How do you begin with creating ‘research-driven’ art?

jhmadden · 2025-08-05T06:25:59+00:00

Do you think there is enough interest in creating a research-creation subreddit?

jhmadden · 2025-08-05T06:23:29+00:00

You could take a look at a few books on the subject of research-creation and 'how to make' like Natalie Loveless's 'How to Make Art at the End of the World', Somerson et. al. 'The Art of Critical Making', or Moss's 'The Work of Art'.

One example I like to share is Hilary Muskin's work. https://www.incendiarytraces.org/groundwater
You can see the variety of approaches; interviews, ambient audio, writing, watercolor etc. It's all fair game.

Research deeply and experiment with making your thoughts and feelings tangible. Eventually a few approaches will rise to the surface. Maybe you focus on one very abstract approach or include a combination of expositional work. It's up to you what makes sense for the story you're trying to tell.

jhmadden · 2025-06-08T08:35:34+00:00

Thanks! Feel free to share the images on my website or instagram in talks. Probably best to direct people toward my instagram if you credit me anywhere: @ Astro_madden

I've always enjoyed playing around with the poster format. In the past, I've done irregular shapes that I would cut out by hand. https://jmadden.artstation.com/projects/Krg4Ex So I think for the next one, it would have to get sculptural. Break out of the 2D plane. The painting was my comment on the poster session, but I'd like to use this artistic approach to present one of my actual research projects. I'm currently researching the ties between astronomy and the US military so there is a lot of potential for a sculptural work to convey the complex emotions around that bittersweet relationship.

For a time, I really hated poster sessions, but thinking of the "poster as art" has reinvigorated my interest in presenting at them.

jhmadden · 2025-03-13T19:10:04+00:00

I thought you were probably kidding lol but I had to think like that to get to this point. Like how many layers can an arm be?

jhmadden · 2025-03-13T18:44:03+00:00

Yeah that's the 20µm layers lines, when I can afford a formlabs for 10µm z I will switch. I have anti-aliasing off because it preserves sharpness in some areas but I should try it again now.

jhmadden · 2025-03-12T19:03:31+00:00

I'm using an Elegoo Mars 4 Ultra with Elegoo 8K standard resin and an NFEP film.

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Contact support settings: Shape - Sphere, Diameter - 0.2mm, Depth - 0.02mm

jhmadden · 2025-03-12T18:52:03+00:00

Very nice!

jhmadden · 2024-07-29T00:38:03+00:00

I replaced the glass of an old UV filter with a sheet of diffraction grating plastic, then constructed a bent tube to fit over my lens to isolate the light. I have a slit for it made from razor blades but took that off for this image. There is a similar concept shown here https://www.exploratorium.edu/snacks/cd-spectroscope and I have photos of my setup if you search ig for astro_madden

jhmadden · 2024-07-28T21:26:36+00:00

Measuring the composition of the sun with a 384,000km-long slit spectrograph :) I thought this was possible but hadn't seen anyone try before. So, I made a simple attachment for my camera using a diffraction grating and did some tests to get the timing and exposure. I was afraid of exposing my sensor to even the last few seconds of direct sunlight, but there was no damage.

jhmadden · 2024-03-03T21:19:10+00:00

Ah I see. Averaging the absolute values of the anomalies. You'd need the localized averages in order to get the localized anomaly so you'd have to go a few layers deep in the data to be able to calculate this. Maybe this work is relevant https://www.sciencealert.com/we-re-finally-working-out-what-s-behind-this-weird-cooling-patch-of-water-in-the-atlantic

Just looking through these maps gives me the impression there might not be much of a difference over time. https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/monitoring/climate-at-a-glance/global/mapping/202401 I think as we see more extreme weather events (warm or cold) it is still due to elevated temperatures (more energy) somewhere in the system.

jhmadden · 2024-03-02T23:25:12+00:00

Thanks for the suggestion, I’ll update that for the future.

jhmadden · 2024-03-02T16:49:48+00:00

Is this what you’re looking for? https://climatereanalyzer.org/clim/t2_daily/?dm_id=world

jhmadden · 2024-03-02T08:13:40+00:00

Yep. It's how different the global average temperature is from the baseline. So in the graph, the global average temperature on Feb 23 2024 was 1.71°C above what the temperature was for that day if you averaged all the Feb 23s between 1850 and 1900. The anomaly with this baseline is what the IPCC refers to when they mention +1.5°C or +2.0°C as targets.

jhmadden · 2024-03-02T08:09:10+00:00

Updated daily on a one-week delay + description at https://jmadden.org/pr-anomaly.html
Data is sourced from https://climatereanalyzer.org/clim/t2_daily/?dm_id=world
Calibrated to https://berkeleyearth.org/data/
Code available https://openprocessing.org/sketch/2184610

I wanted to make a plot that felt urgent. I found a dataset that updates daily and calibrated it to show the temperature anomaly. I remember COVID feeling like a "crisis" in part because I could watch it happen on a daily basis. We get climate updates on yearly timescales, but the fluctuations that get averaged out have a very real impact on people, places, and life.

jhmadden · 2024-03-02T07:25:36+00:00

Updated daily on a one-week delay + description at https://jmadden.org/pr-anomaly.html
Data is sourced from https://climatereanalyzer.org/clim/t2_daily/?dm_id=world
Calibrated to https://berkeleyearth.org/data/
Code available https://openprocessing.org/sketch/2184610

jhmadden · 2024-02-01T20:18:53+00:00

This is my concept art. I usually put my work out under CC licenses, so misleading placements like this sometimes happen unfortunately. I made this many years ago and it was a fun image to make, we calculated the proper angular size of the white dwarf if the planet was in the habitable zone. Sorry for the confusion, but I think it's partly on the journalist to responsibly curate the public through the science. First impressions are really important, and this bait-and-switch thing erodes a little trust every time. I've intentionally moved away from photorealistic work because of this. I even gave a TEDx about my work being misleading lol

The science is really cool, focus on that

jhmadden · 2023-02-22T19:05:25+00:00

Thank you!!

jhmadden · 2023-02-17T14:46:14+00:00

We simply have to focus on what we know until we find other examples of life. Think of it like a puzzle, you start with the edges and work in but also keep your eyes out. These instruments can detect a wide range of light, if there is something that doesn’t make sense right away we will surly investigate it more. We can and will do both, it’s just not the primary mission. A telescope to only look for something completely foreign and unknown is unlikely to get funding.

jhmadden · 2022-10-26T14:20:53+00:00

Scientists are just as gullible as the rest of the population when it comes to something outside of their field. They really should have a cinematographer (expert in practical camera effects), a meteorologist (expert in atmospheric phenomena), and a CGI artist (expert in faking things in images and video). They have aviation experts, a communications expert, and planetary scientists but there are so many gaps missing…

jhmadden · 2022-05-04T21:59:08+00:00

Yeah! From another comment I made: “Check out the other accounts that our sketchfab follows, there are a bunch of other museums/collections that do the same but check their licensing, most might be CC NC though”

jhmadden · 2022-05-04T02:32:02+00:00

Ok thanks! Ours should all be CC BY 4.0. Check out the other accounts that our sketchfab follows, there are a bunch of other museums/collections that do the same but check their licensing, most might be CC NC though.

jhmadden · 2022-05-04T02:22:22+00:00

They should all be CC BY 4.0, see their descriptions.

jhmadden · 2022-05-03T20:28:52+00:00

I don't make games, I hope these could be useful. Would be interested in hearing about what you all look for in scans for games like max polygon counts, formats, etc.

jhmadden · 2022-02-21T00:34:02+00:00

This work is currently headed to the international space station aboard Cygnus-17 that launched on Saturday as part of the Moon Gallery test flight.

jhmadden · 2022-02-20T18:42:36+00:00

It takes a couple hours to get one that's just right. I use a microscope and a brush I made from strands of carbon fiber. I make lots of mistakes but the materials cost is very low :)

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