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STRAIGHT TALK with Judith Modrak By Julia Buntaine Editor-in-Chief that dendrites play in autism. It was a natural next step to interpret in sculptural form what neurons and their dendrites may look like JB: First, I’d love to hear a bit about how science has when a person is young, old, anxious, or affectimpacted your life, and how you view your relation- ed by a particular condition. Without question, ship to science as an artist, and individual. the “Dendrites” series is a continuum of much earlier work (Self-Portrait, Circe, and Dionysus) JM: I was born with a curiosity about the which probed the essence of identity from natural world and a hardwired emotional senanatomical and spiritual perspectives. Undersitivity. These two traits made for a lively and standing the natural world, and decoding our adventurous childhood and continue to this physiological and psychological worlds within day. From the earliest age, I remember catchthe imprint of the larger historical period we ing frogs and worms with my brother, excavat- find ourselves in, has been a source of artistic ing caves made of dirt and leaves looking for inspiration and interest to me for many years. hidden treasures, rescuing abandoned dogs and birds with broken wings, and drawing exceedJB: An underlying characteristic in much of your ingly detailed Parameciums and other single work is the exploration of landscapes, specifically cell organisms in elementary school. While I those of the psychological and neurological. How do majored in art, my love of science continued in you view your role as an artist in this long-standing college and I vividly recall dissecting small ani- tradition of inner-self portraiture in art history? mals (which died of natural causes) in biology and peering into the mysteries of blood and JM: Throughout history, the artist has served other cells through a microscope. As an adult, as a reflection of their particular time from I eagerly await the Tuesday New York Times sci- the snake goddesses found on Crete, to Remence section, read a number of science-based brandt’s self-portraits, to Louise Bourgeois’ periodicals, attend science-themed lectures spiders. I certainly view the artist as a visual and exhibitions, and engage with nature when- anthropologist of their times and experiences. ever I can. I feel firmly planted in this tradition with my body of work voicing personal and collective Despite enormous strides being made to concerns of the 21st century, while referencing understand the human brain, including global our shared historical past and artistic precurinitiatives, the brain still remains much of a sors. mystery. The seed for the “Dendrites” series was planted in 2013 as a result of reading an arI am especially interested in modern psycholticle about advances in understanding the role ogy, myths of humanity, biology, and neuro-