Intersect Arts Center’s inaugural Cabinets of Curiosities show, Cabinets of Curiosities: One Scientist’s Specimens, features work by artist and scientist B. Duygu Özpolat, curated by Kasper Haase.
Historically, cabinets of curiosity functioned as collections of enigmatic objects, creating a window into a collector’s desire to understand the world around them. Özpolat’s work does just that, taking us on a journey into a micro realm where unlikely creatures surprise and delight us. Drawing from her research as a scientist, Özpolat crafts spiders, worms, slugs, and other insects and microscopic organisms out of clay to exist at a scale our eyes can appreciate, inviting us to curiosity about creatures we often dismiss.
Özpolat’s colorful ceramic work fills our eyes with brilliant hues, undulating shapes, and strange patterns. In contrast, her drawings rely on black and white pattern work, referencing historic scientific and naturalist drawing, but infusing it with fresh life and mysterious power.
You can see One Scientist’s Specimens on display in our lobby anytime during our regular office hours: Tuesday -Saturday, 11am - 5pm. The show runs from February 3 - May 3, 2026, and we will host an reception with an artist talk for it on Friday, March 20th. Click the link below to learn more about the reception and RSVP!
ARTIST STATEMENT:
When I look through a microscope, I travel to different worlds that very few people can see. This feeling never gets old. I make art to share with others the wondrous things that I observe as a scientist. In my artwork, I use the beauty we encounter in scientific research to celebrate life, cultivate curiosity, and incite appetite for discovery. The seeds of each piece come from an encounter with an astonishing life form, organ, or cell. I dig deeper into the science by reading on the subject and examining visual elements more closely before I make the piece. I also like to glean inspiration from traditional art styles, natural history museums, and scientific illustrations. Since 2018, I have been making pottery forms of organisms that are typically considered scary or disgusting: segmented worms, insects, spiders, slugs... It is important to me to invite people to leave their preconceived notions about these animals aside and open their minds to the beauty and wonders of them.
ABOUT THE ARTIST:
B. Duygu Özpolat is an assistant professor of biology and a visual artist currently living in Saint Louis, Missouri. Özpolat earned her Ph.D. in Cell and Molecular Biology from Tulane University in New Orleans, and her B.Sc. in Biology from Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Türkiye. She studies stem cells and regeneration, and makes science-themed art (SciArt) inspired by scientific research. For Özpolat, art and science are intrinsically linked through the process of inquiry, experimentation, and technique, for pushing the boundaries of the known and the explored. Özpolat’s artwork and scientific publications can be found at http://ozpolatlab.org
