Jess Holz
@jessholz.bsky.social
Artist and microscopist. MFA art + technology, but work in a neuro lab by day. Insects, neurons, electron microscopy… follow me to see lots of plankton videos…
jessholz.com
jessholz.com
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Jess Holz
@jessholz.bsky.social
· Nov 16
Hello hello world. I’m on here now. I am a microscope addict. I do a lot of plankton chronophotography, see below video of vorticella feeding currents. I love the microworld and consider myself an advocate for these tiny creatures, I like to make them visible. Will post more soon
When the brain states back: spooky neuron faces I’ve found, for halloween (‘eye’ see u…) #sciart #electronmicroscopy #pareidolia
October 31, 2025 at 11:35 PM
When the brain states back: spooky neuron faces I’ve found, for halloween (‘eye’ see u…) #sciart #electronmicroscopy #pareidolia
Had a blast at Artisans Asylum open studios scoping tardigrades. Made some fun timelapse too with the ciliates in the sample providing the ‘scribbles’. Def attracted nerdy types with the tardigrades, but even people who didn’t know what they were were captivated by their cute little wiggles.
October 26, 2025 at 11:58 PM
Had a blast at Artisans Asylum open studios scoping tardigrades. Made some fun timelapse too with the ciliates in the sample providing the ‘scribbles’. Def attracted nerdy types with the tardigrades, but even people who didn’t know what they were were captivated by their cute little wiggles.
Nice to see artwork from my new scope finally on paper. Gearing up for Artisans Asylum open studios this Saturday 2-7pm. I’ll be selling plankton stickers and will have a live tardigrade station! #sciart #microscopy
October 23, 2025 at 11:53 PM
Nice to see artwork from my new scope finally on paper. Gearing up for Artisans Asylum open studios this Saturday 2-7pm. I’ll be selling plankton stickers and will have a live tardigrade station! #sciart #microscopy
Boston folk, Artisans Asylum fall open studios is next Saturday, 2-7pm. I will be setting up a live tardigrade station in my studio! :) Would love to see you there. tinyurl.com/FallIntoMaking #sciart #microscopy
October 19, 2025 at 9:44 PM
Boston folk, Artisans Asylum fall open studios is next Saturday, 2-7pm. I will be setting up a live tardigrade station in my studio! :) Would love to see you there. tinyurl.com/FallIntoMaking #sciart #microscopy
If anyone on here knows how to ID polychaete larva, I’d love to work with you on getting to the species level on these worms I always find in Boston harbor. I could provide a ton of photos, if I knew what to image for an ID. I know they are spionid but that’s it. #sciart #microscopy #plankton
October 12, 2025 at 3:53 PM
If anyone on here knows how to ID polychaete larva, I’d love to work with you on getting to the species level on these worms I always find in Boston harbor. I could provide a ton of photos, if I knew what to image for an ID. I know they are spionid but that’s it. #sciart #microscopy #plankton
Still looking for an id on this weird robot looking copepod I found on vacation in Maine, anyone have any ideas? www.inaturalist.org/observations... #sciart #microscopy
Copepods (Subclass Copepoda)
Copepods from Tremont, ME, USA on August 25, 2025 at 05:41 PM by pinkbeetle. weird robot looking copepod. Would love an ID on this one!
www.inaturalist.org
October 12, 2025 at 3:28 PM
Still looking for an id on this weird robot looking copepod I found on vacation in Maine, anyone have any ideas? www.inaturalist.org/observations... #sciart #microscopy
October 11, 2025 at 10:52 PM
For #fluorescencefriday I just thought these neurons in the lateral geniculate nucleus were pretty. #sciart #microscopy #confocal
October 11, 2025 at 12:22 AM
For #fluorescencefriday I just thought these neurons in the lateral geniculate nucleus were pretty. #sciart #microscopy #confocal
Really loved this part of Plankton Performance at MIT museum. This part of Movement II: Charles river is done using timelapse and fluorescence microscopy. Note all the filamentous cyanobacteria. Big red blobs are rotifers with chlorophyll in their bellies swimming around. #sciart #experimentalvideo
September 14, 2025 at 3:08 PM
Really loved this part of Plankton Performance at MIT museum. This part of Movement II: Charles river is done using timelapse and fluorescence microscopy. Note all the filamentous cyanobacteria. Big red blobs are rotifers with chlorophyll in their bellies swimming around. #sciart #experimentalvideo
If anyone is curious to see Plankton Performance at MIT Museum last Friday (my collaboration with sound artist Senem Pirler and local Boston plankton under the microscope), I just uploaded a video here: youtu.be/mIxZhLeqJoo?... #sciart #microscopy
Plankton Performance at MIT Museum Sept 12th 2025
YouTube video by Jess Holz
youtu.be
September 14, 2025 at 2:59 PM
If anyone is curious to see Plankton Performance at MIT Museum last Friday (my collaboration with sound artist Senem Pirler and local Boston plankton under the microscope), I just uploaded a video here: youtu.be/mIxZhLeqJoo?... #sciart #microscopy
I’m a day late for #fluorescencefriday but I had a blast at MIT museum ‘performing’ with live improvised sound by Dr. Senem Pirler. Vid shows fluorescence microscopy of the Charles river, note all the cyanobacteria. #sciart #plankton
September 13, 2025 at 8:18 PM
I’m a day late for #fluorescencefriday but I had a blast at MIT museum ‘performing’ with live improvised sound by Dr. Senem Pirler. Vid shows fluorescence microscopy of the Charles river, note all the cyanobacteria. #sciart #plankton
Plankton Performance, this Friday 7pm at MIT museum. I will be collaborating with plankton from the Charles river under my leicamicrosystems.bsky.social microscope, while Senem Pirler responds to their movements and behavior with sound. mitmuseum.mit.edu/programs/pla... #sciart
September 7, 2025 at 4:16 PM
Plankton Performance, this Friday 7pm at MIT museum. I will be collaborating with plankton from the Charles river under my leicamicrosystems.bsky.social microscope, while Senem Pirler responds to their movements and behavior with sound. mitmuseum.mit.edu/programs/pla... #sciart
A rare green fluorescent flagellate, ‘swimming plant’, trails in timelapse under fluorescence microscopy. Anyone know what causes green fluorescence in marine critters? 99.9% of flagellates I find are red from chlorophyll. Sample collected from Boston harbor. #sciart #algae #plankton
September 1, 2025 at 1:30 PM
Lovely vacation with my folks on Mt Desert Island in Maine. Amazing spot on the water, I brought a little scope and had a blast looking at sea life. Even the lichen next to the house had tardigrades! #sciart #microscopy
August 29, 2025 at 11:33 PM
Lovely vacation with my folks on Mt Desert Island in Maine. Amazing spot on the water, I brought a little scope and had a blast looking at sea life. Even the lichen next to the house had tardigrades! #sciart #microscopy
I’ll be ‘performing’ with lively plankton from the Charles river at MIT museum Sept 12th, 7pm. Composer Senem Pirler will respond to the plankton movements with sound. Would love to see you there! #sciart #microscopy
✨🦠 Join artist Jess Holz @jessholz.bsky.social & composer Senem Pirler for "Plankton Performance," a live sci-art experience under a Leica DMRB microscope!
📍 MIT Museum, Sept 12, 7PM EDT
🔗 Get info: https://fcld.ly/zzw2dn9
#sciart #planktonpainting #ScienceMeetsArt
📍 MIT Museum, Sept 12, 7PM EDT
🔗 Get info: https://fcld.ly/zzw2dn9
#sciart #planktonpainting #ScienceMeetsArt
Plankton Performance | MIT Museum
Join us for an improvised collaboration between artist Jess Holz and composer Senem Pirler.
fcld.ly
August 29, 2025 at 7:40 PM
I’ll be ‘performing’ with lively plankton from the Charles river at MIT museum Sept 12th, 7pm. Composer Senem Pirler will respond to the plankton movements with sound. Would love to see you there! #sciart #microscopy
Started my vacation with a family visit to my studio, looking at water from the harbor. My sister Brit is the one that crocheted me all the adorable critters (great for workshops too). And we found a polychaete that looked like toothless! Below. #microscopy #sciart
August 23, 2025 at 3:11 AM
Started my vacation with a family visit to my studio, looking at water from the harbor. My sister Brit is the one that crocheted me all the adorable critters (great for workshops too). And we found a polychaete that looked like toothless! Below. #microscopy #sciart
I’m excited to announce Plankton Painting as a live audiovisual event/concert, in collaboration with Dr. Senem Pirler who will respond to the rhythms, textures, and motion of these lively organisms through sound. Boston folk, I’d love to see you there! mitmuseum.mit.edu/programs/pla... #sciart
August 9, 2025 at 9:52 PM
I’m excited to announce Plankton Painting as a live audiovisual event/concert, in collaboration with Dr. Senem Pirler who will respond to the rhythms, textures, and motion of these lively organisms through sound. Boston folk, I’d love to see you there! mitmuseum.mit.edu/programs/pla... #sciart
Plankton painting at MIT museum was a blast! I’m stoked that 80 ppl came, the auditorium was almost full. See paintings from today at: flickr.com/PlanktonPainting Bosmina bloom in the Charles river right now, made things interesting. #sciart #microscopy
July 12, 2025 at 9:32 PM
Plankton painting at MIT museum was a blast! I’m stoked that 80 ppl came, the auditorium was almost full. See paintings from today at: flickr.com/PlanktonPainting Bosmina bloom in the Charles river right now, made things interesting. #sciart #microscopy
Couple new species of plankton sticker just arrived for my workshop at @ MIT museum Saturday 11am. Boston folk, would love to see you there! You can nab one of @phyrexianmetamour.bsky.social pokémon inspired rotifers too! mitmuseum.mit.edu/programs/pla... #sciart
July 10, 2025 at 12:52 AM
Couple new species of plankton sticker just arrived for my workshop at @ MIT museum Saturday 11am. Boston folk, would love to see you there! You can nab one of @phyrexianmetamour.bsky.social pokémon inspired rotifers too! mitmuseum.mit.edu/programs/pla... #sciart
Boston folk, I’ll be doing a plankton painting workshop at MIT museum next weekend July 12th 11-12:30pm. Come see plankton from the harbor and the Charles, and print out your timelapse creation. There will be plankton stickers! #sciart #microscopy
July 5, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Boston folk, I’ll be doing a plankton painting workshop at MIT museum next weekend July 12th 11-12:30pm. Come see plankton from the harbor and the Charles, and print out your timelapse creation. There will be plankton stickers! #sciart #microscopy
Excited about these insect eye prepared slides I just got. I’ve always been super fascinated by insect eyes, starting in 2007 with my first installation ‘Eye art with corpses’, insect eyes made out of cast lenses surveying a scene of death and destruction below (crushed bugs). #sciart #microscopy
June 19, 2025 at 8:21 PM
Excited about these insect eye prepared slides I just got. I’ve always been super fascinated by insect eyes, starting in 2007 with my first installation ‘Eye art with corpses’, insect eyes made out of cast lenses surveying a scene of death and destruction below (crushed bugs). #sciart #microscopy
Slime mold cytoplasmic streaming. Physarium Polycephalum is a multinucleate giant single cell! Super new to slime molds but I’m hooked. Fist 20 secs sped up but the rest is not, the streaming is just -super- fast. Watch for flow reversals. #sciart #microscopy
June 12, 2025 at 3:16 PM
Slime mold cytoplasmic streaming. Physarium Polycephalum is a multinucleate giant single cell! Super new to slime molds but I’m hooked. Fist 20 secs sped up but the rest is not, the streaming is just -super- fast. Watch for flow reversals. #sciart #microscopy
I accidentally deleted the amoeba painting post, oops. Here is the video, sped up 20x, that created the paintings. They are just on a different timescale. #sciart #microscopy #protist
June 9, 2025 at 10:35 PM
I accidentally deleted the amoeba painting post, oops. Here is the video, sped up 20x, that created the paintings. They are just on a different timescale. #sciart #microscopy #protist
Timelapse of spirochete ‘Milky way’ + ciliates disturbing it. #sciart #microscopy
June 1, 2025 at 1:27 AM
Timelapse of spirochete ‘Milky way’ + ciliates disturbing it. #sciart #microscopy