Half & Half

This sculpture is made from Pâte De Verre fused glass powder and represents mollusks from both the Jurassic period as well as present day. Dactylioceras commune was an ammonite that lived 180 million years ago across most of the oceans, although the fossils represented here are negatives after the rocks have been broken open by archaeologists and other fossil hunters. In casting terms, these are the molds that we break away to reveal the finished piece inside, discarded but an essential part of the process and in this case also millions of years old. The larger form is that of a chambered nautilus, Nautilus pompilius, hemishell which is a modern day mollusk which although similar looking to its ammonite ancestor, is actually a completely different class of sea creature.