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Whatever
floats your boat…Coccolithophore
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| Price
€5,000. Dimensions 2.5 m L x 1 m D x 1 m H. |
- Outside: Insight 2010, Sculpture in the Gardens, at Brigit's Garden
- Sculpture in Context 2009 at The National Botanic Gardens
Perhaps
what fascinates me the most about microscopic organisms is that in many
ways they are hidden to all but a few. All around us,
organisms
measured in microns - are living, dying, reproducing and adapting at an
incredible rate. Organisms that are so tiny only the most
powerful microscope can see them and yet at times they exist in such
infinitesimal numbers they can be seen from space! And so
once
again I am drawn to tiny organisms, neither plant nor animal but
possessing a few traits of both.
Indeed, when we think about single-celled algae or Coccolithophores, we sometimes forget their beauty, strangeness and visual impact. But they are not only beautiful organisms they are also important ones too. Due to the possession of a calcium carbonate exoskeleton or scales, Coccolithophores have constituted a major part of the fine-grained sediment in our oceans for the last 230 million years.
What Coccoliths (algae) lack in size they make up in volume. At any one time, a single Coccolithophore is attached to or surrounded by at least 30 scales or plates and scientists estimate that these organisms shed more than 1.5 million tons of calcite a year. As a result, they are a significant player in the global carbon cycle and perhaps less obviously because they have been around as long as the dinosaurs, the fossil record of Coccoliths is of enormous geological value. Who would have thought the humble algae would be so important in the evolution of the Earth or indeed that they would have such an amazing visual appearance at a microscopic level?
My Coccoliths were hand built using a highly grogged crank clay and were fired to stoneware temperatures. As each spherical form consists of layers of scales or plates the pieces were constructed by joining the individual plates together to form each sphere. When Coccolithophore meets optimum growth conditions, they become so abundant they can reach bloom proportions and they become detectable on satellite images as a dense cloud of turquoise. Staying true to this phenomenon, I have glazed the pieces in this colour palette.
While it is rare for this type of algae to occur in fresh water, for a few short months I have filled a little red boat with my sculptural interpretation of these fascinating organisms giving a completely new meaning to the phrase, “whatever floats your boat”!
Indeed, when we think about single-celled algae or Coccolithophores, we sometimes forget their beauty, strangeness and visual impact. But they are not only beautiful organisms they are also important ones too. Due to the possession of a calcium carbonate exoskeleton or scales, Coccolithophores have constituted a major part of the fine-grained sediment in our oceans for the last 230 million years.
What Coccoliths (algae) lack in size they make up in volume. At any one time, a single Coccolithophore is attached to or surrounded by at least 30 scales or plates and scientists estimate that these organisms shed more than 1.5 million tons of calcite a year. As a result, they are a significant player in the global carbon cycle and perhaps less obviously because they have been around as long as the dinosaurs, the fossil record of Coccoliths is of enormous geological value. Who would have thought the humble algae would be so important in the evolution of the Earth or indeed that they would have such an amazing visual appearance at a microscopic level?
My Coccoliths were hand built using a highly grogged crank clay and were fired to stoneware temperatures. As each spherical form consists of layers of scales or plates the pieces were constructed by joining the individual plates together to form each sphere. When Coccolithophore meets optimum growth conditions, they become so abundant they can reach bloom proportions and they become detectable on satellite images as a dense cloud of turquoise. Staying true to this phenomenon, I have glazed the pieces in this colour palette.
While it is rare for this type of algae to occur in fresh water, for a few short months I have filled a little red boat with my sculptural interpretation of these fascinating organisms giving a completely new meaning to the phrase, “whatever floats your boat”!
About
Sculpture in Context:
