Peak Proteins Commissions New Artwork

Peak Proteins commissioned Margaret Veldman-Jones, our “Artist in Residence” to create artwork for our new offices in Tytherington reflecting the scientific work of the company.

The Process:

Originally Margaret was expecting to create just one piece of artwork. The wall allocated to the piece was large, so Margaret decided to produce three paintings instead.

“Most if not all of my work to date has been of a subject and I tend to use collage to create my artwork. This commission was much more abstract and my original idea of using collage just didn’t seem to work,” commented Margaret.

“I decided to create one painting for each group of scientists – cell culture, protein purification, and crystallography. Using acrylic paint because it dries quickly, I was able to layer ideas. I used actual laboratory equipment for stencilling, tissue paper for creating texture and a spray technique to add extra interest,” continued Margaret.

Cell Culture

The first painting reflects the cell culture group. The circular theme with black circles and dots imitates the live and dead cells in the cell viability measurement using Tryphan blue.  The pink/brown colouring echoes the colour of the HEK and E.coli media. The white bubbles represent the foam on top of the 2 litre media shake flasks and the polystyrene tube holders and tip boxes were used as stencils creating the shapes and lines.

Protein Purification

The protein purification group painting has a blue colour theme replicating the Coomassie blue dye commonly used to stain proteins in SDS-PAGE gels.  The line theme includes the protein trace, wells, and protein gels.

Crystallography

The third painting has an orange/yellow theme reflects the crystallography group.  The geometric and crystal shapes are combined with the amino acid backbone, mass spectrometry and x-ray diffraction patterns.

All the paintings are linked by a protein structure.

Margaret continued, “I always know that I’ll learn a great deal from every project I do.  Every project has an infinite number of outcomes.  It is lovely when a project is finished though, and everyone is pleased with the final result.”

The Finished Result:

Hazel Weir, Director of Business Development added, “Margaret’s work is always stunning.  We are so pleased she agreed to creating this artwork for us.  It totally lifts the office area and is a great talking point for visitors.”

The Added Bonus:

We were lucky enough to get another artwork of Margaret’s to hang in the new offices.  This features Margaret’s collage technique.

Heron Duo

Margaret often uses animals as subjects.  As well as commissions for pets, she is particularly interested in wildlife and has exhibited in London for the Sketch for Survival collection of original artworks featuring endangered species and at-risk wild spaces for the past two years.

For more information about Margaret’s artwork visit www.myvisualjoy.co.uk