In the Dana Chemistry Hall lab of Paula Schlax, professor of chemistry, hangs a velvet Elvis painting. It鈥檚 the standard version: a head and shoulders view of the costumed crooner at a microphone.
The painting reflects the fact that, over time, a research lab begins to reflect the people and personalities who inhabit them, says Schlax. 鈥淵ou spend a lot of time in there, and you want to make it feel a little bit like home.鈥�
The Elvis portrait was her choice. 鈥淓lvis was a huge joke in my family,鈥� she says. Her parents, who moved to Memphis, Tenn., when she was in college, lived near Graceland, and 鈥渢he first few times I went down there, we had to tour Graceland every single time.鈥�
A velvet Elvis painting hands above a glassware drying rack in the Dana Chemistry Hall lab of Professor of Chemistry Paula Schlax. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)
One day 鈥� her wedding day, it turns out 鈥� she was driving along when she spotted a velvet Elvis at a garage sale. She purchased it (25 cents), and it鈥檚 been with her ever since.
In 1998, Elvis went up on the wall of Schlax鈥檚 first-floor Dana lab on the day she moved in, and he hasn鈥檛 been moved since. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think he鈥檚 ever been dusted,鈥� she says, adding that students 鈥済et used to it. They think I鈥檓 weird, and that鈥檚 fine.鈥� (More than fine: Schlax won the 2016 Kroepsch Award for Excellence in Teaching on the strength of recommendations from current and former students.)
Against the backdrop of serious science, the Elvis painting gives the lab some comedic kitsch. 鈥淚t鈥檚 ugly as sin. It really is ugly,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 certainly never going up in my home. It can stay here forever.鈥�
