Pollen

Pollen grains are the microscopic protective caskets conveying the male reproductive cells of flowering plants.

Wide variations of texture carry the identity of plant families, genera, species and even local variation.

Palynology is widely used in forensic science for criminal investigation and archaeology.

Pollen sizes range from 5 to 500 microns in diameter although most measure between 20 and 80 (1 micron is 1/1000th of a millimetre). It was not until the development of the microscope in the Seventeenth century that individual pollen specimens could be seen in detail.

They can now be appreciated with the aid of electron and light microscopy and corresponding advances in imaging.

The Sculpture

By reproducing pollen forms in an architectural material I attempt to illustrate a botanic world, ubiquitous yet invisible to the naked eye.

The sculpture is hand-built in a limestone compound, which may stand out of doors slowly growing a botanic patina of its own. They can also be cleaned or lime-washed if required.

The Reliefs

Scaled-up studies of surface textures. They may be framed and hung or set out of doors, for example in a wall or pillar.

The Fauna

Reflecting my obsession with the diversity and dynamism of life, and its contrast with the contemplative and permanent nature of stone.

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