Dawn Hunter's Cajal Artwork Portfolio

Explore the Dawn Hunter Art® Exhibition at the John Porter Neuroscience Research Center, National Institutes of Health. The showcase features an intricate fusion of art and science, with Dawn Hunter's inspired artwork about Santiago Ramón y Cajal displayed in harmony with the renowned neuroscientist's original scientific drawings, on loan from the Instituto Cajal. Browse through a curated selection of Dawn Hunter's pieces currently on exhibit.

Experience a deeply personal journey through the life and work of the legendary neuroscientist, Santiago Ramón y Cajal, with Dawn Hunter's unique perspective. Explore the human side of Cajal, communicated through his drawings, writings, and teachings, made tangible in Hunter's own artistic exploration. Her intimate project retraces Cajal's footsteps, capturing historical environments from his past and preserving them in her artwork, fostering a bridge between past and present. This exploration is a testament to Cajal's enduring influence on art, science, and personal inspiration.

Experience the richly layered 'Cajal Inventory', a collection of Dawn Hunter's biographical drawings and paintings, honoring the life and discoveries of Santiago Ramón y Cajal. The series, comprised of forty-five 11" x 14" works, combines art, history, and neuroscience, and utilizes a variety of materials including graphite, ink, pen, marker, and acrylic. These pieces not only highlight the famed neuroscientist's scientific illustrations and domestic scenes, but also illuminate aspects of his personal life and unique humor. Hunter recreates some of Cajal's lost childhood drawings, includes reflections on her own creative process, and focuses on the complementarity of Cajal's marriage which, she believes, catalyzed his scientific achievements. Each work thus serves as an educational tool and a celebration of Cajal's profound legacy.

Dawn Hunter's exploration of Santiago Ramón y Cajal's life began with the crafting of a unique, homemade accordion sketchbook. Inspired by Cajal's biography, she realized her role as an artist could help bring his story to life in a new and meaningful way. Over the past seven years, this project has grown and evolved. This page showcases the initial inspiration and recurring themes drawn directly from Cajal's life, interests, and work, as captured in Hunter's inventive sketchbook.

These works are a deeper into the sub-theme that features my daughter, Darcy through daily portraits of my biracial daughter, Darcy, who identifies as Black. These portraits explore our identities—hers as a young Black individual navigating

contemporary America and mine as her mother and an artist. The series transcends traditional portraiture, evolving into a collective narrative that reflects Darcy’s personal growth and cultural experiences. Darcy’s engagement with the project—offering insights and critiques—fosters a

dynamic, collaborative spirit. The amassed works, installed together, generate a dialogue within the space they share, creating an interconnected storytelling experience.

It embraces Afro-Futurism’s optimistic vision,

advocating for an empowered representation of Darcy’s life and identity. Within the daily themes, I endeavored to encapsulate Darcy's essence, with one standout portrait emerging as a favorite: Darcy juxtaposed with the developing neurons of a child from one of Cajal's illustrations, her enigmatic gaze hinting at a captivating mystery. This particular image holds a special place for Darcy too, who sees it as a documentation of our life when we lived in Spain.

Step into a world where dancers and cells converge in a mesmerizing fusion of art and science. Picture graceful movements mirroring the nucleus, the cell's command center, in my latest series of paintings inspired by the captivating "Cell Block Tango" dance and Santiago Ramón y Cajal's iconic neuron imagery. Through a fantastical blend of figuration and narrative, these pieces reimagine the dancers' fluid motions alongside the abstracted structures of cells, weaving together humor, sensuality, and irony reminiscent of the movie Chicago. Each artwork is a playful exploration of the parallels between artistic expression and scientific research, offering a unique perspective on the intricate workings of the cellular world.

Dawn Hunter's Cajal portfolio, crafted entirely with markers and pen sans preliminary pencil sketches, reflects a unique methodology developed during her Fulbright España Senior Research Fellowship at the Instituto Cajal, Madrid. After closely studying Cajal's own illustrations, she discerned his likely practice of direct ink drawing - a process both pragmatically efficient and philosophically truthful to neuron realism. Hunter's own work, free from erasures and corrections, emulates this approach, offering a testament to the form and content of her project, and illuminating the process of a pioneer in neuroscience.

"Snap" into the fascinating intersection of art, science, and self-representation in Dawn Hunter's exploration of Santiago Ramón y Cajal's photographic legacy. Unlike simple self-portraits, Cajal's images, created with his own photographic plate recipe, can be seen as early 'selfies', reflecting a consistent, self-directed narrative. As a Fulbright España Senior Research Scholar at the Instituto Cajal, Hunter investigated the 'Cajal persona' as captured in these images, uncovering the emotional and symbolic nuances of the man behind the scientist. This page offers a glimpse into those explorations.

Cajal's scientific illustrations are a testament to his remarkable powers of observation and his drawings convey micro-anatomy visually with their intricate detail and inherent beauty, leave a lasting impression. Inspired by his work, I've endeavored to blend landscapes from his native surroundings with neuron imagery, aiming to encapsulate the essence of the environment that fueled his scientific endeavors. Dive deeper into these creations by clicking on each piece to initiate a captivating slideshow experience.

Engaging in SciArtSeptember for the second time has been an enriching journey for me. Beyond just creating art, I've relished connecting with fellow artists and admiring their creations. Responding to the prompts with my artwork has been particularly fulfilling, allowing me to explore various topics and themes. This event, spearheaded by Liz Butler (@liz_lagomorph) and Glendon Mellow (@FlyingTrilobite), has provided a platform for artists to interact, share, and learn from each other.

I am immersed in the legacy of Santiago Ramón y Cajal, and I explore his histological research in creating my drawings and paintings. My artwork serves as an exploration of his life and science through art. I am honored that the piece "Dueling Cajals" was honored in the Art of Neuroscience competition in the Netherlands. As a winner in the competition, my artwork was featured in Scientific American. My artwork is a culmination of close collaboration with experts in neuroscience at the National Institutes of Health and Instituto Cajal and research of the archives of the Legado Cajal. To that end, I have studied Cajal's personal belongings and scientific drawings, which have resulted in the creation of over 300 artworks dedicated to his legacy. Through my ongoing project, I aim to illuminate the intersection of art and science, fostering public awareness of Cajal's genius and the unique insights that drawing can offer to scientific research. Each piece in my series is a biographical narrative, offering a glimpse into Cajal's world and the creative process behind his remarkable scientific illustrations.