from USA Today

Van Gogh’s ‘Starry Night’ recreated with bacteria in petri dish

by Mary Bowerman

(Photo: American Society for Microbiology)

Bacteria may not be the tool of choice for most artists, but for microbiologists getting in touch with their creative side, it’s just as good as paint.

Microbiologists, members of the American Society of Microbiology, and a few citizen scientists were recently challenged to use microbes to create works of art as part of the American Society for Microbiology’s first Agar Art contest.

As a canvas, each artist used a petri dish filled with agar, a jelly type substance where bacteria live and grow.

“The artist picked the bacteria they wanted to use based on the different color expressed when that strain of bacteria grows,” Emily Dilger, public outreach manager for American Society for Microbiology, told USA TODAY Network.

The winners of the contest were announced in September and works of art included representations of Vincent Van Gogh’s “Starry Night,” as well as numerous originals. There was even an outline of North Carolina created with Chromobacterium violaceum,which is a flesh-eating pathogen, according to American Society of Microbiology.

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