Please welcome Little Rock artist and science aficionado Tom Knight and his exhibition “Micro Art: Crystallography and Spectroscopic Refraction” to the Lobby Gallery January 3 – February 28. There will be an artist’s reception from 5:30pm to 7:00pm on Saturday, January 21.

Knight brings his “Micro Art” to the South Arkansas Arts Center marrying both art and science in this unique exhibition. Each photo in the exhibit was taken with a phase-contrast microscope, magnifying items between 100x’s and 1000x’s.

Knight discovered a passion for the “microscopic world” as young as 10 years-old when he received a microscope for Christmas. With his interest piqued, he delved into the secrets of another world. For him, “the thrill of discovery is everywhere – in a sugar crystal, in the wonder of a living cell, or in the creatures living in the nearest pond.” Knight eventually discovered how to share this adventure and passion with others by photographing samples through the microscope, also known as “photomicrography.”

Knight, who was born and raised in El Dorado and left El Dorado in 1967, dabbled in college courses as well as telecommunications in the United States Air Force up until 1973. Knight eventually settled into a career at the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality where he worked for roughly 20 years and is now retired.