Paula Hayes: Nocturne of the Limax Maximus February 2, 2011

Since the 1990s, New York-based artist and landscape designer Paula Hayes (b. 1958) has produced botanical sculptures -- organically shaped vessels made from blown glass, silicone or acrylic and filled with a rich variety of plant life -- that expand upon the classic terrarium, both through their imaginative containers and the microcosmic universes within. Hayes has conceived an installation for the Museum lobby that includes a fifteen-foot-long, wall-mounted horizontal sculpture for the east wall, and a free-standing, egg-shaped, floor-to-ceiling structure nearby. Organic in form and containing a variety of living plants, the vessels will add a joyful vitality to the lobby, enlivening the space during the winter season.