Sumiko Mizuno | Kunst-Spektrum.de

I have been fond of drawing pictures since my childhood. But when my older brother became a working adult, he gave me a present of an oil painting set, and this is what started me on my way toward the actual painting of pictures. Even after I became a working adult, I chose painting and the tea ceremony as hobbies that I wanted to continue for a long time, and I am still involved in both today. When I took employment at a company, first, I was assigned to the microorganism research laboratory. In that capacity, I gained experience in experiments on microorganism conversion and genetic recombination for the purpose of producing matter for use as raw materials of chemical and medical products.

My interest in experiments dates back to my elementary school days. The elementary school that I attended at that time placed particular stress on scientific research, for which purpose the school offered special science classes. Among the experiments carried out in these classes, there was a liquid named SUMP that could be used to see such things as the eyes of fireflies, the cells of onions, and the cells of human hair through a microscope. This made me so happy that I became such an enthusiast that I bought a microscope with my first allowance money. And after that I looked at all sorts of things through that microscope that I had bought for myself. Among these were pollen from flowers that bloomed in the garden at my home, and I remember collating files that were made up of pictures of pollen next to pictures of the flowers that it came from. At that time, I made up my mind to take employment where I could be involved in experiments in the future. Finally I gained employment at a research laboratory that I had always longed for, and I enthusiastically devoted myself entirely to responding to the problems given to me to solve by the company. And in order to achieve better results from my research, I began to feel the necessity to strengthen my powers of observation. So I used the painting of pictures to sharpen my sensitivities and to become able to notice minute changes in the color and shape of matter. Thus painting played a major role in my experiments. At present, I am spending more time painting pictures than researching microorganisms. I want to continue to paint things that have a world which exists there even though they are not visible to the naked eye.