Claire connected her early memories of quietly observing the nature in her local park, Powers Farm, to the experience of peering through a kaleidoscope, where zooming in on the tiny worlds that secretly surround us can reveal visually fascinating patterns and structures.

Inspired by 17th century Scientist and Illustrator Ernst Haeckel’s theory that all species represent different developmental stages of a unified genealogy of all life, revealed through the basic patterns repeated in different organisms, Claire explored the “inherent symmetry” in the life of her backyard.

Claire looked to microscopes and telescopes in designing the form of the kaleidoscope box and stand. Collecting leaves, dirt, cattails, algae, daisies, and duckweed from Powers Farm, she made paper slides for kaleidoscope viewing.