The Cerebrovascular Complexity of a Stroke
Kyllan Maney and Rayna Gonzales
Description
The inspiration behind the piece is based on the research work that Rayne is currently working on which is a medication that can be administered at the first sign of a stroke. The arrangement of the work is a depiction of a small brain artery. The center panel is a cross-section of the artery. And the two side panels are side profiles, one healthy and one in a state of a stroke.
About the process
Rayna and Kyllan met to discuss her research at her research laboratory. I had the opportunity to see cells under a microscope and talk further about her research she is working on. Rayna Explained the configuration of the cells in arteries and how they can cause a stroke. Her research is focusing on cell health and preventing the body’s autoimmune reaction when a person is having a stroke. The medicine she is researching holds off this response, so further treatment can be done once the patient receives medical care.
Since this research is about the cells and the process of having a stroke, I decided to create a painting that shows four stages of an artery. The first painting is a healthy artery, second is an artery starting to have plaque build up, third is an artery in the state of a stroke and the fourth canvas is the treated artery, which has returned to a healthier state.
Closer Look:
Materials: Acrylic paint on canvas
Dimensions:
Side panels 12”x48”
Center panels 60”x60”
Cost to purchase: $2,500
Meet the Team
Artist:
Kyllan Maney
Kyllan Maney is a public artist, muralist whose work is rooted in the interactive process between the viewer and her work. She enjoys the inventive and creative process of discovering transcendence in patterns and forms found in nature. Radial patterns are a common theme in Kyllan’s work, these pieces are considered by her as centering mediational moments.
Kyllan shows her work across the valley in various galleries. She has created numerous murals including for Scottsdale Public Art, Culdesac, Intel, Paypal, Meta, Feed the Hungry and Downtown Tempe. As a teaching artist, Kyllan shares her art knowledge as an Instructor and is the Head of the Visual Arts Department and the Painting/Mixed Media teacher at New School for the Arts and Academics.
Researcher:
Rayna Gonzales
Associate Professor
Rayna Gonzales is a vascular physiologist and Associate Professor in the Department of Basic Medical Sciences with a joint appointment in the Translational Neuroscience Department at the University of Arizona College of Medicine Phoenix (UA COM-P). She completed her post-doctoral training at the University of California Irvine in the field of cerebrovascular pharmacology after which I was recruited and hired as a founding faculty member at UA COM-P in 2007. She and her research team study the cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in regulating brain blood vessel wall function and health following stroke. Her studies aim to address critical parameters such as identify potential sex differences and further define stroke induced pathophysiology at the level of the cerebrovasculature.