Patho Phizz Information

Patho Phizz is the brainchild of Ben Parks and Marti Bein, a couple of artists with a vison: cover the teeming masses with teeming pathogens! Ben, who also works as a nurse at the local regional hospital, traces his original inspiration back to his days in Microbiology 101- entranced by the beauty of bugs under the microscope. Surely these images could be used creatively...then, graduation from nursing school, and that fateful first shopping spree to buy scrubs for work. Alas! a dearth of aesthetically pleasing and conceptually interesting clothing with which to adorn one's self! Sponge Bob? Nay! Khaki? Ka-ka! Butterflies and pansies? Not on this hip nurse! In late 2009, Ben, Marti and Ben's daughter, Aurora, started playing around with micrographs of pathogens and pathologies, enhancing colors, patterning them with the aid of computer programs. A couple of prototypes were made and we liked how they looked. Ben wore E. coli to work one day, followed by Pulmonary Embolism. His co-workers were intrigued. Sure, I'd buy that. Okay, thought us: Let the contagion begin!