Spring, Fall 2013: Artwork of Laura Halverson Monahan, Tracy Drier and Ilia Guzei

6The Office of the Secretary of the Academic Staff launched the Academic Staff Art Gallery in the 2010. It is a place to showcase talented artists from within Academic Staff. Exhibits change on a semester by semester basis.

Spring 2013 and Fall 2013 featured artists: Laura Halverson Monahan, Curator of Collections, UW Zoological Museum, Tracy Drier, Scientific Glassblower, Chemistry Department, and Ilia Guzei Director of Crystallography, Chemistry Department

The exhibit combines art and science and encompasses three areas – scientific impact of models of invertebrates, glassblowing, and photography.

The stunning images illustrate the rarely seen fascinating invertebrates in the exquisite glassworks created by the Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka (father and son) at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century.

The highly detailed and priceless glass pieces are anatomically accurate and show aquatic specimens with magnified details. The originals are housed at the University of Wisconsin Zoological Museum.

Currently efforts are underway to explore conservation and restoration possibilities. This photographic documentation of the models shows them in their current state.