Minds In Play by Herbert Jakob Weingartner
January 8 – 29

Visit the Virtual Gallery

Artist statement: Children are creative, curious, superb learners, and often gifted artists. As they mature, they often lose that artistic skill. I have tried to maintain and nurture the playful spirit I had as a child.

Our inner world and the world around us are complex and filled with experiences that we continually struggle to understand. We search for the structure and meaning of our experiences. Looking at a painting is an experience in and of itself, so we implicitly ask “What does this piece of art mean to me?” The creator of a piece of art engages in a ‘conversation’ with the viewer. The way a viewer understands a work of art is an interaction between the artist’s creative intention and the viewer’s history of experiences. Those experiences shape our response and understanding of what we see1.

Perspective: The creative process in science and the arts share much in common. Throughout my career, I have tried to blend my work as an artist, storyteller, and neuroscientist. The subjects and themes of my paintings are inspired by neuroscience, people I have met, and nature.

Brief biography: Born in Germany (1935); undergraduate degree in physics, graduate studies in experimental psychology/neuroscience (Johns Hopkins University). After completing my graduate studies, I joined the faculty of Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine. Later, I directed a cognitive neuroscience program at the NIH in Bethesda, Maryland. I studied the neurobiology of how we think, learn, and remember. In my retirement years, I have used art and stories to explore and describe how brains work. I continue to collaborate with research neuroscientists.

Exhibitions: For decades I have designed art posters for scientific meetings. My art has been exhibited in several galleries most recently at the East End Gallery and at the Robert Foster Gallery (both in Nantucket Mass)

Minds In Play: “The Age of Insight: The quest to understand the unconscious in art, mind, and brain” by Eric R. Kandel

To purchase please contact Marcie Blackman.
All proceeds from the exhibit will be donated to the Bender JCC.