Resiliency (2021) · 3:08
Stop-motion illustration by Erin McGee Ferrell, commissioned by Dr. Susan Wehry at the University of New England.
Recovery (2021) · 3:50
Part two of Erin McGee Ferrell’s stop-motion medical illustration collaboration with Dr. Susan Wehry at the University of New England.
Erin McGee Ferrell · Selected projects
Art & Science
Erin McGee Ferrell is a contemporary artist whose painting and interdisciplinary practice engage with biology, neuroscience, and the behavior of materials. Through cellular abstraction, temperature-responsive pigments, light, sound, and stop-motion animation, she explores how art can make unseen processes perceptible.
These selected projects bring together studio experimentation, medical illustration, and learning through collaboration—from natural pigments in Tena, Ecuador, to thermochromic workshops in Bahrain and AlUla, Saudi Arabia, and research illustration at the University of New England.
01 / Imagining the microscopic
Petri Dish Cell Series
Developed over a number of years, the Petri Dish series consists of large mixed-media paintings that imagine the view through a microscope into a Petri dish. Expanding cells, branching structures, and shifting edges transform an intimate biological scale into an immersive painted surface. This cellular art draws on the microscopic world as a starting point for abstraction and material exploration.
Selected exhibition history
- Swanson Reed Contemporary Gallery, Louisville, Kentucky · February 2016
- Wausau Museum of Contemporary Art, Wausau, Wisconsin · Inaugural exhibition, October 2017 · Honorable Mention
- RE/MAX Shoreline, Portland, Maine
Art meets biology
02 / Cells and sound
White Blood Cells
These paintings extend the exploration of cellular life into sound and moving images. Embedded NFC tags connect viewers to the sound of blood pumping through the body and to audio and video of white blood cells at work.
Some of the paintings debuted in Resilience at Creative Portland, Portland, Maine, in 2023. The exhibition ran from May through December.
The painted surface becomes an entry point into processes usually hidden from view.
03 / Color in motion
Thermochromic Color Exploration
Thermochromic pigments change color as temperature changes. Ferrell explores heat, cooling, and the warmth of sunlight as active elements in painting, allowing a composition’s colors to shift with its environment.
This experimentation informed paintings connected with the Formula 1 Grand Prix in Bahrain. She also taught workshops introducing thermochromic paints and pigments in Bahrain and at Turquoise Mountain in AlUla, Saudi Arabia.
Featured video
See thermochromic pigments in action
Watch Ferrell explore thermochromic pigments mixed with oil paint in this introduction to her color-changing paintings.
Explore the Bahrain Formula 1 project · Painting and workshops in Saudi Arabia
More thermochromic pigment exploration
04 / Light held in paint
Bioluminescence
Inspired by bioluminescence in oceans and waterways, these paintings bring light-responsive powders into paint. The surfaces glow under black light and retain an afterglow once the light is switched off. Ferrell describes the glow as lasting approximately six hours after activation.
The work was showcased at the University of New England in a prominent gallery window. Illuminated by a black light, the painting could then be seen glowing from outside the gallery after the light was turned off.
At the University of New England
River to the Sea: UNE Faculty Exhibition 2022
October 7–December 16, 2022 · UNE Art Gallery, Biddeford, Maine
Selected paintings
05 / Color from the forest
Painting with Amazonian Pigments
During her 2018 Ecuador project, Ferrell explored charcoal and natural pigments from Amazonian plants and rocks alongside locally sourced painting materials. Working in Tena, she experimented with how these colors behaved on prepared surfaces and handmade watercolor paper.
Ferrell studied with Elías Mamallacta Alvarado, a Kichwa painter whose practice draws on ancestral traditions and natural pigments from the Amazon forest. She also learned from women in Tena’s local marketplace how to create pigments from Amazonian plants and rocks.
This work continues her interest in painting as a form of artistic and scientific discovery: observing materials, trying unfamiliar processes, and following the possibilities of color.
The project connects with Amazon Learning / Amazon Learning Services in Tena, Ecuador, whose programs are now presented through Beyond Travels.
Explore the Ecuador project and proposed rooftop papermaking workshop
Watch Elías Mamallacta at work
06 / Illustrating neuroscience · 2021
Medical Illustration & Stop-Motion Collaboration at UNE
Commissioned by Dr. Susan Wehry, M.D., at the University of New England, Erin McGee Ferrell collaborated on illustrating Dr. Wehry’s research through two short educational films: Resiliency and Recovery.
Using simple illustrations and stop-motion animation, Ferrell made the amygdala’s role in the fight-or-flight response accessible through moving images. The two films explore resilience and recovery through this collaboration between art and medical research.
Dr. Susan Wehry is a geriatric psychiatrist and an Associate Clinical Professor in the Department of Geriatric Medicine at UNE’s College of Osteopathic Medicine. She also serves as Program Director of AgingME at UNE’s Center for Healthy Aging.
Art and animation: Erin McGee Ferrell
Commission: Dr. Susan Wehry · University of New England
Dr. Susan Wehry at UNE · Dr. Wehry’s work on resilience and aging
Related art and science projects
Ferrell’s broader work connects painting with scientific collaboration, including the study of cells and cancer systems.
Explore Art, Cancer & Collaboration
Read UNE’s feature on her art and science work at Columbia University
Exhibitions & CV · Contact Erin about art, exhibitions, and workshops
Watch both films below.