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Paintings unearth essence of geoscience with geo-artist Eirini Poulaki
Geology is a very visual subject, as a
geologist’s eye can classify rocks and unearth their million-year histories based on intricate details. While Eirini Poulaki actively pursues a geoscience PhD, she simultaneously creates geo-art. Many of her paintings are based on what is observed under the microscope in rock thin sections where mosaics of minerals light up the view. Different types of rocks have their own distinct group of minerals to be found, which can therefore be used as indicators of different rock types - such as the garnet mica schist seen to the right. Context is important too, Eirini shows rock outcrops in their surrounding landscape as well, presenting not only mineralogy and petrography on the micro-scale, but structural geology and the environment on the meso-scale.
Above: Garnet mica schist from Sikinos (painting 2). © Eirini Poulaki. All rights reserved.
Left: Meteora landscape painting (painting 5). © Eirini Poulaki. All rights reserved.
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