February 2019: Featured Artist
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Award-Winning Photographer & Author:
Carol Roullard
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Background Art: Parrot Feathers (adipic acid crystals)
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Carol Roullard is a southern California artist who has been an avid photographer since high school. She has continued to hone her compositional skills, focusing mainly on nature, and for years has looked forward to the day when she could merge her creative skills with her passion for art and science.
Since retiring from the corporate world in 2010, Carol has devoted more time to capturing artistic images. She expanded her nature photography to include the microcosmos. Using a high-powered microscope, Carol captures an extraordinary, intricate world of dazzling, tiny crystals. She searches for unique, complex crystalline scenes that will intrigue and inspire the viewer. Many of the captured images mimic landscapes and seascapes – the images stimulate the viewer’s imagination to conceptualize how the micro-world relates to the macro-world. Carol has released a clothing and accessory line called Crystal Art Outfitters which features her colorful work. She has also expanded her creativity to include painting and fluid acrylics. Another passion is writing. Carol has co-authored nine camera-related books with her husband, Brian Matsumoto. |
This versatile artist has exhibited and sold her unique art locally, nationally and internationally, and Carol’s work has received numerous awards, including a first place finish in Clemson University’s “HOOKEd on Microscopy” competition, and has been featured in video, print and online publications.
Carol has recently been re-appointed to the Moorpark Arts Commission for a two-year period.
See interview with Carol after viewing her work below.
Carol has recently been re-appointed to the Moorpark Arts Commission for a two-year period.
See interview with Carol after viewing her work below.
Aspirin Crystals
© Carol Roullard |
Molten Tide
Vanilla Crystals © Carol Roullard |
Citric Acid Crystals
© Carol Roullard
© Carol Roullard
Rose Mountains at Sunset
Vanilla Crystals © Carol Roullard |
Trident
Tartaric Acid Crystals © Carol Roullard |
Floating Mountains
Lidocaine and Vanilla Crystals © Carol Roullard |
Urea Crystals
© Carol Roullard |
Crystal Art Outfitters
Flowing Crystal Wrap Scarf
© Carol Roullard |
Wild Jungle Yoga Pants
© Carol Roullard |
Hidden Tiger Scarf
© Carol Roullard |
Last month, Carol shared the story of her journey to a full-time career in the arts and details about her intricate work with managing editor Myrna Haskell.
You used to be entrenched in the corporate world, and now you’re a full-time artist and writer. How did you get to where you are today?
I was always interested in science, and math was also a snap when I was in school. I ended up majoring in math/statistics. I didn’t have computer science knowledge until I took a summer job, and an employee there was learning how to program on his own in Fortran [a programming language suited for numeric computation and scientific computing]. I asked him if I could help. I was fascinated by it. It hit all my strengths – it was creative, detail-oriented…there was a lot of planning involved as well. I worked in data entry and then trained to become a computer programmer. I spent many years in the corporate world, moving up the ranks into management. I worked at various corporations [mostly in the financial sector] throughout the years. Then, I found out that I had Graves’ disease [an immune system disorder], but I had to continue working because, at that time, I was a single mom with two kids. My career was very stressful at times. There were some bad times for this industry - it’s not easy when you don’t know if you’ll have a job in the afternoon. I knew the stress was affecting my health. I also knew the day I could retire years before the day came. I was looking forward to spending more time with my husband who had recently retired. I gave my notice the day I was eligible for pension.
But the arts had also been a passion. I grew up in a family where I was surrounded by art. My parents were always buying art and had a great appreciation for various styles. I also loved photography [Carol has been an enthusiast since high school]. During those years while I was still in corporate life, I was representing artists as a side business. I was working as an art dealer and an art broker, negotiating prices for various works.
So, I fell into this new career having interests in the sciences and art all along. My husband was director of microscopy at a university, and one day we attended a presentation of these pictures that had been taken with a microscope of crystals growing. I knew in an instant – that’s what I want to do!
Since then, my husband and I have co-authored books on photography, and I create micro-crystal art. It’s a joy for me. Every slide is unique and holds something special.
I think an important way to live your life is to go for something you’re passionate about. So what if something seems difficult or if others tell you not to do it? What’s the worst that can happen? Go for it! These simple words motivate me – just ask yourself ‘Why not?’
About how long does it take to complete a piece of your micro-crystal work? Please explain a bit about the process.
You used to be entrenched in the corporate world, and now you’re a full-time artist and writer. How did you get to where you are today?
I was always interested in science, and math was also a snap when I was in school. I ended up majoring in math/statistics. I didn’t have computer science knowledge until I took a summer job, and an employee there was learning how to program on his own in Fortran [a programming language suited for numeric computation and scientific computing]. I asked him if I could help. I was fascinated by it. It hit all my strengths – it was creative, detail-oriented…there was a lot of planning involved as well. I worked in data entry and then trained to become a computer programmer. I spent many years in the corporate world, moving up the ranks into management. I worked at various corporations [mostly in the financial sector] throughout the years. Then, I found out that I had Graves’ disease [an immune system disorder], but I had to continue working because, at that time, I was a single mom with two kids. My career was very stressful at times. There were some bad times for this industry - it’s not easy when you don’t know if you’ll have a job in the afternoon. I knew the stress was affecting my health. I also knew the day I could retire years before the day came. I was looking forward to spending more time with my husband who had recently retired. I gave my notice the day I was eligible for pension.
But the arts had also been a passion. I grew up in a family where I was surrounded by art. My parents were always buying art and had a great appreciation for various styles. I also loved photography [Carol has been an enthusiast since high school]. During those years while I was still in corporate life, I was representing artists as a side business. I was working as an art dealer and an art broker, negotiating prices for various works.
So, I fell into this new career having interests in the sciences and art all along. My husband was director of microscopy at a university, and one day we attended a presentation of these pictures that had been taken with a microscope of crystals growing. I knew in an instant – that’s what I want to do!
Since then, my husband and I have co-authored books on photography, and I create micro-crystal art. It’s a joy for me. Every slide is unique and holds something special.
I think an important way to live your life is to go for something you’re passionate about. So what if something seems difficult or if others tell you not to do it? What’s the worst that can happen? Go for it! These simple words motivate me – just ask yourself ‘Why not?’
About how long does it take to complete a piece of your micro-crystal work? Please explain a bit about the process.
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Carol summarized the slide preparation and image manipulation that she painstakingly goes through in order to produce her beautiful photographs of crystals.
You mix different powdered chemicals, then take a small amount to create a liquid state. After I’ve melted the powdered chemicals, I let it dry on the slide, and this forms crystals. I begin to search the slide with a microscope by following a grid pattern in order to see the whole slide. I look for an image I like, and then I start a focus stack. There is a thickness to the crystals with different planes of discovery. I can get anywhere from three to forty in a stack from the same picture. I use an application that merges them. I also have to make sure everything is clean at the pixel level. This part alone takes hours. I then stitch the images together and clean again. I fine-tune with content fill and other manipulation. The whole process can take three days to a week. |
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Any future plans?
My micro-crystal art is in front of the marketing department of a large San Francisco Bay Area pharmaceutical company. I'm hoping they will be interested in allowing me to crystalize their products to be used for their marketing efforts.
I also want to do some more work with my clothing line, and I’ve started doing ‘fluid art’ (or ‘pour art’). You use acrylic paint, mix it different ways and pour it onto a canvas. Then, you manipulate it and add colors. I appreciate the abstractions that you get.
Where’s your sanctuary? (#WheresYourSanctuary)
I have two sanctuaries. One is going to the mountains, listening to the birds. I zone out in this environment, and I love it. I also find sanctuary looking through the microscope. It’s my happy world.
My micro-crystal art is in front of the marketing department of a large San Francisco Bay Area pharmaceutical company. I'm hoping they will be interested in allowing me to crystalize their products to be used for their marketing efforts.
I also want to do some more work with my clothing line, and I’ve started doing ‘fluid art’ (or ‘pour art’). You use acrylic paint, mix it different ways and pour it onto a canvas. Then, you manipulate it and add colors. I appreciate the abstractions that you get.
Where’s your sanctuary? (#WheresYourSanctuary)
I have two sanctuaries. One is going to the mountains, listening to the birds. I zone out in this environment, and I love it. I also find sanctuary looking through the microscope. It’s my happy world.
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UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS:
Thousand Oaks Art Association Open Juried Show February 2 - 26, 2019 Thousand Oaks, CA Seasons at the Hillcrest Center for the Arts February 22, 2019 - April 22, 2019 Thousand Oaks, CA Check out two of Carol's books: An Introduction to Digital Photomicrography Practical Digital Photomicrography: Photography Through the Microscope for the Life Sciences |
