Event Date
An artist talk with Anna Von Mertens
Abstract
Grounded in quiltmaking, Anna Von Mertens creates research-based, labor-intensive work weaving together science, history, and materiality. Her talk will center on the extraordinary life of Henrietta Leavitt, a pioneering astronomer who worked at the Harvard College Observatory studying glass plate photographs of the night sky. Von Mertens's book Attention Is Discovery (MIT Press, 2024) celebrates Leavitt's groundbreaking discovery, foundational to modern cosmology. The hand-stitched quilts and pencil drawings Von Mertens made based on Leavitt's work appreciate the attentive path to discovery, celebrating labor and insight. Von Mertens will examine "women's work": a term historically applied to both hand-stitching skills and the scientific work of the Harvard Computers — the women who worked alongside Leavitt. Surfacing themes of individuality within community and the transformative nature of repetition, Von Mertens explores meaning embedded in our daily lives.
About the Artist
Visual artist and author Anna Von Mertens received an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Public Understanding of Science and Technology grant supporting her book Attention Is Discovery: The Life and Legacy of Astronomer Henrietta Leavitt (MIT Press, 2024), a finalist for the AAP PROSE Award in History of Science, Medicine, and Technology. The book expands on her 2018–2019 Harvard Radcliffe Institute exhibition, which later traveled to Illinois State University and Oberlin College's Allen Memorial Art Museum. Von Mertens received a Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, studying dark matter, and a United States Artists Fellowship in Visual Arts. Her labor-intensive artworks use material intelligence to explore science and history, exhibited widely including at the Aspen Art Museum, Berkeley Art Museum, MFA Boston, and the Smithsonian's Renwick Gallery. She is represented by Elizabeth Leach Gallery, Portland, Oregon.
Credits
Organized by the Maria Manetti Shrem Institute for Sustainable Design, Fashion and Textiles, co-sponsored by the Department of Science and Technology Studies.
Questions? Contact Kayleigh Perkov at [email protected]