My inspiration for this project was to create pieces of art relevant to my interests.
I decided upon drawing the Metallica logo on the EMB plate in order to see the effect of a sugar non-fermenting bacteria on the media. This resulted in an aura of media surrounding the area of bacterial growth darkening into a deeper magenta, and the bacteria (which grew creamy white on TSA) growing pink. I would have liked to create this design using E. coli, because the description of the resulting colors (black colonies with a metallic green shine) makes it sound way more “metal” than how my pink creation turned out.
I also designed a cat’s face with multiple cultures on a TSA plate, in order to create a cute and colorful painting. I decided to use the TSA plate for this design because I knew that all of the cultures would grow reasonably well on it, given its non-selective nature. The whiskers were meant to be all white, but I seem to have contaminated them with the S. marescens.