Tracy Drier, UW-Madison Department of Chemistry Master Scientific Glassblower, administers the Scientific Glassblowing workshop in the Department of Chemistry and is the principal collaborator on a project aimed at re-creating the art and technique of glass biological models. Project participants include members from University of Wisconsin-Madison departments of Chemistry, Integrated Biology, and Art, and feature contributions from Lauren Aria, Ela Bakowska, Andrew Bearnot, Veronica Berns, Tracy Drier, Tim Drier, Astrid van Giffen, Ilia Guzei, Beth Hylen, Aaron Kirchoff, Jesse Kohl, Helen Lee, Laura Monahan, Erich Moraine, Loren Stump, and Jessica Tsai.
The Corning glass laboratory sent a conservator to assess the UWZM’s Blaschka collection and recommend preservation approaches. We then provided Corning five small detached samples of glass from the model collection’s unaffililated detritus. Corning tested the glass and developed a detailed recipe of its chemical components. Re-creation project artisans worked on making models using glass with the “new” Blaschka recipe, and additional glass with a similar composition and properties as the historic material. They developed prototypes and refined some of the tools and methodologies that were likely employed by the Blaschkas.
With refined techniques and a better understanding of the materials at hand, project participants began to re-create the Blaschka glass models, and also fabricate models for recently discovered deep sea thermal vent creatures. These organisms would have been unknown to the Blaschkas, and do not currently exist in the UW Zoological Museum collection. Their glass facsimiles will provide students with the same opportunity for study as had Blaschka models over 100 years ago.
Above photos courtesy of Ilia Guzei, Distinguished Scientist, Director of the UW X-ray Laboratory.
Funding for this project was provided by Brittingham Foundation Grants (2014, 2018, 2022, 2023) and the Wisconsin 175th Anniversary Grant (2023). The Brittingham Wisconsin Trust was established by the wills of Thomas Evans and Mary Clark Brittingham, a well-to-do and influential couple in Madison in the early 1900s. Funds support university objectives and are conferred by the office of the provost. The Trust focuses on proposals in the arts and humanities, innovative and experimental projects, interdisciplinary ventures, activities that are unique for students and/or faculty, projects for which other funding sources are not available, and activities that are considered priorities by campus leaders.
Above photos by Kandis Elliot, UWZM Senior Artist.