Artist Brendan O'Connell to participate in Creativity Conversation at Emory

Acclaimed contemporary painter Brendan O'Connell will participate in a "Creativity Conversation" on Thursday, February 27 at 4 p.m. in the Reception Hall of the Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory University.

O'Connell will join Dr. David Lynn, Chair of Emory's Department of Chemistry, and Leslie Taylor, director of the Emory College Center for Creativity & Arts, for a conversation about the intersection of science, creativity and art. O'Connell's work explores our world through painting and allows the concept of each work to influence his approach and style. Dr. Lynn's research group at Emory seeks to understand how the fundamental forces of evolution can be employed to create new structures with new functions. Together they will discuss how art can illuminate science and how science can inform art.

"Brendan has followed a marvelously diverse personal path and I very much look forward to understanding the role he might see for the interfaces between art and science," says Dr. Lynn.

A graduate of Emory University, where he studied Philosophy and Spanish Literature, O'Connell has stirred up the art world with his eclectic paintings of everyday objects and spaces. He has been featured in the New Yorker, Time Magazine, The Boston Globe, Atlanta Magazine, Art in America and as a guest on the Colbert Report. O'Connell is also the founder of Everyartist Live!, a nonprofit organization with a mission to foster creativity and encourage art making in the next generation.

O'Connell's visit to Emory is part of the "Creation Stories" project, a year-long collaboration between Emory University, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and the Georgia Humanities Council. Made possible by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon foundation, this project explores timeless questions of origin, creation and intent that serve as a catalyst for human thought and creativity. During his visit, O'Connell will also talk to students in classes in the Art History and Visual Arts Departments, as well as the Emory Medical School.

This event is free and open to the public.