Microcosm by OSU emeritus professor and artist Andi Wolfe will be on display in the Living Art and Ecology Lab, Hopkins Hall 340, from December 2024 to December 2025. This work was created by Wolfe through an invited artist residency with University of Wyoming’s Microbestiary Project in 2023.
Artist’s Statement
“Unseen to our naked eyes there exists a hidden world of life. When we think of life on Earth, we are typically drawn to plants and animals we can see around us, or, perhaps more often, in beautifully produced nature documentaries. One has only to look through the eye piece of a microscope at a drop of pond water to be amazed at the diversity of microbial life.
I am particularly drawn to Protozoans, which mimic macroscopic organisms in the drama of biological interactions. One-celled organisms that function as primary producers make food from sunlight, water, and air are the analogs of plants in terrestrial systems. Protozoans can also function as herbivores and predators, and the arms race between organisms play out in the microscope world as well as on the larger scale familiar to us.
The diversity of protozoan shapes, sizes, mode of locomotion, cell surfaces, and mechanisms for taking up nutrition fascinate me. Microcosm consists of 168 sculpted protozoans made from flame-worked borosilicate glass, placed in a matrix inspired by the dimensions of a microscope slide.”
About the Artist
Andi Wolfe spent her career as a botanist at The Ohio State University. During this time, she examined the natural world of plants from the macroscopic landscape to the molecular. Simultaneously, she explored art whenever she had time via sculptural woodturning, photography, painting, and glass. She is currently a Professor Emerita, allowing more time to focus on her artistic endeavors. Her work is in many private and public collections and has been featured in exhibits throughout the USA. Examples of her work can be can be viewed on her website and on Instagram @andiwolfe.