Mara Haseltine A sculptor who looks inside to find hermuse

Sometimes it's the small things that count. At least, that's what Mara Haseltine found when she began translating the most minute human substances, subcellular structures, into large-scale sculptural installations set in verdant landscapes. The Brooklyn-based sculptor's latest work, Waltz of the Polypeptides, features a 110-foot depiction of the birth of the BLyS (Beta Lymphocyte Stimulator) protein. The mixed-media installation is rendered in metal, glass, and 7-pound foam, and set into a living landscape of plants. Haseltine envisions the work as the first completed component of a much larger earthwork, The Cell Garden.

Q: Can you describe your vision for The Cell Garden? The Cell Garden is a playful way to combine science and art and engage peoples' self-awareness of how incredible their own bodies are and how they function on a cellular level. When visitors venture within the membrane of The Cell Garden, they will be taking an internal journey. People have a visceral reaction to the forms when they see them as sculptures; these are not just random shapes. My goal is to create a visually beautiful and exciting work that is a universal gesture. The work is cross-gender, cross-cultural, and while a three-year-old can enjoy it on a purely formal level, so can the most sophisticated biochemist I also plan on using recycled materials and renewable energy sources to create The Cell Garden. I am currently looking for the perfect site, hopefully somewhere here in New York. You've collaborated and consulted with artists, engineers, scientists, and heightech fabricators such as CTEK to create your works. Is a lot of your work based on technology?

The thing I don't like about computers is that they have a genuine lack of dirt. I like to combine the most ancient techniques with cutting-edge technology. The techniques I used to create Waltz would not be possible without recent developments in bioinformatics, which enables scientists to see and analyze the tiniest submolecular forms. Mixing these innovative techniques with landscaping, agriculture, and sustainability will be what makes The Cell Garden so unique. Who, or what work, inspires you? My greatest inspiration comes from Mother Nature. I am very influenced by the beauty of Zen gardens; I love the mix of nature and architecture in the temple gardens, especially in Kyoto. I also look to artists and architects that have created grand gestures, like James Turrell's sitespecific installation at the Roden Crater, Niki de Saint Phalles's Tarot Garden in Tuscany, Cai Guo-Qaing's Projects for Extraterrestrials, Nicholas Grimshaw's Eden project in Cornwall, KieranTimberlake, Zaha Hadid, so many others! Architects bring a whole palette of materials and possibilities to a vision ≈ there are always physical limitations that require problem-solving in the real world.