Like just about everyone who attended Prof. Harvell’s documentary screening, I was deeply impressed by the quality, the detail, and the magnificence of the Blaschka glass pieces. They are stunning likenesses, and its amazing, inspiring, and humbling to remember that they were created in the late nineteenth century with fastidious observation and handcrafting in place of today’s more advanced technology. I was also interested by the function of the glass creatures – as teaching models. While instruction with models still persists today, I can’t imagine such fragile and unique pieces of art playing that role. Without the alternative of video footage and projector, or mass manufactured plastic model, the use of glass seems much more natural. In a sense it’s sad that the classroom functionality of these incredible artworks has become obsolete. It confines them to glass museum cases, where they will be admired, but won’t play such an integral role in the study of the life they represent.

Dr. Harvell’s search for the marine life recreated in the glass sculptures is likewise an inspiring, humbling, and, in some cases, troubling thing. Like the Blaschkas, Dr. Harvell and David O. Brown’s work harnesses the power of human technology and observation to give a wide audience a closeup look at some of the oceans’ most bizarre and beautiful life forms. For most of us (I assume) the times that we really turn our attention to these organisms are few and far between. Fragile Legacy asks us to do just that. Looking at these creatures, I am amazed by their diversity and their outlandish forms. What’s also striking is their fragility. Pollution, climate change, and disease are true threats, as certain moments of Dr. Harvell’s search (like the discovery of reefs filled with dying sea stars) remind us. Reminders alone don’t solve the problems plaguing ocean life, and the natural environment more broadly, but they’re necessary if we’re going to commit to altering our behavior to address them.