STARKVILLE — A neuron fires in a brain, sending an electrical impulse between neurotransmitters, sending a message that will eventually affect the body’s actions.
For Zoe Ishee, understanding this message requires two things: neuroscience and art.
“I’ve always been interested in consciousness,” Ishee said. “ … I’m interested in the psyche, anatomy. I love how the anatomy is alive. But it has everything to do with art for me, because it’s the whole reason we’re able to do anything.”
Ishee, a 20-year-old junior at Mississippi State University, studies psychology and cognitive science. She also works as a research assistant, running electroencephalogram machines to monitor people’s brainwaves. But over the past few weeks, she has been the artist-in-residence at the MacGown Art Retreat and Sanctuary.
MARS, owned by local artist and entomologist Joe MacGown, hosts one of the only private paid artist-in-residency programs in the state.
It is funded by stipends from the Del Rendon Foundation, a local charity that raises funds in support of local and regional art and music activities. Artists are paid to stay in a cabin on the property for weeks at a time to focus on their artwork and to connect with local art enthusiasts.
MacGown said Ishee’s dual fascination with science and art led him to invite her to be a part of the residency program.
“We’re looking for people that we think would fit in what we’re doing,” MacGown said. “And being weird or (multitalented) doesn’t hurt. Zoe is a good example. She’s an artist, she’s in neuroscience… she sings, she plays guitar and she writes poetry.”
Ishee could not pinpoint when her fascination with the mind and art began, as she was always encouraged to pursue art as a career growing up. While growing up in Brandon, she said she drew “corporate stuff,” to pursue graphic design, while her personal art focused on “monsters and mushroom men,” which were displayed at the Pacesetter Fine Arts Gallery in 2021.
But when it was time to go to college, Ishee decided to change paths and pursue a career in neuroscience.
Ishee described her current role in the research process, much of which involves directly interacting with subjects of the study.
“You put the cap on them, and then you fit it to their head,” Ishee said. “It’s pretty personal. Then you put the gel on, which conducts electricity from their scalp to the actual electrode. Then we hook that up to the computer … and a lot of the time we’ll do eye tracking at the same time.”
Ishee said she likes getting to see people’s brain waves as a way to understand others better. Her current artwork is also centered around this idea of connecting with others more deeply and anatomically, not just on the surface.
One of her paintings, “To See,” which Ishee finished during the residency, depicts two brightly colored people leaning towards each other and touching each others’ faces gently. The figures are accompanied by the message, “It is not enough to graze your senses for you to encounter me. It’s not enough. It’s not enough for me to wriggle my way into the sulci (grooves) of your brain. I need to penetrate the barrier. I need to be inside of your mind.”
Ishee said her time at MARS has helped her art to mature, as she has been able to spend time creating more mixed media works, including acrylic paint, pen and ink and collage work on canvases and in photo frames. Her poetry is a generally new addition to her work.
“I’ve always written poetry, but I was shy,” Ishee said. “And it’s so much more personal. … But now I’m trying to mix (my art) with poetry. That’s kind of where I’m at now. I want to use the residency to make it more cathartic and emotive.”
Some of Ishee’s newest pieces were on display at a reception at the Del Rendon art gallery on Thursday and a mural painted by her will remain at the retreat following the end of the residency.
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