If you don’t recognize the hashtag above or if you have not clicked on it in your Twitter stream this week, then you are in for a wonderful surprise right now.

#Sciart stands for science art. It’s a twitter hashtag used identify any art or artist that has a relationship with science. It includes medical and scientific illustrators, sculptors, 3-D modelers, jewelry makers, clothing and fabric designers, tattoo artists, cartoonists, photographers, painters, video producers, and many many other artistic people.

Last Sunday (Mar 1) Toronto artist, Glendon Mellow (@FlyingTrilobite) and the rest of the @Symbiartic team over at Scientific American Blogs, challenged the #sciart Twitter community to launch a “Tweet Storm” — that is to flood Twitter with images of science-related art. The rules were simple:

sciarttweetstorm_guide

Image © Glendon Mellow used with permission

The goal was modest — 1,600 tweets containing #SciArt per day; 11,200 in a week.

The result was glorious. Not only did #sciart surpass the Tweet goal (> 5,000 tweets in first 2 days; 12,000 as of Thursday morning) but the stunning beauty and expansive variety of the art has been simply overwhelming.

In a world grown weary of online complaints, harassment and criticism, the #SciArt gallery has captivated Twitter.

So I urge you click on over and check out #SciArt on Twitter. I promise, you will thank me. Meanwhile, here’s a taste of what you’ll find there:

 

 

 

 

Ok, I’m really going to try to stop now.  You’ll have to go see the rest yourself. Enjoy!