Artist Statement: Diatoms are tiny, single-celled aquatic plants that can only be seen with a microscope. Three layers of hand dyed and painted fabric were used to illustrate the beautiful multilayered cells walls of this Asteromphalus diatom. This was inspired by an image I photographed with a scanning electron microscope during my career as a Marine Biologist.

Materials & Techniques: The surface is hand dyed and painted cotton fabric fused to felt. Faced openings were made to show an underlying layer of painted Hollytex, a non-woven polyester fabric with tiny pores made with a bookmakers punch. The final green and purple layer is hand dyed cotton. All layers were machine quilted together with a rayon batting and cotton backing.

Dimensions: 39 x 29 x 0

Photographer: Carla Stehr