2024 Art Contest Winners
Thank you to all who entered the 2024 Kent Scientific Art Contest! We received many creative submissions that thoughtfully explored our theme of “Scientific Symphonies: The 3Rs in Harmony,” showcasing how the principles of Replacement, Reduction, and Refinement are harmonized in scientific research.
We would like to congratulate our winners! Please check out the top three submissions below. The first-place original art piece will be donated to Meharry Medical College, along with a monetary donation made in the artist’s name.
First Place
Artist: Celeste Shearer
The piece begins with chaotic music, jagged bar lines forming the DNA base pairs, and a rainbow of watercolor splatter. Suddenly the music is reduced to cut time, the treble and bass staffs are consolidated into one, and the watercolor rainbow is reduced to only primary colors (with secondary colors where they naturally mix). Then the watercolor is refined to form a clean, rainbow-colored DNA backbone. The music becomes a simpler 2/4 time, and the staff is refined to form the DNA base pair lines. This later becomes further refined as the coloring becomes more like that of scientific DNA diagrams. Finally, the DNA strand is replaced with a mouse climbing atop the last measure of music, punctuated with a staccato marcato.
Second Place
Artist: Rachel Rock
This animated artwork (GIF) channels end-of-summer sunlight energy and features 3 playful mice, each representing one of the 3Rs of Scientific Research. The first mouse, symbolic of replacement, tries to sell the viewer on cells as an alternative to animal research. The second mouse, representing reduction, isn't going to be found in anybody's experiments because he's on vacation thanks to smart power estimates for experiment design. Finally, the third mouse, depicting the principle of refinement, seems to be enjoying bundles of bedding...and likely has even more enrichment to look forward to because our researchers care about him! Each mouse is presented individually, along with a blurb and callout highlighting and explaining the relevant principle, before all the mice are shown together, connected by the 3Rs formed by their tails, a symbolic depiction of the 3Rs in symphony.
Third Place
Artist: Christen Owen
3 R text, with 3 circles working together to encompass & protect the 3 Rs, and one line drawing of a mouse to pull it all together.