imagery and sound. Her artwork has been exhibited in the Science Gallery London (UK), Riddoch Art Gallery (Mount Gambier, Australia), Harcourt House (Edmonton, Canada), Fudan University Science Gallery, (Shanghai, China), Gwacheon National Science Museum (Seoul, South Korea), Islip Art Museum (Long Island, USA), Ontario Science Centre (Toronto, Canada), Science Gallery Dublin (Ireland), ARC Gallery (Chicago, USA), Plug In Institute for Contemporary Art (Winnipeg, Canada), Yukon Arts Centre Gallery (Whitehorse, Canada), McMaster Museum of Art (Hamilton, Canada), Kunsthaus Santa Fe (San Miguel de Allende, Mexico), the Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit (US), and the Red Head Gallery (Toronto, Canada). Whittaker has been an invited participant in residencies, workshops and festivals on science, art and medicine. Her artwork has been featured in literary, academic, and medical periodicals, and is included in William Myers’ book, BioArt: Altered Realities, Thames & Hudson, 2015.
Lowell Cochrane has been designing and producing multimedia exhibits for museums and educational institutions for the past 20 years. He began his career at Science North in Sudbury Ontario as a producer, writer and creative director. He was a key member of the initial entrepreneurial team that developed the centre’s capacity to leverage the science centre’s in-house production talents into an international exhibit sales enterprise, named Science North Enterprises. In 2002, Lowell founded Show Communications, a multimedia exhibit company in Kingston, Ontario. Since 2002, Lowell has built Show Communications into a world-class studio, producing dozens of multimedia installations, video productions, interactive kiosks and websites for diverse clients. Throughout his career, Lowell has been involved in all aspects of interpretive and conceptual planning, content development, creative direction, and production. Prior to his career in multimedia production, Lowell taught atmospheric science to school groups and tourists at Science North as a Science Communicator. He considers this experience the seminal experience that led to a professional career in informal learning. Lowell also writes science articles for magazine and journals, and has been invited to speak about communicating through multimedia storytelling. His projects have garnered many awards, including a Best Visitor Experience Award from the Association of Science and Technology Centres, two TEA Awards and a Gold Medal from the Canadian Association of Science Centres.
Art the Science was established in 2015 by Julia Krolik and Alex Pedersen to support the growing need for public engagement with scientific research alongside a novel desire to explore science-inspired approaches to contemporary art practice in Canada.
