Art From Algae

When you pass a muddy puddle, you probably avoid it. But an English artist named Klaus Kemp seeks out puddles and other bodies of water to hunt down a special type of algae. He then transforms the algae into works of art. The finished product looks like stained glass, but is so tiny that it can only be seen through a microscope!

The building blocks of Kemp’s artworks are diatoms, a kind of single-celled algae. Diatoms make up the bottom of the food chain in both saltwater and freshwater environments. Like plants, they use sunlight to create energy. Other animals eat diatoms.

What makes diatoms perfect for Kemp is that they make and live in microscopic houses of silica, or glass. The silica shells stay intact after the diatoms die. Diatoms come in different shapes, including stars, triangles, and circles. 

You probably avoid muddy puddles. But Klaus Kemp seeks them out. He's an artist who lives in England. Kemp looks through puddles and other bodies of water to find a special type of algae. He then turns the algae into works of art. The final product looks like stained glass. But it’s so tiny that it can be seen only through a microscope!

The building blocks of Kemp’s artworks are called diatoms. Diatoms are a type of algae. They live in both saltwater and freshwater. Diatoms are the bottom of the food chain. They use sunlight to create energy just like plants do. Other animals eat diatoms to survive. 

Diatoms make and live in microscopic houses of silica, or glass. After the diatoms die, the silica shells are left over. This makes them perfect for Kemp’s art. Diatoms come in different shapes, like stars, triangles, and circles.

Kemp first learned about diatom slides when he was a teenager. Scientists from the 1800s used to create these diatom arrangements, but the practice died out. “I had to work out how they did this,” says Kemp. He would spend his lunchtime looking at the elaborate designs. It took him eight years, but Kemp finally taught himself how to perfect the technique.

Today, Kemp makes and sells all sorts of designs, from circles made of 500 different diatoms to teeny images of ships. 

To create his pieces, Kemp first needs to collect a lot of diatoms. Thankfully, they’re easy to find. “If you come across any body of water, you’ll find diatoms,” says Kemp. That includes horse troughs and gutters!

Kemp often visits the seashore for diatoms. He scans the beach for a layer of brown scum. “You can’t see individual diatoms unless you have a microscope,” he says. “But together, they form a brown layer of film on top of the mud.” 

Kemp first learned about diatom slides when he was a teenager. Scientists from the 1800s made diatom arrangements. But they never wrote down how they made their artwork. “I had to work out how they did this,” says Kemp. He spent his lunchtime studying the designs. It took Kemp eight years to teach himself how to do it.

Today, Kemp makes and sells his designs. The designs include circles made of 500 different diatoms and teeny images of ships. 

To create his pieces, Kemp first collects a lot of diatoms. Thankfully, they’re easy to find. “If you come across any body of water, you’ll find diatoms,” says Kemp. That includes horse troughs and gutters!

Kemp often visits the seashore for diatoms. He scans the beach for a layer of brown scum. “You can’t see individual diatoms unless you have a microscope,” he says. “But together, they form a brown layer of film on top of the mud.”