Scientist-Artist Sondra Barrett illuminates life’s mysteries, from cells and molecules to wine.
How did a medical scientist go from photographing CELLS to discovering the art within WINE?
A 
colleague who saw the art in my photographs of cells, vitamins and minerals connected me with Sterling Vineyards, which had an artist-in-residence program. In preparation for the interview I photographed my first wine – a 1978 Sterling merlot. When the winemaker said the picture looked like the wine tasted, I was hooked on the inner world of wine.
As artist-in-residence I spent two years working with the winemakers, photographing their questions – what would wine from a mountain vineyard look like compared to valley floor, what about changes during aging. Too numerous to mention here, over the years patterns emerged that I could interpret related to winemaking techniques like malolactic fermentation or ageability.
What we are seeing are the intriguing patterns made by molecules coming together. Photographs through the microscope of table salt shows cubes and squares reflecting the crystalline atomic pattern of sodium chloride (table salt). With wine, a much more complex mixture than salt solution, we see the patterns formed by the dominant molecules in their unique vinous environment. These inner views certainly reveal beauty.
The inner beauty of wine is perhaps related to the spirit of the wine or the signature of the winemaker. Clues to life and death are certainly evident in some wines. I’ve always seen the forms as a visual language or textural expression of a wine. Can you imagine them on every wine label heralding the style inside the bottle – drink this if you want something complex, this one is light. See for yourself the beauty in the bottle in my first book “Wine’s Hidden Beauty” which bridges the art, science and spirituality of wine.
The images offer clues to ‘divine design’ of the exquisite universe within us and of which we are a part. To me, the images make more real the mysterious; they help us understand experientially. They offer an AHA moment!
For the most part I have used these images to teach about life. Seeing a photograph of caffeine, some of my students have kicked coffee. Hearing about, and seeing, the art and soul of wine, others say now they understand why wine is sacred.
I feel grateful that I have been fortunate to have my scientific blinders removed as I traveled into these interior landscapes. What I glean from these images – that inner visions from the shaman and earlier times perhaps included seeing our molecules. Of course they weren’t named but were seen and included as part of sacred art and traditions.
Early days of being a scientist
My first research as a post-doc was figuring out what was wrong with little boys’ white blood cells who were dying of infections. Medical questions quickly moved beyond cells and molecules to people and kids. Then on the faculty I took on developing diagnostic tools for human leukemias and lymphomas. The microscope became my main measuring tool. I was taught to decipher patterns and inconsistencies in the development of human cells. My eyes were trained to explore the invisible seeking out clues for life and death.
The day I had to obtain blood from a young child with leukemia my life changed.
Pulled from the lab down to pediatric oncology I soon spent as much time there as I did in my lab. It was being with those children that I discovered that the microscopic images illuminating the art within life could quiet their scared hearts. I brought them entertainment in the form of slide shows (remember Kodak carousels?) to the kids waiting for their chemo. I showed them dancing cells and magical molecules. They were intrigued with the colors and the designs. They didn’t have to know the science underlying the pictures – some of the kids watching were only 3. They sat peacefully. And that brings us to wine…. photographs of wine, just like our cells, show intrinsic beauty as well as clues to development. Though deemed as abstract, they may in fact have some use to the winery – for crafting wine, for marketing, for tasting
The POWER of the Image
Seeing how those kids became peaceful watching the images from inner space, I was compelled to explore the power of the image – how can if affect our consciousness, mind and mood. This led me to imagery and shamanism. The senses are – sight, sound, smell, taste, touch – all different ways of accessing information. Different doorways access different parts of your consciousness. What doorways do you have open? What would you like to open?
Molecular photography captures a world invisible to the naked eye…. It opens the mysteries to molecules and cells. It is art based on reality, not an artist’s imagined representation. Images tell a story or act as a portrait. They may even communicate scientific information visually so it is more easily understood, then it becomes a teaching tool.
John Naisbitt ~ High Tech, High Touch: Technology and Our Search for Meaning
Images from the invisible world massage the imagination and inner knowing.
2008 hope & grace Santa Lucia Highlands, Doctor's Vyd
You can see some of The Art in Wine at hope & grace tasting salon in Yountville, CA. Reception May 6, RSVP.
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