My name is Halle Boroski and I am a junior at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, VA. I am a neuroscience major with a minor in public health, a concentration in wellness, and on the pre-medical track. A fun fact about me is that I have a pet hedgehog named Marble! As an applied sciences major, I have not had much exposure to art while in college. However, I have always loved to create artwork in my spare time, and I miss being creative and expressing myself through illustrations. My artistic background is limited to four years of art, taken in high school. While I do not get to do art in any of the classes that I take while pursuing my degree, I regularly find myself creating visual aids for myself. As a visual learner, creating doodles in the margins of my notes or even diagraming scientific systems have greatly aided in my ability to digest information.
I am excited to be an artist-in-residence this summer as it allows me to bridge my love for art and science in a unique way. As someone who is dyslexic, I am very passionate about making science accessible and digestible to the general public. With art as an outlet, I am excited to be able to express my creativity in a useful and impactful way. This summer I am working with the Philp lab to create cover art for a paper they have close to acceptance for publication. The research concerns self/tumor-reactive CD8 T cells and how they enter a memory-like state, thus lacking effector function. I am hopeful that the art that I create will help provide readers with a visual aid of the cells that they are reading about. I am optimistic that this art will serve as not only a promotional tool but, hopefully, a visual communication tool to the general public.
I generally take a traditional approach when I create art. I like to use physical materials such as paint, oil pastels, and colored pencils on paper and canvas. Because I use these mediums, it can be difficult to create universally usable art exactly as I intend it to be viewed. As a result, I use a tool called Lightroom to enhance the quality of the photos I can take of my product. Through Lightroom, I can adjust the otherwise nonadjustable features of photographing a piece of artwork (i.e., lighting, camera quality, and color visibility through a lens). With the help of programs like Lightroom, I can showcase my art as I intend viewers to see, even if they cannot see the original piece.
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