Celebration (Craterium minutum)

Artist

This sculpture was inspired by the photographs of northern Tasmanian slime mould expert Sarah Lloyd and contains this tiny goblet-shaped slimemould at various stages of its life cycle, fruiting and after expelling spores, anchored to a tiny frond of dicksonia antarctica (tree fern). Slimemoulds are microscopic or only a few millimetres tall so these interpretations in glass are of course much larger.
Slime moulds are neither plants, animals nor fungi; they normally take the form of amoeba but also develop fruit bodies that release spores. They live in soils rich in organic matter (on logs, leaves or the forest floor) and play important roles including enhancing soil fertility though nutrient recycling