Welcome to PopAtomic

Along with Dan Yurman, I want to welcome artist Suzy Hobbs of PopAtomic studios to the nuclear blog sphere. Her first post discusses the relationship between fine art and nuclear energy. Here's a lovely quote from that essay:

The fear of nuclear warfare, I believe, is a major contributing factor to the lack of support for nuclear energy. So, in developing new imagery, we try to use clean simple lines and bright colors to represent nuclear energy, in sharp contrast to the billowing grey mushroom cloud image.

An art studio sells art. Popatomic builds both custom artwork and wearable merchandise, such as T-shirts and Tote bags, at an Etsy store. Check it out!

Dan Yurman wrote a very thoughtful post welcoming PopAtomic.

The Pro-Nuclear Journey

I would like to say how much I welcome Suzy Hobbs, and understand the journey she has travelled.

When I first heard about PopAtomic studios several months ago, Suzy Hobbs did not put her name on her website. She was an artist in hiding. She lives in a very liberal town, and was afraid of people's reaction to her pro-nuclear opinions. Oh, she joked about her fears, but the bottom line was that she had a website, there was lots of art on it, but...no name. Ms. Hobbs uses her name now, and I am very glad of it.

I am on a similar journey. I have two business cards. One is for my company, Carnot Communications, and one is for this blog. I have not put this blog on my company card, or the company name on my blog site. I almost didn't start the blog, for fear that I would never work in this town again. Like Suzy Hobbs, I feared the reaction of people in my town.

I keep my blog separate from my work (which is okay and the right thing to do) but I also realize that I try to hide the blog from clients. It's a fine line. Keep separate is appropriate, hide is going too far. I am not sure exactly where I am on this continuum. It changes from day to day. It's a journey.

I think that being pro-nuclear in public is hard. We aren't heard because we don't dare to talk.

More Art and More Journeys

The relationship of art and literature to science has always fascinated me. I have no talent as a graphic artist. However, I think I am the only person who has ever written a sonnet cycle about corrosion. I wrote about twenty years ago. (I could post the poems, but right now I happen to be sober.)

It's a great day for art in the nuclear blogosphere. I also recommend Cheryl Rofer's post at Phronesisaical, a blog that often concerns itself with politics and arms control. In today's blog, Ms. Rofer honors the way Martin Gardner influenced her life with his fun-with-geometry columns in Scientific American. She describes the relatively short jump from paper-folding to organic chemistry in her post, with some nice graphics of cootie-catchers paper folding.

Another journey, from geometric art to science.

Let's all enjoy our journeys.