Captivated by the periodic table’s cultural power as one of the scientific icons, numerous contemporary visual artists transmute the table into a contemplation of its symbols and substance. This article employs a cross-disciplinary model of art criticism that focuses on the specific ways artists illuminate the periodic table’s cataloging innovation, memorable visuality, formal qualities and semiotic resonances.

The author’s visual art project is concentrated in the specific area of scientific photography of the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), which has expanded the boundaries of observation and representation of the micro world since it was introduced to scientific research in the mid-1960s. Like a number of other artists who have preceded the author, she investigates how to interpret scientific images captured by the SEM as aesthetic forms. In particular, the author considers microscale drops of water from different aquatic systems after evaporation. She does so in an attempt to discover morphological features of the patterns related to water contamination and thus continue in the lineage of artists’ attempts to turn scientific photography into a creative art form.