In the summer of 2014, Annet Couwenberg, a professor within the Fiver Department at the Maryland Institute College of Art and an internationally exhibited artist, received a prestigious Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship (SARF). This program, which pairs scientists with visual artists, gave Couwenberg the opportunity to work with Dr. Lynne Parenti of the Department of Vertebrate Zoology, Division of Fishes, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution. Together, they used advanced imaging technology, including digital x-rays, slides of cells and tissue, and microscopic photography to examine fish fossils in the museum's laboratory. Back in her own studio, Couwenberg applied the patterns and structures captured through these high-tech methods to a series of mixed media sculptures. While she employed computer software, digital laser cutters, polyethylene (a common plastic), and screws in making these objects, Couwenberg assembles her artworks by hand and used traditional fiber materials such as stiff cotton buckram and felt. Even though these sculptures were inspired by the interdependence of skeleton and skin in the aquatic life forms she studied at the Smithsonian, they also connect visually to textiles and costumes from Couwenberg's Dutch heritage - particularly laces, collars, and headdresses produced in the Netherlands centuries ago. In her most recent efforts to tie scientific examination to artistic creativity, Couwenberg pays homage to the Netherland's history of damask weaving, especially during the 17th century, a time when the famous white damask table linen from Haarlem was referred to as "white gold." Returning to her homeland this spring, she produced four damask panels at the TextielLab in Tilburg, each featuring designs generated by her Smithsonian studies and further inspired by the BMA's "Portrait of a Young Woman" (1634) by Dutch artist Frans Hals (c. 1582-1666). As a contemporary artist adept in the use of new technology but also deeply appreciative of historical textiles and hand processes, Couwenberg demonstrates how uniting science, art, technology, and history can result in fascinating artistic innovation.