It's been awhile since I posted updates. The primary reason is that I had a misfortunate mishap where I dislocated and broke my shoulder, and damaged a tendon and my rotator cuff. This took place in mid-April. I had successful repair surgery on May 2nd and have been doing physical therapy to rehabilitate my shoulder.
I had already started my artist residency for the University of Wyoming's Microbestiary project. I'm one of three artists who are working on interpreting microbiology through art. The other two are Tristan Duke and Reza Safavi. We had a visit together in March where we visited scientists and facilities at the University of Wyoming. I was scheduled to do a second trip in May, but had shoulder surgery a few days before the trip was to happen.
I was about half-way through my installation project for the residency when my mishap occurred. As soon as I was released from the sling after my 6-week post-surgery appointment, I got back to the project.
My main project for the residency is an installation of glass blown and sculpted borosilicate protozoans. I included 168 protozoans to fill a 3 ft X 9 ft space (same proportions as a microscope slide). I had fun doing research on protozoa for this project, and I enjoyed making my sculptures. The exhibit opens on August 26th, at the University of Wyoming Art Museum, and will run through the end of the year.
There are 168 protozoans in this installation, which is titled Microcosm
I based the sculptures on real protozoans. There’s more diversity in these eukaryotic unicellular organisms than I had ever imagined.
This was my mock-up installation. The frame for the exhibit will be different, but the arrangement of the sculptures will be what is shown here.
Here’s a link to a video I posted on instagram, which gives a more intimate view of the installation: Microcosm