Here are some notes from the talk:

La-Bar created a honey bee bag sculpture

Water is a big factor in her work, she thinks of water as ever flowing and how it has no boundaries

She got her inspiration for her work from Leopold and Rudolph Blaschka who created life like glass figures, La-Bar decided to replicate them but make them from a 3d printer instead of glass

She says technology is just an advanced tool to get us better circumstances

She talked about overcoming difficult obstacles with 3D printing flowers, and she says, “I learn as I go”

She found that she became an explorer by researching and traveling to where flowers were

She explained how technology and nature are similar, structure and mechanisms v algorithms and coding

Talks about the iNaturalist app which identifies any plant/insect and how she worked with Don Miller, a “plant guru”

She focused on the milkweed flower, made a metal (very heavy) 3D print of it. Talked about how the  monarch butterfly’s specially adapted legs fit in the flower and they lay their eggs on the milkweed and feed on the milky substance of the plant

She talks about how kids can identify over 1,000 corporate logos but we can’t identify 10 indigenous plants, made me realize how much of a disconnect there is between humans and nature. I think when i’m a teacher I will make a lesson focused on plant life and take my kids outside to observe and identify.

There’s a “heal all” flower which is purple and WE HAVE THEM ON CAMPUS!!apparently if you chew it up and put it on a cut it acts as an herbal Neosporin

She pays close attention to what is happening on our planet, and how we can create art to make people come together and realize what’s going on and try to come up with a solution

She spoke a little bit about virtual reality and how it can be helpful to get your work exposed, I thought this was a cool point because people could virtually tour a gallery and not have to travel great lengths just to see it. It isn’t the same thing as being there, but it gives a pretty accurate depiction, just without tactile information.

She asked the question, “How can we utilize things that exist and make the world better with limitless possibility?”

She explored embryo’s and 3D printed seeds within so you could see the seed, the embryo was a clear and jelly like

I loved her comparison of trees, water systems, and nature & how they are all similar to us with our nerves, networks, and neurons.  (picture of an eye in her ppt presentation)

Her talk got me thinking about just how connected (our physical bodies) and disconnected (emotionally) to nature we are, I remember hearing somewhere that our DNA is very similar to plants and it reminded me of that. I wondered what it would look like if La-bar explored the idea of the interconnectedness/ disconnect between plants and humans because when you make art that is relevant or relates to people they’re more likely to take a closer look.

Overall I really enjoyed this talk, if I had known how cool it was going to be I would’ve invited friends!

Here are a few more pictures: