Artist Statement: Diatoms are aquatic single-celled plants that can only be seen with a microscope. There are thousands of species and each has a stunning, multilayered cell wall. This piece was inspired by an image I photographed with a scanning electron microscope during my career as a Marine Biologist.

Materials & Techniques: Openings were cut through the top layer of hand dyed cotton fabric.  Edges of the openings were satin stitched to felt, then excess felt was cut away.  The bottom layer is a separate free motion quilted sandwich (commercial cotton fabric and cotton batting). The two layers were machine quilted together.

Dimensions: 27" x 22"

Photographer: Carla Stehr