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If the idea of a work of art based on algae doesn't give you goose bumps, don't feel bad — artist Amy Caron can sympathize. She wasn't crazy initially about the idea, either.
Caron's architectural sculpture "Holotype" will be unveiled to the public today at The Leonardo museum. The project began months ago, when the museum's executive director Alex Hesse commissioned the work, picking algae as the inspiration.
"I was completely uninspired by that choice of subjects," Caron says of the ambiguous and ubiquitous life form that, in its yet uncounted forms, smears aquarium glass, wraps sushi, offers promise as a bio-fuel source and produces most of the Earth's oxygen.
"I did field research, basically asking every person I met what they thought of algae," she says. "The answers were negative or just didn't know. That was perfect because it was my reaction, too. So I was starting at ground level."
And that challenged the artist. "If you drill down deep enough in science, it gets interesting," she says. "Algae is like the oldest stuff on this planet." Old, that is, as in 3.5 billion years old and counting.
At this point, it's important to explain what Caron's "Holotype" isn't. It isn't an attempt to illustrate or explain algae in a conventional sense, as The Leonardo isn't that kind of museum.
Instead, the steel rebar and thermoplastic sculpture, which fills 4,000 square feet of exhibit space, explores the "inscape" — or the essence and deeper meanings — of algae, Caron says.
"There is no straight answer to any question about algae, thus there is no straight line found in the piece," she explains in an artist's statement. "The work had to be resilient and look like it would never budge because if the first 3.5 billion years are any indication, algae is here to stay.
"Holotype also functions as a transformative lens that reshapes and distorts its environment, bringing viewers into the composition while refracting like a jewel, casting a sculpted light so strikingly beautiful it rendered me speechless when I discovered it."
That the sculpture appears to mimic the curves of algae in electron-microscope images or curves of kelp, one form of algae, was a "happy accident," Caron says. "Like many organic forms in nature, it's foreign and familiar at the same time."
As part of the "Holotype" installation, The Leo will provide video interviews with algae scientists and bio-fuel researchers and hands-on experiments with alginate, a casting medium made from brown algae.
In fact, "Holotype" contains no algae, which Caron explains is easy to grow — just add water — but hard to control. But through experimentation, Caron and her lighting director Jeff Gwilliam, managed to fabricate "gobos" — the gel filters that tint theatrical lights — using colors made from algae.
She recalls the frustrating trial and error that algae-colored lighting required: "The colors were stunning and completely organic. It would look good for 10 seconds, then it would burn."
But they finally found materials that worked. "The light on the project is shining through real algae," she says, having traveled countless artistic and scientific miles from where the commission began.
Twitter: @gwarchol
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Meet the ultimate survivor: Algae
Amy Caron's sculpture "Holotype" and a supporting exhibit on algae research will be unveiled Sunday, Feb. 5 at The Leonardo.
Where •The Leonardo, Library Square, 209 E. 500 South, Salt Lake City
Info •theleonardo.org, 801-531-9800
Hours • Monday and Tuesday, closed; Wednesday-Thursday, 11a.m.-7p.m.; Friday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m.; Saturday 11 a.m.-7 p.m.; Sunday 11 a.m.-5 p.m.
Admission •$14; seniors $12; under 18/students $10; under 5, free; family of 4, $40