Puffballs: From the Inside Out

Inspired by Puffball fungi and a Burren seascape, Puffballs: From the Inside Out is an outdoor ceramic water sculpture that has appeared at multiple exhibitions throughout Ireland. Each piece was individually sculpted and modelled in my Dublin studio. A group of seven of the pieces are now in the permanent collection at Blarney Castle, Co. Cork.

Ceramics Ireland 2016 exhibition at the Cowshed Gallery, Farmleigh, Phoenix Park, Dublin.
Vanishing Art 2014 at Carton House, Co. Kildare.
Art in Action 2012 & 2014 at Farmleigh House, Dublin.
Sculpture at the Castle at Blarney Castle in 2013. It is now in the permanent collection at Blarney Castle, Co. Cork.
Design & Crafts Council of Ireland show garden at Bloom 2011, in the Phoenix Park, Dublin.
Outside: Insight, Sculpture in the Gardens 2009, at Brigit’s Garden, Roscahill, Co. Galway.
Design & Crafts Council of Ireland Sculpture Trail at Bloom 2008, Phoenix Park, Dublin.
Sculpture in Context 2007 at The National Botanic Garden, Dublin.

Dimensions: various diameters from 22-42cm.

Price: €225-€695 depending on size – available pieces can be found in the Shop.

Available for sale.

My inspiration

Obscure organisms in the natural world fascinate me. In my work I try to make a world often invisible – accessible – that is in an unexpected way. My inspiration for this sculpture comes from fungi and as David Attenborough so simply put it – “Fungi are very strange organisms”. He wasn’t wrong!

Neither plant nor animal and with no stems, roots or leaves they spend most of their life hidden underground in an unseen network of interwoven tissue of branching threads. Yet their spores sail high in the sky, float on rivers and in the sea and these remarkable organisms are present in every type of habitat and ecosystem in the world.

Estimates suggest that over 1.5 million species of fungi exist but despite their importance to all life on earth, less than 5% of these have been described. They are said to outnumber flowers by as much as 6:1 and are classed as a kingdom in their own right.

Indeed, the largest living organism in the world is the Honey fungus (Armillaria solidipes) – found in the Blue Mountains in Oregon it covers a mostly underground network which has reached over 3 km across!

Puffball fungi, releasing spores. Image by Kalyanvarma (Own work), licenced under a Creative Commons licence [CC BY-SA 3.0] (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3APuffball_fungai.jpg

Giant puffball at Zuienkerke, Belgium, image by Hans Hillewaert, licenced under a Creative Commons licence [CC BY-SA 4.0] https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en, via Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ACalvatia_gigantea.jpg

In this piece I have focused on Puffball fungi, these are round or pear-shaped fruiting bodies that contain spores. They can grow as large as 50 cm in diameter and become hollow inside as they mature. During this process the walls of the ball hardens and becomes so rigid that a raindrop would cause it to vibrate and crack open thus releasing the spores in a cloud of smoke.

This piece is my interpretation of a dissection of a Puffball as it disintegrates and becomes hollow. In this piece I hope the viewer will be given a glimpse into the mysterious world of fungi. It is only when a fungus “flowers” that we see evidence of its existence. Yet these structures on the outside are merely a hint of the inside surface and so we see it From the inside out.

A secondary source of inspiration for these pieces was a shoreline in the Burren, Co. Clare. The erosion of the sea on the ‘soft’ limestone rocks has created the most amazing seascape – the undulations in these rocks reminded me of the inside of a disintegrating Puffball. This Burren beach was the main inspiration for another sculpture of mine Synergy.

Inspiration from the shoreline in the Burren near Fanore in Co. Clare, Ireland. The erosion of the Atlantic Ocean on the ‘soft’ limestone rocks had created the most amazing seascape. www.ceramicforms.com

How was it made?

Puffballs: From the Inside Out is a hand-built and modelled ceramic water sculpture. Each piece was formed in the ‘soft-slabbing’ method to give a sense of immediacy, movement and texture.

It was constructed using a grogged crank clay body and was high fired in an electric kiln to 1260°C (Cone 8). The blue-green glaze is one I developed about 10 years ago, it combines multiple layers of glazes which at stoneware temperatures melt and ‘flux’ to create a stunning ceramic surface. This reactive glaze responds to the folded surfaces in the clay – making each piece completely unique.

Outdoor ceramic water sculpture - Puffballs: From the inside out by Michelle Maher. Shown here at The National Botanic Gardens in Dublin, Sculpture in Context exhibition 2007. This sculpture is inspired by the internal structure of Puffball fungi and seascapes from the Burren in Co. Clare. They were hand sculpted and modelled in a grogged stoneware clay body and fired in an electric kiln to 1260°C (Cone 8). Now part of the permanent collection at Blarney Castle. www.ceramicforms.com.

About ‘Sculpture in Context’

“As you weave your way through the garden, you will discover sculptures in the most unexpected and surprising places. Ranging in size and materials, these works of art represent the richly diverse character of Irish and International contemporary sculpture today.”

Sculpture in Context is the largest and most prestigious outdoor sculpture exhibition in Ireland. Established in 1985 by a group of sculptors, their aim was to work on behalf of fellow sculptors to provide space for exhibiting work of sculpture in venues outside of their normal gallery context.

Thirty years on and Sculpture in Context has gone from strength to strength. Since 2002, the show has made its home in the National Botanic Gardens in Dublin which is annually transformed into a living art gallery.

Artists’ ingenuity, contemporary art and Mother Nature are wonderfully combined here and as the seasons change from summer to autumn, visitors are given a reason to return again and again to see the sculptures and the garden in ever changing conditions.

Sculpture receives a spectacular presentation in the Garden, which is laid out in a variety of settings including glasshouses, ponds and foliage – winding through the 50 acres of landscaped grounds. With over 160 sculptures, this is the most exciting outdoor sculpture exhibition in Ireland.

The show runs from the first week in September to the third week in October every year.