Her cross-disciplinary work often includes microscopy and biomedical imaging, and is described as "something uncanny... where one's consciousness can neither respond in a unified way to the bodily sensations or float free in imaginary space; it is caught in the in-between." Influenced by the early work of the MIT Center for Advanced Visual Studies, and the art and visual perception theories of Rudolf Arnheim, Olynyk was one of the first artists in the US appointed to a university science unit, is listed as one of the 66 Brilliant Women in Creative Technology, and has programmed art, science and technology curriculum, symposiums and fellowships at research institutions.
