Alma College’s First Algae Art Gallery Showing

Many of you missed Alma College’s First *Algae Art Gallery Showing and probably shouldn’t have because it’s not every day that someone takes beautiful photographs of algae, and it’s even less every day that someone has such photographs as part of a college art gallery.  In fact, Mark and I figured there wasn’t another other algae gallery showing last Thursday anywhere else in the world.

So here’s what you missed.  There was like this hallway with Mark’s name on it and the photos Mark took.  Mark and Holly matted and framed them and art students hung them all up perfectly so.

It looked really awesome, all these photos, but the kindly people that hung the photos didn’t match the photos with the correct names.

In fact, there was like only one or two that was actually correct.  So, Mark, his co-worker pal, Murray, wife, Diane, and son, Alec, all helped put the correct label with each photo.   Soon a bunch of students and several faculty appeared to learn more about Mark’s algae.  After a brief introduction by Sandy Lopez-Isnardi, Associate Professor of Art and Design, Mark told everyone all about his algae.

Mark told them that the algae he photographed all came from the Vestaburg Bog, which is on property owned by the College, and that he took all his samples back to the Vestaburg Bog when he was done photographing them.  The audience had lots of questions, like, “Why did you study algae during your sabatical?” to which Mark responded, “Because they’re cool little dudes.”   When asked if his purpose in taking the photographs was art, he said his plan was to develop a resource book that identified the alage at the bog for future comparison, and that it was Kathy Wilk, Administrative Assistant in the Provost’s office, that encouraged Mark to enlarge his photographs and submit them as art.

Mark also went into the details of the specific type of algae he studied called desmids (one of which is shown, below, left).  Desmids are an usual, beautiful group of uni-cellular algae that people way, way back thought were actually two different cells.  Mark also took photos of the more commonly known algae, like the Spirogyra, below right.

After Mark’s presentation, the students and faculty went into the nearby auditorium to learn about the other artiste whose work was presented, Rebecca Mott.  Professor Mott is currently a professor at West Shore Community College and spoke for a bit about her sculptures, Raku fired shrines, drawings and other work, much of which was inspired by a trip to Ireland, where she went on her sabatical.

When she was done I asked Mark why he took his sabatical at  bog in Michigan instead going to Ireland.  His answer:  “I’m not Irish.”

Indeed we are not.  His gallery showing was on St. Patrick’s Day and we didn’t even have a single green beer.  Maybe next year.