On Wednesday I attended the lecture about oceanography. I am very sorry that I went in late and only watched a part of the film. There are amazingly colorful creature in the sea and the professor seems to be passionate about the subject. She also recommends the intro oceanography class to us. Perhaps I will take it some day. During the charter days events this spring, I also saw professor Harvell giving a lecture at an ecology panel. She also show cased many gorgeous ocean creatures. I think it is really admirable that she chose this seemingly unusual career path and has become a great experts at it. I also want to learn more about the environment.

If ever there has been a Café series event that has made me reconsider my future career goals to instead one day drop everything to pursue a passion, it was easily yesterday’s talk with Drew Harvell. It was clear by her enthusiasm (and the career-long dedication to the project) that she is very passionate about the marine ecosystem and the glass models that are being restored. The idea of traveling the world to study marine life and comparing the findings to century-old artwork is somehow, dare I say, cool in its very essence. To add to this, her work has already seemed to immensely improve documentation of marine invertebrates, and even the study of pathologies in these marine ecosystems. While this may not seem impressive to some, there is great value in increasing our knowledge in such a way in any field; furthermore, the health of marine ecosystems has enormous economic and public health implications, in relation to the commercial seafood industry.

One of my favorite aspects that the Rose/Becker Café series brings to our Rose Scholar experience is that we are able to learn about something that is very unique in that we would not hear about it anywhere else. A great example of this was Drew Harvell’s presentation. In her presentation, she talked about the importance of the Blaschka Sea Creature models as well as how these pieces were almost forgotten in scientific teachings. It was amazing to see the skill and craftsmanship that went into creating these highly detailed pieces. The models were so lifelike that when looking at the model placed next to a photo of the real creatures, you could not tell the difference. It was also very interesting to find out that the glass models were actually used by Cornell professors to help demonstrate what these various creatures looked like. Also, for these amazing pieces to be sitting in storage is a shame. They should be on display for people to see and admire the life in our oceans.

“Save the nematodes!” just doesn’t have as good a ring to it as “Save the dolphins!”

However, marine invertebrates deserve just as much attention as we give to other sea creatures such as dolphins and sea turtles. Society at large tends to pay attention to “cute” sea creatures: the more evolutionarily advanced ones, and the ones we can relate to. There have been huge movements to stop overfishing and trash pollution, and the images associated with these movements tend to show sharks with their fins cut off or sea turtles with their heads stuck in those plastic soda can holders.

We tend to ignore the fact that the changes humans have made to the ocean over the years, from raising its temperature to polluting it with mountains of trash, not only affect marine vertebrates that have a prominent place in the media. The ocean is home to more than just pretty fish, adorable dolphins, and scary sharks. Although nematodes are not as cute as dolphins, they are in just as much danger if humans continue on our destructive path.

Professor Harvell’s talk and the documentary that she starred in helped open my eyes to this. If there had been a disease like the one discussed in the film that was killing sea lions up and down the West Coast (instead of sea stars), the media would be all over it and everyone would know about it. This is a problem, and I’m sure Professor Harvell’s documentary will help to spread awareness about protecting the smaller creatures living in our oceans.

In the meantime, someone come up with a slogan that sounds better than “Save the marine invertebrates!”

Drew Harvell’s talk was really beautiful through the lens of art. The way she used the Blashka art to reveal the beauty and importance of marine life today was really impactful. The talk gave a new importance and meaning to art as a method of education.

I was really inspiring to see how accurate the glass marine life was to the actual animals, and how they were made in the 1800s. I had the opportunity to check out the actual pieces in the Mann Library exhibition, and they were really beautiful.

The art also made it very evident that species were growing endangered. All though we all know that certain marine life is growing endangered and extinct, it is not tangible to us how much the sea life is actually changing. The Blachkas did an amazing job making the changes in marine life evident and tangible.

It was also very interesting to hear about the virus causing Sea Star death along the Pacific Coast. As a child growing up on the West Coast, I had often seen Sea Stars in tide pools. However, last summer, while I was visiting with my family, we saw only a couple sea stars. We had know idea why they were disappearing. Thanks to Dr. Harvell and her team, we now know why.

Last week, Professor Harvel joined the Becker Rose Café Series to discuss about the decline in coral reefs around the world and its impact on biodiversity.  Professor Harvel has been working on the sustainability of coral reefs for quite some time and helped make a documentary on its biodiversity.  What was really interesting is how she utilized glass models from the 1860s to compare its biodiversity to what is currently going on now.  In 1860, the Blaschka brothers were requested to create glass models of sea creatures for students to use to learn.  There was about 570 glasses produced for the marine biology major, but was later forgotten.  Professor Harvel saw the glass collection as a lens to the biodiversity during the 1860s.  She then got the idea of using these glass pieces as a time capsule to help determine the current state of coral reefs compared to the 1860s and see how many species have become extinct.  The time capsule project showed that the marine ecosystem has been rapidly changing due to many factors.  This and other problems arising in marine life has called for multi-national effort to preserve what is left of the coral reefs.

The rapid change in technology in relation to the change in environment was a key theme in the documentary.  Technological change has caused long-term damage to the biosphere.  As key stone species are declining, ecosystems are rapidly changing.  But technological change has also helped us discover these environmental changes and find solutions to these problems.  Without technological change, we wouldn’t have been able to discover an ocean virus that threatens many species of coral reefs.  Professor Harvel’s talk was insightful of the how current tech change has spurred major impacts in our environment.  I am looking forward to the glass pieces display in the Johnson soon.

On Wednesday, Professor Drew Harvell of Cornell’s Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology presented “Fragile Legacy”, a film made by David Brown. She expressed her enthusiasm with creatures of the deep sea and called to restore one of the most valuable resources in learning about the world’s past. Cornell is home to a collection of glass representation of ocean invertebrates, which were made by a famous father-son duo in glass making, Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka.

The film illustrated the intricate glass objects that could only be crafted with years worth of training and experience back then. Andrew Dickson White, Cornell’s first president, had set aside money to commission a set of these sea animals for the university to study ocean biology. However, this collection soon ended up in a storage house and only when Professor Harvell asked to restore this collection and bring it back to the Cornell campus did restoration begin.

But what is most valuable in restoring this collection is not in its aesthetic value, but in the insight it gives to marine biologists and evolutionary biologists. In the making of “Fragile Legacy”, Professor Harvell and a few of her colleagues when out on a quest to see if living counterparts of these glass representations still existed. Unfortunately, the world’s changing climate and well as industrialization has led to changes not only on land, but also in the ocean. After many failed attempts in searching for the common octopus, Professor Harvell and her team finally found it living in the oceans nearby the Mediterranean, where there was a body of water preserved for studies.

There has been many changes in biodiversity and Cornell’s collection of Blashcka’s Invertebrate Models give helpful and interesting insights in biodiversity. Evolution is constantly progressing and one of the most overlooked fields is marine biology. Research is constantly being conducted and the Blashcka models are only a portion of what the ocean offers.

I attended Drew Harvell’s lecture on Cornell’s large collection of glass sea animal sculptures. According to Harvell, Cornell’s first President commissioned glass art from famous glass sculptors by the name of Blaschka. Our collection of water invertebrates sat unnoticed for over 100 years before they were rediscovered and repaired. They’ve been used in Harvell’s new documentary about how these sculptures were a ‘time capsule’ of water creatures over 100 years ago. Not only were the sculptures beautiful, but also helped professors here identify creatures that haven’t been seen a very long time.  

I was extremely shocked to see how realistic the glass sculptures looked! It was also refreshing to see Harvell use forgotten art for a scientific purpose.

This was absolutely my favorite one. I never knew glass sculptures could be so intricate and accurate. If you ever have time, you should look up the collection online or see it in Mann library

Last week I attended an incredible talk about a Cornell professor’s attempt to discover all the marine life found in teh Blaschka models. The pictures of these models were absolutely incredible and there were times that I could not tell the difference between what was glass and what was alive. I love snorkling but the scuba diving that the video showed demonstrated just how beautiful our ocean really is.  After her talk, I actually searched the Mann library for the models. Cornell offers so many incredible things that we don’t even know about so I enjoyed hearing about one more thing that makes Cornell amazing.

The discussion after the video after the viruses that different aquatic animals, specifically starfish, are getting sparked my interest. The professor effectively explained just why it is so devastating for these starfish to be extinct, which could very well be a reality soon.  I know that fishing practices are terrible but I would never imagine that people would be capable of dynamiting coral reefs for a few fish. The video of the dead reef was devastating. The ocean is so big and, being out of sight most of the time, is a resource that we have really taken for granted. Conversations usually center around the water rising or pollution. The professor talked about the potential effect of rising water temperatures on the vast array of marine life’s ability to overcome these terrible viruses and diseases.

Last week Wednesday, I attended the Rose Café featuring guest speaker Professor Drew Harvell. Professor Harvell is leading an effort to restore Cornell’s Blaschka glass collection. The Blaschka Brothers were glass blowers who sold their collection of glass, aquatic animals to Cornell. These items were meant to be educational tools to teach students about aquatic life. However, due to time and use, many pieces were broken down and eventually stored away. Thanks to Professor Harvell, the pieces of art are being restored and put on display at Cornell.
This Rose Café was enjoyable for many reasons. For one, it is always gratifying and uplifting to someone work on something that he or she is so passionate about. Professor Harvell’s love for marine ecology is very infectious and even inspired me to go visit the Blaschka collection myself. The amount of detail that each piece contains is unreal and is unlike anything else I have seen before. If you have not seen the collection yet, I would highly recommend at least stopping by. I also enjoyed being able to watch the movie she made about the collection. It was interesting to learn about the origins of these glass pieces and the effort it took to craft them.

This event was definitely one of my favorite Becker-Rose Café series thus far! I have always had an interest and appreciation for aquatic life. While I have scuba dived before, I have never seen something as beautiful as the organisms that the Professor saw underwater off the reef or depicted in the Blaschka models. I heard of the Harvard Blaschka glass before but did not know much about it nor did I know Cornell had its very own collection.

After viewing the glass pieces on the video, I was amazed at the beauty and precision that must have went into creating such pieces. Not to mention, Professor Harvell’s remarkable reconstruction/repair of the many broken pieces. When I heard that the Blaschka pieces were sitting on a shelf in a box stored away from display, I was amazed. The beauty in those delicate pieces was most certainly depicted in the images in the documentary where the real organism was pictured side by side against the glass piece.

The discussion prior to and after the video was also very enjoyable. Professor Harvell’s dedication and enthusiasm towards the subject matter made the lecture series event that much more intriguing. I will most certainly consider taking one of Professor Harvell’s courses during my time here at Cornell. I am excited to see what other people thought of this event as well!

I really enjoyed Professor Harvell’s presentation about the Blaschka glass models and marine life. I can’t wait to attend the show in the Spring to see them in person. The glass models provide a representation of marine life that can’t be captured in any other art medium. The film also showed some beautiful and unique creatures that I haven’t seen before. Marine life can sometimes look other wordily, and it is always a great experience to see a new species.

The history behind the pieces was also very interesting from their creators to how the pieces ended up with Cornell. Drew Harvell has done a great service for everyone by finding these hidden away pieces and leading an effort to restore them. She is doing an even greater service by leading efforts to better understand Coral Reef ecosystems and how to preserve them.

I switched things up this past week and attended my first Becker-Rose Cafe event. This lecture was a perfect fit for me. There’s something about nature that is so comforting to me as it was and still is the guiding force and inspiration throughout my 19 years. I used to collect those wildlife subscriptions that would come in through the mail and soon enough I would have binders full of all these informational pieces with unique animals I had no idea existed. This lecture reminded me of all the aquatic creatures I had seen in these pictures during my childhood. It was so interesting to me that the Blashkas would perform extremely intricate procedures in order to create these magnificent designs to emulate the real-life nature of these creatures. It also made me think that if a piece was to fall on the ground, the artwork would be lost forever. In the case of a damaged pieces, it warmed my heart to know that people like Drew Harvell and her team are so dedicated in preserving this art form, especially when it comes to preserving the true integrity of each living organism.

I walked through the atrium of Corson-Mudd Hall almost every day last spring, but I never once stopped to notice the restored Blaschka glass models on display there. I passed through Corson-Mudd only as a shortcut to the lab I work in on the Biotech quad, so I was almost always rushed and distracted. Still, I would have thought that at least once I would have given the models some attention – it took Drew Harvell’s talk and film to highlight something that had been right in front of me.

In a similar way, Leopold Blaschka first noticed the creatures that he eventually modeled for Cornell while he was stuck at sea. He didn’t originally pay them much attention, but once he was forced to stop and observe them closely, he was awed by their variety and beauty and wanted to show them to others.

Dr. Harvell and David Brown took Blaschka’s work and made it even more unique than it was in his time. They not only captured images of creatures that are being endangered by pollution and human activity, they also created an intersection between past and present that was wonderful to watch. Seeing the Blaschka models right next to their present-day, living counterparts showed both how the sea has changed and how some of the creatures in it are exactly the same when Blaschka watched them. This kind of opportunity is rare, especially with models that are purposely so exact and creatures that are so rarely seen.

Now that I know about the models and where they came from, I’ve stopped a few times to look at the ones on display in Corson-Mudd. I’m grateful that I can now appreciate them for the teaching tools, pieces of art and historical records that they are.

Professor Harvell’s presentation of the Blaschka Glass models and her documentary work of them providing an interesting look into the way that science is connected to history.  Oftentimes, when we think of science here at the university, we tend to look at it as independent of time (physics majors, please resist the relativity joke).  Even when we do think about the temporal component of science, we only use time in the evolutionary sense.   Besides those of us in rather niche programs like STS, we rarely look at the history of science and how we got to our current level of knowledge.

My appreciation for Professor Harvell’s presentation is that it addresses this precise gap in the typical lenses that we use to look at science.  It’s quite an interesting this to see how people in the mid-19th century imagined the creatures of the deep, and it’s remarkable to learn that we are still using their models as the standard from which we search the seas.

Additionally, the artistic component of the glass pieces is also astonishing, though this warrants less explanation.  Both the detail, accuracy, and unqualified beauty of the pieces is extraordinary.  To this point, when Professor Harvell’s asked us to identify which image contained a glass piece and which contained an actual organism, I guessed incorrectly, as did other seated near me.

Last Wednesday, we welcomed Professor Harvel as our Becker-Rose Cafe guest. She screened David Brown’s film, “Fragile Legacy”, a documentary about the sustainability of marine ecosystems. Professor Harvell has worked on coral reefs in the Mexican Yucatan, Florida Keys, Hawaii, and Indonesia. The film showed how glass makers attempt to capture the majestic beauty of the sea creatures. Glass makers produce thousands of glass models for museums and teaching models and these models capture a diverse array of species, from sponges, jelly fish, corals, mollusks, sea slugs to starfish.

Previously I had noticed but the wonderful biodiversity and beauty of these creatures but had not thought much more of it. According to the documentary, the wonderful biodiversity is often passed over unappreciated, and we will never ever have the opportunity to admire their beauty and central role in in the ecosystem before they are gone unless we take action on climate change. The coral reefs are central to maintaining a balanced ecosystem. Overfishing and costal development has had a negative impact on coral reef ecosystems. Increasing pollution and carbon dioxide content has triggered an extinction crisis. These are all events that I am well aware of, but this documentary has shown even farther reaching implications to consider. It shows how climate change touches every living organism on the planet, every ecosystem and every habitat. The documentary has made me more aware and appreciative of our species rich coral reefs and environmental/conservation challenges.

Last Wednesday I attended professor’s Harvell documentary on the seas/ Blaschka’s glass pieces. The pieces looked really detailed, realistic,  and beautiful. I think that for about half of the film, I was just in awe because the pieces looked amazing. I was surprised when I saw that Cornell had a collection of Blaschka’s pieces. That’s definitely something that I would definitely want to check out in the future. I also  found it interesting how the glass pieces can be used to teach about marine ecology. The glass pieces can probably be treated as a museum artifact and serve as a model. Towards the very end, the film talked briefly about why we should protect our oceans .

Overall, I liked the documentary because I was exposed to something that I had never seen or thought about. I think that the part of he film that will stick with me is Blaschka’s ability to produce something so intricate and detailed in a time were there was no technology to facilitate this process.

Last Wednesday, I joined a large group of Rose Scholars and watched the documentary Fragile Legacy. It talked mainly about the Blaschka glass models of invertebrates in the ocean, but also touched on the sustainability of marine ecosystems. While it was a powerful combination of art, science and conservation, I do think that the movie could have been a little bit longer and gone into even more depth about the sustainability aspect of it all. It clearly states that things have changed dramatically in the ocean, but it gives quite a gentle push toward change and does not give as lucid directions as to how this change could come about. But maybe that was never the intention with this documentary? Maybe its purpose was instead to stay away from causing people guilt, and to be an eye-opener that might appeal to people who are not completely comfortable about having the knowledge of climate change. And the documentary does deal with exactly those feelings. There is a clip when a man (I believe the director) sits on a rock and talks about the enormous feelings that climate change produces in the people who choose not to look away from the issue. And I do think that this movie’s purpose was maybe not to educate fully, but to serve more as a push for people to educate themselves.

After the documentary was shown, we talked to Professor Drew Harvell about the process of making the movie and her role in it. We also discussed the loss of the starfish along the western coast. She explained for those who did not know, what a keystone species is; namely a species that regulates the abundance of a lot of other species. She however hesitated to draw too strong of a line between global warming and the deaths of the starfish, choosing instead to settle on the fact that while we do not know for sure, we can know that the process of disease spreading was sped up by the increasing temperatures in the oceans.

Overall, I thought this was a good and thought-provoking movie, and I wish that more people would see it- especially people who are hesitant to take on those enormous feelings of fear related to climate change- because it does a good job of explaining the issue at hand in a clear manner without being too harsh.

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.

As a student enrolled in Oceanography at the moment, this was a great opportunity to learn more about coral reefs and biodiversity. An interesting point in the conversation was when a student challenged Professor Harvell about the massive death of sea stars in west coast as a result of unusual warm water.

A part of me wants to play devil advocate and wonder, species have always been evolving and/or dying out and mother nature seems to go through cycles of major extinctions. We have already gone through 5 of them (previous ones not being human induced), so is a 6 mass extinction really even avoidable? There is actually such a thing as “Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis” which states that disturbance maximizes species diversity by periodically removing competitively dominant species and allowing less competitive species to reestablish themselves. So if this is indeed correct, perhaps species such as starfish need to be “periodically removed” for their growth to stay in check or help other species to thrive. This also leads me to question whether preventing a 6th mass extinction is really even possible. To be clear however, I do not condone the human induced polluting of the ocean and earth overall. I am just wondering if pollution has simply sped up a natural earth cycle?

Now tying this back to the film shown by Harvell, I think her argument for saving marine life is lacking. It seems like her argument is, marine life is pretty so we should save it. I’m sure her interest is deeper but it just came off that way to me. Overall though, interesting film.

I’ve always had a great interest in underwater life. Yes, I was one of the few kids who enjoyed the underwater life documentaries shown in middle school science classes. It was just as exciting to me to see the mysterious creatures right here on earth as it was exciting to see the millions of galaxies so distant from earth. The diversity in science and how us, humans, are able to not only understand science but use it to create our own world was amazing. It is one of the reasons I became an engineer. This awe for science was reintroduced to me this past Wednesday when I attended Becker/Rose Cafe Series with Prof. Drew Harvell. The discussion was about the glass collection that Cornell bought during President A.D White’s time. It is a vast collection of underwater creatures perfectly recreated in glass. I was awe struck at the level of detail and complexity of each piece of glass.

The talk showed two fantastic topics. At first sight of the glass pieces you cannot but help to be struck by the elegance and structural integrity of the pieces. In addition to admiring the craftsmanship of the collection, the audience learns about the diversity of life on earth. Even the most common of these creatures, for example the jellyfish were breathtakingly beautiful. Prof. Harvell shared with us that these were once used as study materials to show students taking biology classes the exact form of the creatures. I would have really enjoyed to be in a class where these were used to help students. However, these were later put in storage in the Corning Museum of Glass. For many years now, Prof.Harvell has been working with a glassmaker to restore these glass pieces.

I really enjoyed this talk not only for the beauty of the glass pieces but also because it reminded me of my initial interest in the sciences. As a child, I was amazed by the numerous and exotic creatures of the sea. It helped foster my excitement for the sciences. As an full time student now, I can sometimes lose track of the things that used to excite me. The talk with Prof.Harvell reminded me again of the creatures that I once started at in awe.

When I first saw the slides with the pictures of the Blaschka glass pieces, I thought that they were pictures taken of the living creatures that they were created to mimic. I felt a sense of awe, how could two people capture the beauty of these creatures so well at a time when technology was limited?. I have been to the Corning museum of Glass before and have seen the wonders that are possible with glass, however nothing I have seen before has had such a lasting impact. The idea that the creatures these pieces mimic are going extinct is a definite eye opener. I particularly found Professor Harvell’s documentary to be moving. Seeing the actual sea creatures and then also seeing the glass pieces made me realize how much attention to detail went into creating the pieces.

I also found within this film and discussion, another reason why we as humans are responsible for finding a solution to global warming and climate change. Helpless creatures such as the starfish and being killed by a virus that is allowed to spread more easily in the warmer water temperatures. We have the means to discover a solution and the slow disappearance of these many creatures should be a warning to us that we need to find it soon. Overall, I am still wondering how the Blaschkas were able to form such magnificent class pieces of creatures that live deep in the sea without the help of modern equipment such as oxygen tanks.

I found the presentation on the Blashka to be as alarming as it was inspiring.

The skill of the Blashkas is amazing. The attention to detail, in everything from form to color, reveals both a deep commitment and mastery of their craft. I can’t begin to imagine how—during the 1800s— these works were produced. They even seem to be beyond the reach of technology we have today. And the fact that the Blashkas were able to make these models without viewing photos of the creatures is even more astonishing.

That Dr. Harvell had to search for these species is alarming. Why have we allowed such beauty to vanish from our earth? How can we stop ourselves from causing further destruction and tragedy? As Ben suggested in his post “The Power of Art,” I too believe that art can serve to inspire change.

I have to laugh at my own lack of knowledge about this school, it seems that everywhere I go there is some interesting something or other that I had no idea even existed. On October 28th, I was quite excited to learn about the Cornell Blaschka collection and boy was I taken by surprise at the level of passion and dedication Ms.Harvell and her team put into these glass wonders. First off, I had no idea the school had such beautiful pieces of art in its possession and I’ll have to check out the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art sometime. Secondly, it boggles my mind how the Blaschka collection could be treated like crap for so long. I understand that underwater filming contributed to its treatment but even if you have no interest in ocean creatures the collection is still  beautiful piece of glasswork. All in all, the most astonishing part of the night was watching the film Fragile Legacy and seeing the resolve that Ms.Harvell and her team have in restoring this beautiful collection. I highly commend all of them for their great work and it is quite nice to see people doing something they love for a living.

Sincerely,

Clarence Boyce

This past Wednesday, October 28^th, Professor Drew Harvell came to Rose House to speak about a hidden treasure available to us here at Cornell University. Many people are aware of the Harvard flowers, but often forget another collection the Blaschka brothers also created—glass marine life. In 1863, Leopold and his son Rudolph Blaschka made beautiful glass pieces of various sea life intended to be used for teaching. The two were hyper focused on an attention to detail to accurately capture the adaptations and features of each individual creature. While the pieces are beautiful in aesthetic, they are also extremely informative and can be used to learn about marine animals. Throughout the presentation, Professor Harvell constantly flipped through images of the glass structures versus the actual animals and I can honestly admit that I had difficulty differentiating the two—which goes to show exactly how precise these models are. Professor Harvell additionally spoke about a documentary that she is featured in regarding the history and construction of the glass models. The documentary elucidated the importance of the models and although they are no longer used for teaching due to technological improvements, these models serve as a time capsule as to how the ocean and sea life used to look over 100 years ago. If certain animals have changed physically or biologically, it begs the question of what caused the animals to adapt and if humans are making a large impact on marine life. I thoroughly enjoyed this presentation because although these sculptures were used as learning tools, I felt as if I was at an art museum looking at multiple uniquely beautiful pieces. The fact that such animals exist in real life has sparked an interest in marine life and just reminds me of how little of the world I really know about. The sea is almost its own world with its own ecosystem that we often do not remember. This presentation was like a glimpse into this other world—one I would love to explore one day just as Professor Harvell did.

Life has evolved on our planet for several billion years. We and all other forms of life that currently inhabit our planet are surviving descendants of ancient ancestral organisms, shaped by evolution and natural selection and the changing geology of mother Earth. We are all survivors who have adapted to huge changes to the environment throughout these billions of years, while millions and millions of other organisms including our evolutionary ancestors have gone extinct. Evolution of intelligent brains has allowed us to develop (a) science which grounds us in reality and helps us understand the universe and (b) advanced technology to make our lives better and further help our scientific explorations. Ironically, these byproducts of our intelligence are also sowing the seeds of destruction in our planet within a miniscule period relative to biological and geological timeframes. The big question is are we also intelligent and capable enough to alter this tide?

It is individuals such as Professor Drew Harvell, a marine biologist at Cornell, that give me some hope in this bleak situation. Listening to her, and watching the documentary “Fragile Legacy” that she has helped produce, was awe-inspiring. Over 150 years ago, Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka captured the intricate beauty of numerous marine invertebrates in the form of exquisite glass pieces. These beautiful yet fragile pieces were purchased by Cornell in the late 19th century. With the advent of underwater filming, the Blaschka glass pieces fell into disuse. Until fifty years ago when over 500 glass pieces were recovered, many of which have been and are being painstakingly restored. Professor Harvell and marine filmmaker David Brown went on a quest to film living examples of these Blaschka models. Some of these marine invertebrates have been around for over 500 million years, qualifying them as quite robust life forms. Yet, numerous such organisms are dwindling and going extinct since the Blaschka’s created their glasswork. Increasing concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that is getting absorbed in the oceans making them more acidic, global warming, overfishing, and many other human-related effects are wreaking havoc on biodiversity of the oceans. The documentary captures the beauty of these creatures, both bringing them to life in film and capturing their struggle. The most memorable quote from the documentary juxtaposes the Blaschka pieces with their living counterparts: “as complex and delicate as the glass models are, the living things they represent, ecosystems these organisms are part of, are infinitely more so!” Who among us is going to take on the difficult task of restoring these living counterparts? As irreplaceable as the glass replicas are, the species they represent are infinitely more precious to the ecosystem our life depends on, and if lost, we will likely never be able to bring these species back to life!

Last Wednesday I attended Drew Harvell’s talk and film presentation about the Blaschka glass collection. The first thing that comes to mind when thinking about the Blaschka glass is simply…Wow! The craftsmanship put into those pieces of glass art is stunning. In several of the photos that Drew showed of the glass marine models compared to photos of the living organism, I actually couldn’t identify which photo was the real organism and which was the model. I suppose that my ineptitude pertaining to marine life probably didn’t help me with the identification, but I’m still inclined to attribute my inability to distinguish between the actual organism and the model to the stunning quality of the glasswork. Not only do the models match the actual organism in shape and form, they also match in color too.

Despite the unmatched quality of the glass marine works, I can’t help but feel a tinge of melancholy upon reflecting on them. The pieces were created in order to help teach people about marine life, and to a certain extent, they still do. However, now they also carry with them the message of things lost from a time that cannot be retrieved. Due to climate change, pollution, and other human activities, it is entirely likely that many of the species represented by the glass works are now extinct. When I see a model of something, I’m the sort of person that wants to see the real thing. While models are great for educational purposes, they never do the actual thing that is being modeled justice. Unfortunately, in the case of some of the species modeled in the Blaschka collection, it is no longer possible to see the actual living organism. The situation is made further regrettable by the fact that humans are the cause of many of these extinctions.

Rather than simply educating people about marine life, the Blaschka glass models now serve as a powerful tool to demonstrate just how destructive past (and perhaps current) human practices have been, and why there is a drastic need to change them. It is my hope that future generations will live in a world in which the oceans are still occupied by most of the species represented by the Blaschka models.

This was my first time attending a Becker-Rose Cafe, and I was surely not disappointed. I got the opportunity to see Drew Harvell, a Cornell professor who works in conservation oceanography, and her new film, Fragile Legacy. The film details the legacy that the Blaschka family has left behind with their glass renditions of undersea life.

The Blaschka models acutely represent the species and organisms of marine ecosystems, serving as time capsules to measure times of today against that of the 1870s. These models have encouraged scientists to preserve marine life for the sake of keeping these organisms the same. The collection of glass replicas were held for the most part in the National Museum of Ireland. In 1885, Cornell’s first president Andrew Dickson White purchased 500 glass figures from the collection to use in Cornell for the study and teaching of marine biology. These collections have long since been forgotten until the 1960s however, when the collection was subsequently moved to the Corning Glass Museum. Dr. Harvell has worked for 25 years on moving the Blaschka models back to Cornell’s campus and restoring the models back to their original states in order to be studied.

During her talk, she addressed that even some of the most basic organisms, like the common octopus (Octopus vulgaris) was difficult to reassemble and restore; many of these glass pieces are very, very fragile and the paints are very easy to remove with even slightly sweaty hands. One must take extreme care when handling these models. I found learning about these models to be quite fascinating, especially considering the fact that some of the models can be viewed on the bottom floor of Corson Mudd Hall on campus. I was also really fascinated to learn about the fragility of not just the models, but of the undersea life as well. Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) have become a necessity in underwater excavations in order to protect the life in those habitats and their biodiversity. As an example, Harvell addressed a current ongoing epidemic involving starfish. Starfish in Australia and China have been exposed to a disease that is currently wiping out the starfish in those areas; unfortunately a cure has not been developed yet.

Though I’m not a marine science (or any kind of science) major, I would love to look more into Harvell’s work. More information regarding her work and her film can be found at Fragilelegacy.info.

Marine life and glass making is an interesting combination, and was not something I was expecting to learn about at Cornell. However, watching the Fragile Legacy with Dr. Drew Harvell was a great learning experience about both of the topics. First, the glass making. I’ve been to the Corning Museum of Glass and did a glass making tutorial where we made a small bowl of glass. It was extremely difficult and lengthy to make this bowl, and it had no intricate details or colors or separate components. The amount of skill that the Blaschka family had to have to create their glass sea creatures amazes me. In addition, they most likely dedicated a huge amount of time to each glass figure. It is great that Cornell is working towards restoring these pieces for display and teaching and that the Blaschka’s hard work did not go to waste.

The marine life featured in Dr. Drew Harvell’s talk as well as the film was fascinating. There is so much life under the sea that we know very little about, so we also know very little about how their disappearance would affect our ecosystem. With global warming and all the other harm humans are doing to our natural environment, species are disappearing from certain areas and even disappearing altogether. If we don’t work towards improving our ecological footprint, marine life as we know it will begin to disappear, bringing unknown effects to the rest of the world.

When it comes to understanding the history of the earth’s marine ecosystem, many people assume that the ocean, being as vast as it is, has remained the same for hundreds of years. Thanks to Dr. Drew Harvell, as well as the team that assisted her, the Blaschka family’s marine glass models were found, conserved, and restored to get a better sense of what the ocean contained over a century ago. Stuck at sea for two weeks, Blaschka saw all sorts of marine creatures swim along the edges of his boat, drew them, and later created them using glass to capture their luminescent detail. During the Rose Scholars Cafe this past week, we had the privilege of viewing Fragile Legacy:The Blaschka Glass Project directed by David O. Brian and featuring Dr. Harvell as she describes her career long research on invertebrates in the ocean. To see the incredible distinction of details that each glass model holds allows it to be tied to a particular species, class, and family, providing scientists greater knowledge as to what life forms the ocean once held.

It is clear that with the Industrial and Technological Revolutions over the past century, the earth’s biosphere has been greatly affected by global warming, which has lead to the disappearance of many species of marine life. Having grown up in South Florida my entire life, I have also noticed a change in the amount of marine wildlife that can be found in the oceans. There are fewer sea turtles each year that lay their eggs  on Florida’s shores, and more and more species are finding themselves in danger of extinction because of changing environmental factors. All across the nation, there are areas that once abounded with starfish, mollusks, and large fish that no longer see these animals at all. Factory plants, the excess use of fossil fuels, and the deterioration of the ocean floor is increasing as the years go on, and these glass models allow for scientists to gather data as to what creatures are no longer around and what others have had to adapt to stay alive. Hopefully, the work of biologist such as Dr. Harvell will reach the ears, eyes, and minds of more individuals to bring about a change in the efforts to conserve our oceans and all the creatures we have yet to even discover residing in it.

From the right perspective, historical preservation is an absurd joke. Someone could write a splendiferous treatise on metaphysics, only for some detail to be declared a threat to the wellbeing of society, resulting in the annihilation of all copies. Or maybe some noblewoman’s diary has survived the ravages of time to the present, so now scholars are poring over a dead person’s private thoughts to figure out how people used to spend their free time in the distant past. The passage of time is unfair and arbitrary and unforgivingly irreversible. So it’s a good day when you find some high quality glass sculptures in salvageable condition.

What stood out to me the most during Professor Harvell’s presentation about the Blaschka family’s glass sculptures of various forms of aquatic life and contemporary efforts at coral reef preservation was the ironic contrast between the two. For years, these beautiful glass replicas of octopi, jellyfish, and other creatures of the deep have been languishing in the dark while their living counterparts experience more and more duress as their habitats are disturbed by human encroachment. That the fates of these two parties have converged once more is a testament to the fragility of existence. A strong push can knock almost anything out of being; we must remain aware of our surroundings, lest we allow them to slip into oblivion because they just seemed like they’d always be there.

In the Rose-Becker cafe held on October 28th, we got to meet with Professor Harvell and watch the documentary Fragile Legacy which looks into the beauty of the marine life and the threats that the ocean has been facing. Back in the 19th century, Leopold and Redolph Blaschka had created delicate glass models of marine life. Their models reflect the contemporary biodiversity in the ocean. The models accurately portray the color, size, and shape of different marine life and allow people to appreciate the beauty of the oceanic nature without being in the water. Unfortunately, the beauty of the ocean is not easy to maintain. The glass models may break easily; the oceanic ecosystem may be easily disrupted by pollution and human activities that result in accelerated global warming. Many researches have pointed out that the rapid shrinking of marine biodiversity was greatly contributed by climate change. In order to preserve the marine biodiversity, actions must be taken to control global warming. We discussed the environmental awareness in the Rose-Becker Cafe two weeks ago, and this perhaps also echoes why environmental awareness is indeed essential.

Besides the inspirational documentary, Professor Harvell also shared her experience of traveling around the world to study the marine biodiversity and document the living creatures underwater. She also showed pictures of some exquisite glass models of sea creatures like the jellyfish and coral reef, which really captivated me. I have always been told that the Cornell has an amazing oceanography course that everyone enjoys. After attending the Rose-Becker Cafe, I am even more interested in taking that class and learn about the beauty of the oceanic life.

It goes without saying that the biodiversity and resources of Earth is remarkable and essential for the sustainment of life. It continues to boggle the minds of many how different species of animals, plants and more are, even from century to century. The dynamic transformation and evolution of life is something to be seen in awe of and appreciated. What better way to do that than immortalize it in glass?

With modern innovations, it is oftentimes easy to instinctively reach for an iPhone to Google a question and answer.  Technology may efficiently provide a reference; however, images and adjectives lack the tangibility, size, texture and true color of a glass model, which is something Professor Drew Harvell highlighted during this week’s Becker-Rose Cafe.  As a Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Harvell studies coral resistance to disease and the impacts of climate change on coral reef ecosystems.  Aside from conducting fieldwork in the Mexican Yucatan, Florida Keys, Hawaii and Indonesia, Harvell works hands-on in the restoration process of The Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka Collection currently held at Mann Library.  Unlike vertebrates which can be stuffed and mounted, invertebrates must be preserved in alcohol, which inevitably leads to color loss and deformation.  Glass modeling, however, offers an unparalleled facet of learning about ecosystems in that when constructed well, glass provides the ideal detail, fragility and color to recreate marine forms.  Harvell’s discussion on glass work proceeded with a screening of David Brown’s film, Fragile Legacy, which explored the sustainability of marine ecosystems despite climate change.  A large factor behind the decline in oceanic biodiversity can be attributed to human pollution and damage.  Considering the inevitable evolution and the unfortunate extinction of some marine species, glass modeling allows for the stories, structures and development of ecosystems to be tracked and preserved overtime.  Ultimately, the sheer intricacy of glass structures captures the true beauty of marine life that a picture alone cannot portray and possesses the ability to unify a broad audience of artists to scientists over a shared interest in exploring a less familiar, but awe-inspiring underwater world. 

We were fortunate enough to have Professor Drew Harvell come talk to us about glass sculptures of marine creatures, biodiversity, and also screen the film Fragile Legacy. I found the session to be incredibly interesting, as she attempted to demonstrate the parallels between glass sculptures and marine creatures. The beautiful glass sculptures capture many aspects of these marine organisms, including the immense amount of detail and complexity of their surfaces, but also their fragility. Indeed, a large chunk of the film was devoted to the restoration of many glass sculptures that had broken down through the years as a result of a lack of attention and care. This struggle to restore these sculptures mirrors the concern of the individuals in the film to save these aquatic creatures. The deep-water dives of these individuals was not simply for their own enjoyment, but to reveal to human beings the beauty of biodiversity and how quickly it is beginning to diminish.

In terms of inspiring change, I think the glass sculptures can definitely be utilized to help convince people of the importance of saving marine life. Indeed, the reality is that if we continue many of our practices that are harmful to the environment, organisms that are this beautiful and complex (in essence, living art), will only exist in glass form.

The Rose scholars had a unique opportunity to watch an award-winning documentary of the marine ecosystem during this week’s Rose-Becker Café series. The discussion was led by Professor Drew Harvell, who is featured in the film as an expert in marine ecology and evolution and a leading investigator in diseases in marine ecosystems. The film is called Fragile Legacy, which shows the Blaschka glass models of marine invertebrates in the Cornell Blaschka collection and captures the living examples at various tropical locations such as Hawaii. Blaschka created master pieces of glass models to accurately represent the underwater marine life. I was surprised to see how realistic the glass sculptures were compared to the real coral reefs. At first, I almost could not distinguish which one was real.

Usually glass artwork is considered to be decorative jewelries, however this collection of complex and delicate glass models allows us to learn about the underwater life. Thousands of sea creatures were created since each specie has a specific role in sea; even the small creatures that are often forgotten were depicted by Blaschka.
It was interesting to learn that the co-founder of Cornell, A.D. White, himself bought over 500 glass models to allow the students to learn about marine since traveling to sea was difficult at the time. This highlighted the fact that the founders of Cornell fully supported “Any person, Any study” motto.

The film and discussion thoroughly explained the global issues regarding the unprecedented rate of change in the ocean. The ocean is absorbing CO2 due to oil spills, pollution, and over fishing, which causes a more acidic water. The temperature warming of the ocean develops and speeds up serious diseases in many marine organisms, such as the starfish epidemic. The loss of oceanic biodiversity is a serious problem that is developing currently. We must imagine a sustainable future in order to protect ourselves and the biodiversity.

Overall, this was an informative and interesting café series and I learned many things about marine ecosystem and became aware of the serious decline in oceanic biodiversity. Before this event, I did not know that the biggest collection of marine glass sculptures made by Blaschka is available at Cornell. I’ll be sure to visit the Johnsons museum next fall to enjoy the display of the amazing glass collection.
More information about the project can be found here: http://fragilelegacy.info/

The Becker Rose Café hosted Professor Drew Harvell who began the discussion by showing images of the collection of glass invertebrates created by Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka. She had side-by-side comparisons of the glass sculptures compared to real life images of the invertebrates and most of the time, I thought that the glass sculpture was the real-life image. These glass sculptures were a way of documenting the invertebrates found at the time. In 1882, President Andrew Dickson White authorized the purchase of over five-hundred Blaschka models. Over time, with the inventing of cameras and advances in photography, appreciation for the glass models decreased and the glass models were eventually placed in storage. It was Professor Harvell who discovered the models and has been leading the project to restore the models, a very long and tedious process.

Professor Harvell also screened a new film Fragile Legacy, which talks about how fragile the ocean ecosystem is. It compared some of the Blaschka models to the invertebrates found in today’s oceans. Hearing how the “common” octopus is no longer found today shows the drastic changes the ocean ecosystem has undergone, which humans are largely responsible for. Humans are polluting the oceans every day and awareness for pollution is not as great as it should be. In a science class in my high school, we discussed the effects of pollution. We discussed the “Great Pacific garbage patch” which is the size of Texas and at least 100 feet deep. There is about six kilograms of plastic for every kilogram of plankton; the plastic is not going to breakdown in the lifetime of the great-grandchildren of the people who threw them. Such pollution and other factors hurting the ocean ecosystem are responsible for the endangerment and extinction of many invertebrates. It is important to recognize the damage we have done and come up with ways to preserve the beauty of ocean ecosystems that is the invertebrates.

This past week’s Rose-Becker cafe hosted Professor Drew Harvell. She discussed marine biology, and focused on the fragile ecosystem that is our choral reefs. We watched a short film called Fragile Legacy which lead us through the history of glass modelling of marine life and then her recent studies and travels. Glass modelling is a crucial aspect of the representation of marine life. Many animals have hardy bones or some better material that can be easily preserved so we can put them up in displays in museums, but that is not the case for many marine animals. Jellyfish for instance have very soft bodies, and if you were to preserve them in any chemical solution, it would just look like a big white blob. For that reason, glass is used in order to show the delicate nature of the organism and describe the way that it moves and flows. Some of these glass models will be presented within the Johnson Museum next year.

Another aspect of the documentary was discussing her travels, and the delicate nature of the coral reef ecosystem. The coral reefs and the wildlife within them are constantly being damaged. Some fisherman throw dynamite into the water to kill lots of fish and collect them and in the process are damaging the reefs beyond repair. There needs to be much more government sanctioning and regulation in order to preserve their delicate ecosystem. We wouldn’t want any more rare and exotic species to go extinct than there already have. We have such a beautiful world beneath our waters which still holds many mysteries. Let’s hope we don’t destroy them before we can find them.

In this week’s cafe, we had a chance to watch a short film Fragile Legacy and explore the magnificent Ocean. The film started by introducing Leopold and Redolph Blaschka, two glass artisans that made glass models of marine life. I was truly amazed by how fine and delicate the glass models are, and their high resemblance to marine creatures. It must have taken huge amounts of effort to create these glass pieces, and their dedication and passion for both art and the ocean impress me a lot. It would be nice to see the glass for real some day and I’m happy to learn that they will be exhibited in the Johnson Museum next year.

Besides appreciating these glass pieces, we also learned about the environmental issues of the Ocean. Due to the rising concentration of carbon in the atmosphere, the Ocean is taking in more carbon dioxide and growing more acidic, which causes some organisms to have trouble growing shells. Some people’s dynamite fishing destroyed coral reef habitats. An epidemic broke out among starfishes, now causing the population of starfish to decrease dramatically. Just like the Blaschka collection, these species under the sea are all extremely precious and fragile. We don’t want to lose all these wonders of the Ocean, and it is important for us to be aware of the severeness of these ecological issues.

Last Wednesday, I had the chance to screen David Brown’s Film, Fragile Legacy centering around the work of Drew Harvell on her preservation of sea creatures and the sustainability of marine ecosystems. Our discussion initially started out with a little bit of a background on Blaschka glass pieces, which originated from Leopold Blaschka and Rudolf Blaschka, a father and son glassworkers who produced some of the most breathtaking and unimagenably detailed glass objects of marine life. They opened a new bridge between biodiversity and curious minds on land. They allowed direct access to ocean environment, which our co- founder Andrew Dickson White decided to take advantage off and authorized the purchase of 570 pieces of Blaschka models to be used for the purpose of teaching about marine biology. Today Drew Harvell, propagates the art of Blaschka glass models by finding living representatives in the ocean and restoring pieces which have been damaged over time.

We additionally touched upon other concerning issues that are endangering marine life, particularly sea stars. The cause of the disappearing of these creatures is a virus outbreak, which is unfortunately out of our control and a result of ecological changes.

Drew Harvell’s discussion was very interesting, but not in the way I expected. I thought that I was attending a talk about the fragility of the ocean ecosystem and watching a movie that would show the negative effects of pollution and overfishing, which was definitely true, in a way. However, the movie and talk also focused on the Blaschka glass collection, a hidden gem at Cornell. The Blaschka figures are beautiful, hand made, glass models of marine creatures. I was awed by the detail on the creatures, and impressed by their resemblance to the living organisms. I especially liked that the Blaschka’s included small organisms that are typically thought of as less important.

Another interesting part of the discussion that I was surprised by was that sea stars are such an important part of the ocean. I had no idea that stars really did anything at all useful, but during the talk I learned that they are considered a keystone species, because they keep the urchin populations under control. So it is very worrying that the stars are being hit so hard by a disease that, though humans may not have caused it, our actions are exacerbating it (rising ocean temperates makes the stars die quicker).

Professor Harvell said that the glass models will be on display at the Johnson at the end of the year, which is an exhibit that, I at least, look forward to seeing.

The documentary shown last night was amazing. I can not believe I did not know that Cornell has the largest glass collection right here on campus. I was stunned by the level of detail in each piece shown in the documentary and how closely they resembled the real organisms. This documentary captured the unique diversity in the oceans around the world that most people do not know about. I thought it was great that Dr. Harvell along with her team traveled around the globe to find these organisms and document them underwater.

The art of glass blowing itself was unbelievable. Some of the pieces were so delicate yet extremely detailed.  Leopold Blaschka and Rudolph Blaschka are the greatest glass blowers of all time. They created this extravagant collection to capture the details of these specimen so that they could be displayed and observed. In many cases they were used as teaching tools so that students could examine the details of each piece and understand how each organism differed biologically from one another. This was incredibly important because specimen such as jellyfish do not preserve well therefore the only way to show their structure and movements was to model them using glass.

They also produced a flower glass collection which is displayed at Harvard. It is a shame that through the years many of the pieces have been damaged however there are restoration efforts underway to preserve the pieces back to their original form. It is important for the restorers to know the original kind of materials that were used to create the pieces such as paint in order to make them the same as the originals.

Going into the Becker-Rose Cafe yesterday, I thought the talk was going to be solely about marine ecosystems and preserving them, but I was pleasantly surprised to find out that Professor Drew Harvell had a lot more in store. She was also there to tell us about the beautiful glass replicas of various underwater organisms that different artists and biologists alike create. Showing us gorgeous pictures of insanely intricate glass models of jellyfish, octopi, sea anemone, and coral—all with vibrant colors and intense detail—Professor Harvell explained to us that these models, specifically those made centuries ago, reveal the change that has occurred in these animal species over time. In other words, because the glass animals capture the physical structure of these animals almost perfectly, marine biologists today can use them to examine how those animals have evolved into what they are in the present time. In this way, Professor Harvell described these highly-detailed objects as being a sort of time capsule to represent the dynamism of different underwater creatures.

Something I found myself wondering as she said this was: “Why don’t students studying the lives, structures, and functions of these organisms just observe ones that have been preserved over time?” And Dr. Harvell had the perfect answer for this: When a jellyfish, for instance, has been preserved in formaldehyde, the animal’s body turns an unappealing gray color and gains an exceptionally hard feel to it, something that doesn’t accurately represent the organism’s features in the slightest. Knowing this, it makes sense why such beautiful models are used for educative purposes instead.

Finally, as Dr. Harvell was wrapping up her talk, she emphasized that we can’t afford to take our oceans and their inhabitants for granted because we only have one earth and these amazing creatures will have no where to go if their homes are continuously destroyed.

It is always intriguing to discover different areas where liberal arts and science intersect and Professor Drew Harvell’s discussion and film, Fragile Legacy, about the Blaschkas’ glass models of marine life was no exception. Learning about the Blaschka models was really a unique experience for me as they were not really like anything I had seen before. While I had seen plenty of detailed paintings and sketches done of wildlife, I had never encountered a collection that had such a focus on exotic forms of marine life, all done in the form of delicate glass models. Considering also the degree of size of the collection, it was a remarkable achievement. What really struck me about the artwork was both how very unique the collection is in my opinion and how difficult it must have been to create something like that in the nineteenth century. Not only did the Blaschkas have to assemble these complex pieces from glass alone with the technology of that era, but also they must have spent a considerable amount of time and effort actually searching for the creatures and diagramming them in detail. Furthermore, when the film explained that the search to find many of the creatures depicted by the Blaschkas is ongoing, I was only more impressed with what already seemed like a herculean feat by the Blaschkas. The fact that we have not confirmed sightings of these creatures yet, while the Blaschkas were able to find them in the 1800’s without any advanced scuba diving equipment is astonishing. From my perspective, another incredible aspect of the story was that Cornell holds the biggest collection of these glass models in the world, commissioned by our first President, but after the early 1900’s they were forgotten about until relatively recently. Now that these incredible works of art are being rediscovered however, it seems that they have inspired people to seek out and protect some of the sea creatures that were common only 200 years ago and now appear to be rare or gone. Overall, learning about these glass models was a real pleasure and as the professor said, the magnificence of invertebrate creatures can only truly be captured with glass models and I look forward to appreciating that when they are put on display in the Johnson Museum.

Last night’s Cafe was unexpectedly fascinating. Drew Harvell spoke about the marine environment, but approached it not from the expected negative images of overfishing, pollution, and increases of coastal population. She focused on the bizarre forms and colors of marine life, and shared her passion of the intriguing life forms in the ocean. A tool that has been used to truly capture the intricate ocean life forms, is the Blaschka glass collection. The majority of the talk consisted of a screening of the short documentary, Fragile Legacy, which outlines the Blaschka art and how the glass acts as a time capsule to compare the ocean from the 1860s, when the glass was created and the current ocean environment. It is an incredible film, and is currently a finalist in five film festivals.

What truly fascinated me was the glass itself. My father is a glass blower at the Corning Museum of Glass, and we have a glass studio at my home, therefore I am quite familiar with the process of lamp working and glass blowing, and how difficult creating this art form can be.

What influenced Leopold Blaschka and Rudolph Blaschka to take on this intricate challenge of creating some of the most talented glass pieces to date was the ways of exhibiting delicate specimen. Displays of stuffed and mounted wolves, bears, and birds posed in life-like positions were fairly easy to achieve, but exhibiting delicate specimens such as flowers or sea invertebrates posed a distinct challenge.  Botanical specimens could be pressed and dried, creating a flatter, less colorful version of the original plant, but invertebrates had to be preserved in jars of alcohol, which faded the colors and caused the bodies to gradually collapse.  Neither option was terribly inspiring for the public and certainly made the scholarly study of the specimens more difficult.

They made thousands of intricately worked, carefully detailed glass models of invertebrates and botanical specimens for the use of teaching aids and in exhibits, including the famous collection of glass flowers at Harvard University. What truly amazes me is how accurately and finely they captured every detail. They did this so well, that Drew Harvell took on the challenge of identifying marine life from these glass pieces.

It is truly saddening that throughout the years many of these pieces were broken in storage, but through the work of restoration, some of these pieces will be able to be appreciated once again.

During the October 28th Rose Scholar lecture, Professor Drew Harvell introduced Cornell’s collection of Blaschka invertebrate models. The Blaschka models, made in the 19th century by glass artists Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka, capture the biodiversity of oceanic creatures of the time period. Professor Harvell explained that the models accurately portray the color, size, and shape of the invertebrates, and thus, give her a window into how form follows function in each part of these organisms. Not surprisingly,climate change and over-fishing have contributed to the ocean’s continual decrease in biodiversity; in fact, it is possible that several of the invertebrates in the Blaschka collection are already extinct. One example is the octopus vulgaris, which scientists can no longer find in their dives off of the Mediterranean coast. Coincidentally, in one of my biology classes this week, we discussed climate change and shrinking biodiversity. Most of my classmates associated climate change with animals on land. By learning about the Blaschka collection, I most certainly have a fuller appreciation for how greatly the ocean and its creatures are also affected by climate change.

The topic of last night’s Cafe was as intriguing as it was unexpected. Thinking that I was going to hear about the conservation of the marine environment, I was surprised when we were introduced to the beautiful glass art pieces that were made to imitate the ornate intricacies of their living counterparts. The majority of the talk consisted of a screening of the short documentary, Fragile Legacy, which outlines the art’s history and impact it’s currently making in the world.

The glass art, depicting all sorts of marine invertebrates such as flatworms, jellyfish, starfish, and octopuses, dates back early in Cornell’s history to when A.D. White purchased a large number of these sculptures for the use in instructing marine biology. Since then, the art was long forgotten and stored away until Professor Harvell discovered the collection and revitalized it. Harvell talked about her work restoring the art, as well as using it as a tool to draw attention to changing ecosystems of the real world which the art is meant to portray. This project evolved into the making of a film that documents the species represented by the glass pieces. It was fascinating to see how Harvell traveled around the world, from Hawaii to Indonesia, to dive at the few locations where certain species still exist.

Particularly interesting was the story of the starfish that have been dying out rapidly along the west coast of the U.S. since 2013. I remember reading many articles about this tragedy, as thousands of star fish were mysteriously dying and washing up on shore. As a keystone species, the starfish death is especially devastating to the balance of the underwater ecosystem. It was interesting to realize that it was a Cornell professor who identified the virus that is causing this massive devastation ranging from Alaska to Mexico. Unfortunately, according to Harvell, there is nothing to be done. The last two years have brought a worsening of the virus as it has now spread to China, and most recently, Australia. It’s depressing to think about the damage we are unintentionally inflicting upon the balance of the natural world, even down to the smallest marine invertebrates. Although it was gratifying to follow-up with a story I had read about two years ago and hear first-hand about the research being done, it was discouraging to learn that there is no strategy in place for dealing with such misfortunes. I hope that Harvell’s work, both in showcasing the glass art and creating a film about conserving the marine environment, as well as the efforts of others, will have some impact in saving that which deserves to be protected.

This evening I was able to hear Drew Harvell speak about her work with Blashka glass, some of the most intricate and accurate glass models of marine life. Based on what she said and the video that we watched, I learned that these glass sculpture serve much more than art in her work. These sculptures serve are real life models of marine organisms, as they are incredibly accurate. They are used for instruction purposes and to study the lives of marine creatures.

After watching the video Drew showed, I also learned that these sculptures have made an even greater societal impact, even more than helping to educate people. These sculptures have helped scientists and marine biologists, including Drew herself, to explore the depths of the ocean. These sculptures helped provide Drew models of what to look for and explore in the ocean. And in fact, due to these models and knowing that the organisms Blashka constructed existed during his time, we now know that organisms that are now no longer highly populated must have become endangered. Thus, the interest the the Blashka glass sculptures prompted led peoples’ interest to explore the ocean. And this interest fueled more attention being directed toward the ocean and marine life. As a result, people have noticed harm being brought to marine life and have called for action.

I never would’ve guessed that the strong call for marine conservation and that exists today would be partially attributed to glass sculptures created many years ago. Art and science have found a very important intersection.

So many of these cafes center on increasing awareness about environmental sustainability. I like how Drew Harvell’s talk was focused on the beauty of nature and its fragility, rather than the negative aspects of what humans have done. Her movie was filled with breath-taking shots of marine life, and seeing the real organisms compared to the Blaschka glass pieces was remarkable. I remember seeing glass blowing at the Corning Museum of Glass, but I can’t imagine how this family created such fine details in their works.

I’m curious about how Harvell has attempted to find all the matches of the glass pieces to the real organisms in the ocean. How much have the species changed since the 1860s? Is there any way to create a checklist? While I find her job diving in the reefs fascinating, I wonder if this kind of research is too intrusive on the organisms. I’m sure other people are doing worse things, but is it unethical to chase these beings just to document their existence?

This Blaschka collection also makes me wonder what other goodies Cornell has collecting dust in a box somewhere. I cannot wait to see the display at the Johnson Art Museum, and I hope to revisit the Corning Museum once more, to see what glass artists have done in comparison to these beauties.

Tonight at the Backer-Rose Cafe Professor Drew Harvell came to speak to us about the creatures of the ocean and to screen the short film “Fragile Legacy.” This documentary, which Professor Harvell is a part of, is quite eye-opening in terms of the variety and beauty of creatures that call the corals of the oceans and seas their homes. The idea to create this movie actuated stemmed from glass models of sea creatures. In the 1800s the glassmaker Leopold Blaschka took a trans-Atlantic voyage. During this trip he encountered an astounding variety of sea life that he later on modeled in glass – incorporating even the most minute details into his sculptures. This beautiful project – which demonstrates the power, beauty, and potential of the fusion of art and science – was used as a teaching tool here at Cornell University during the school’s early years.

In the present day, Professor Harvell’s (and others’ ) undertaking of the project to restore the glass models gave rise to adventures around the world and dives in places such as Indonesia and Hawaii. The purpose of these trips was to try to see if the species that were alive in the 1800s are still thriving today. “Fragile Legacy” shows footage of various types of octopuses, sea stars, jellyfish, sea anemone, cuttlefish, and more – creatures of every possible shape, color and appearance. However, there used to be an even greater variety – as indicated by the fact that biologists such as Harvell cannot find real life matches to some of the Blaschka models. Thus, her work and this film carry an important message: marine life is beautiful, but once it is endangered there is little we can do to help. We must act to preserve and protect the Earth and its gamut of creatures. If we don’t, we will loose something that is not only beautiful but also crucial to the health of our oceans.

When I heard we were watching a movie I could not help but be excited.  It was like when your teacher wheels in a TV in class.  This was way better though.  Drew Harvell started off the meeting by showing several comparisons of glass pieces with their photographs of their real life invertebrate counter parts.  They were some of the most impressive works of art I have ever seen.  They were so life-like, colorful, and detailed.  I could not believe that such amazing pieces had been left in storage for so long, broken, and forgotten.

They were better than any model I had ever seen.  Thats when the film started.  Fragile Legacy was a stunning visual to watch.  I was in awe at some of the creatures they filmed, creatures whose movements and colors were captured in the glass pieces representing them.  Most models are stiff and focused on detail instead of matching what the animals look and feel like so it was impressive to see how the glass captured both the detail and fluidity of these invertabrate marine animals.  Also of interest was the history behind the creations and the skill that the blaschka family passed on through the generations.  

The purpose of the film was that Professor Harvell and her team were searching for the living animals that the glass represented to see if they were still around or if they had gone extinct.  It was interesting to hear that there is no checklist for invertebrate marine life considering they are a huge component of the marine ecosystem.  This made her task impossible as she would never truly be able to know if they had gone extinct or were still out there.  Overall it was incredibly impressive to see the comparison between the beautiful glass pieces and their living models.