I have always been interested in the sea and sea life. For some time I have been looking at images of Diatoms and Radiolarions, microscopic life form with silica based skeletons and thinking that their forms look sculptural and could make for an amazing body of work. After browsing on the internet I was hooked on the idea and chose the Saddle Diatom below as an example, I figured the complex curves would make it a learning experience. Bear in mind when looking at this that it is a living organism, a single celled plant and that it is invisible to the naked eye.

 I was also half expecting it to end up an abandoned project, But I set to work. Here are a few pictures of the finished sculpture, I was fascinated by the way it changes shape from different angles.

Since taking the photo above I have rusted, polished and lacquered the Diatom and mounted it in a space frame that raises it off the floor and allows it to rotate in the wind, it also casts some fantastic shadows in bright sunlight, the range of shapes visible is quite stunning. Note also the deep bronze colour, which turns more golden as the light changes in the evening.

 

In the first picture we can see the same figure '8' as in the image above and an interesting symetrical shape in the shadow.

 

A sculpture to watch as well as to look at.

Looking at the finished sculpture I am constantly struck by the shapes visible within it that are relevant on a human scale, eg seats, walkways, buildings, the list seems endless as do the potential projects that I can see as spinoffs of this one piece of work.

Here is an image of the half completed sculpture, I was tempted to stop at this point as I loved the abstract shapes involved. 

Straightaway I can see there is a definite fork coming in my work and that is an avenue that I have to explore further.

The next sculpture in this series is based on a Radiolarian, another single celled plant.

This sculpture stands 2.8m (9ft) tall and is a piece that I would love to make on a much larger scale, it is made of mild steel and has been treated to accelerate the rusting process. I can see this would make a marvelous garden obelisk or tower for trailing plants t grow over

Next is a detail shot from a low angle accentuating the feeling of height and space in the structure.

Finally a shot from inside the sculpture showing some of the repeated patterns involved in it's structure.

Here is an image of Radiolaria drawn by Haeckel on The Challenger Voyage, these are a few of his thousands of exquisite drawings of these miraculous phenomena.

This is an area of my work that I can see developing and probably scaling up as I become more familiar with the structures involved.

                                               contact artinsteel@tiscali.co.uk

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