Thursday, July 1, 2010

The Trilobite Gallery

Here we go! July 1st brings us...

The Trilobite Gallery

A classic fossil from around the world, the trilobite are a group of extinct arthropod, which survived from the earliest Cambrian to the Permian mass extinction, with most groups going extinct in the Devonian. Where they come from is a mystery; Trilobites were already widely diverse and geographically dispersed when they first show up in the Cambrian Explosion.

Having a hard exoskeleton allowed them to leave a vast and extensive fossil record, allowing scientists to use trilobites as fossil markers in determining the stratigraphic of the Cambrian, as evidence for continental drift, and data for testing the Punctuated Equilibrium mechanism for evolution.

And if you live in Ohio, Wisconsin or Pennsylvania, then trilobites are your state fossil! But as this is the July 1st Gallery, then a Happy Canada Day to you all too!


Continue down to open the Trilobite Time Capsule, and marvel at the treasures inside...

(Click on the picture to enlarge it, and click on the names to view the artist's site!)



Trilobite Deco by Sean Craven



CRYPTOLITHUS by John Meszargos

 As pointed out by Sam Gon II on his excellent Trilobite website,
there are several species of trilobite with huge dome-like cephalic
chambers.  In addition, the bodies of these animals, if extended
straight back, would hang significantly far above the sediment.  Both
features suggest that these trilobites may have been filter feeders
that used the gills on their elevated thorax and pygidium to sweep
plankton into the cephalic chamber for processing.  Here I have
depicted one such trilobite based on a drawing from Gon's website.


OLENIMORPH by John Meszargos

The Olenina includes several species from rock layers that were
formerly sulfur-rich deep sea habitats.  Modern-day animals living in
these kinds of habitats often form symbiotic relationships with
sulfur-fixing bacteria, so it's not unreasonable to hypothesize that
deep-dwelling Olenids had similar relationships.  Evidence for this
symbiosis can be found in the large gills found in some well-preserved
fossils, since gills are often where the sulfur-eating bacteria live
in modern organisms.  These fossils also frequently possess an
increased number of body segments (and thus an increased number of
gills) as well as highly-reduced mouthparts (since most of their
nutrition would come from the bacteria).
 Here I've depicted one such symbiotic trilobite crawling over the
sea floor near a colony of prehistoric tube-worms.  The brown
clam-like creatures in the foreground are deep-sea brachiopods, while
the blue fish swimming overhead are Ctenurella, a species of
placoderms that convergently evolved to resemble modern-day chimeras.



Trilobite Dragon by Matt Harpold



Cambrian Portraits by Sydney Veltkamp



Trilobite Tattoo by Sydney Veltkamp



Fossil Necklace by Leslie Gordon

Leslie Gordon Designs
Jewelry, metal arts, lapidary




Tilobite! by Sarah Snell-Pym

This is a diagramatic representation of Radiaspis which I first came across in Richard Fortey's book TRILOBITE! of which I have a prized signed copy!




Dark Trilobite by Sarah Snell-Pym

This is a pen drawing I wanted to get a sort of sci-fi alien look, so I heavily textured the picture, adding the sort of detail a paleo-teacher would go mad about, marking you down heavily for obscuring the structure!




Fimo Trilobite by Sarah Snell-Pym

I love making things out of polymer clays, little sculptures out of things like fimo, this trilobite is 2 inches or 5 cm long, I made each segment and constructed it from the bits thinking about how trilobites are actually structured.  I have photographed it on a weathered concrete base to give it a bottom of the sea look.




Eco-Bites by Sarah Snell-Pym

Trilobites are amazingly diverse so I wanted to capture the idea of a trilobite lead eco-system with them as the grazers, scavengers, filter feeders, hunters, burrowers etc... covering the different sections of the water column and the different habitat niches.  The trilobites I have drawn probably did not all exist together as represented here.




Scavenging Bounty by Craig Dylke

The carcass of the large (for its time) Odaraia falls to the Cambrian ocean floor relatively intact. Attracting many of the large (again for their time) trilobite Olenoides to feast on the remains. Dinomischus filter feed in the distance, while a swarm of Marrella swim overhead.

Note from the artist- This piece really has turned out to be a disappointment. I might revisit it when I have the time. I have just started a very full on 6 day a week job, and have spent the whole month of June moving on top of that... So hopefully one day when I'm not so busy I'll be able to do this concept justice.




Cambrian Awe by Craig Dylke

A unintentional but neat mistake on the piece above. It makes me wonder how many of the great works of art created throughout the ages were accidents that looked cool. Yet were never intended by the artist...


Triarthrus. by Rachael Revelle

An A4 collage in green paper.




The Last Refuge by Glendon Mellow

Oil on canvas, 2010. Commissioned by Kevin Zelnio of Deep Sea News.
Available as a print or poster.





Flying Trilobite Obelisk by Glendon Mellow

Oil on slate & Photoshop, 2010.





Trilobites had no Aries by Glendon Mellow


Trilobites had no Cancer by Glendon Mellow



Trilobites had no Gemini by Glendon Mellow



Trilobites had no Taurus by Glendon Mellow


Cheriurus, stippled drawing by Jacqueline Dillard







Based on a dream the artist had.








Acadoparadoxides sp., a Moroccan Cambrian trilobite by Mo Hassan

Colour pencil illustration



Cnemidopyge nuda, a Welsh Ordovician trilobite by Mo Hassan

Graphite pencil sketch




Flexicalymene caractaci, a British Ordovician trilobite by Mo Hassan
Colour pencil illustration



Quinquecosta williamsi, a British Palaeozoic trilobite by Mo Hassan

Colour pencil illustration



Post-Impressionist Trilobites by Peter Bond

One of a series of six prehistoric-themed post-impressionism paintings.
You can see them all here.



Happy Canadian Trilobite Day by Peter Bond




Dicranurus: One Spiky Trilobite! by Peter Bond

Pen illustration. Coloured version coming soon.





Graphite, monotype, spray paint, colored pencil, and transfer letters. 2008.
I was looking at trilobites, Aztec officers' helmets, and Rembrandt's Man in a Golden Helmet.






I'm a big fan of prehistoric invertebrates and I wanted to share their wonder with other people by personifying them. Trilobites are more than just fossils, they were once living things making their way in the world just like anyone else.






The Zenith of the Devonian Trilobites by Nima Sassani

The teeming trilobite sea floor in the Devonian period, time of some of the weirdest and most extreme trilobite species that ever evolved. Location is a continental shelf in Morocco, around 400 million years ago.

See if you can locate the exotic trilobites Dicranurus monstrosus, Dicranurus hamatus, Erbenochile Erbeni, Koneprussia sp., Droptops armatus, Paralejurus sp., Ceratarges sp., Scabriscutellum sp., Walliserops trifurcatus, the gigantic Terataspis grandis, and of course the worldwide favorite, Phacops!

The two giant fish in the background are Titanichthys, a far less vicious (though equally large) cousin of Dunkleosteus.
Phacops rana by David Tana

Phacops rana, a middle Devonian phacopid with large eyes and an uncanny ability to roll into a defensive curl and become buried in sediment. Pencil on paper


Hope we've all molted successfully! If you have a trilobite you'd like to include in this Time Capsule, these galleries accept pieces anytime - just send them in to artevolved@gmail.com!

BUT THERE'S MORE!

Must go faster!!!

The next gallery defies strict science and lets the imagination soar!

This summer brings you our first Pop Culture Gallery!!! Use your pencils and pixels to pay homage to your favorite famous monsters or create your own! Send them in to ART Evolved and we'll open the Time Capsule on September 1st 2010!

Spared no expense!