Iron Slags as Art

Slag from ancient iron smelting in Madagascar; image by David Killick, UA professor of anthropology

A metallurgical slag from ancient iron smelting in Madagascar. A thin
slice was glued to a glass slide and polished to a thickness of only
0.03 mm. It is photographed here at a magnification of 200x in cross
polarized transmitted light. All of the brightly colored crystals are
of the same mineral (an iron silicate calledfayalite ) but display
different colors because the lattices of each crystal are at different
angles to the plane of the section. The black network within thefayalite crystals is of a second mineral, an iron-aluminium spinel called hercynite, that crystallized at the same time as the fayalite, giving rise to complex intergrowths of the two minerals.

Beyond the Naked Eye: Science Reveals Nature's Art
November 8, 2008–January 9, 2009

Art and science have always been connected—from alchemists' experiments producing artist materials to Renaissance explorations of anatomy. Contemporary art includes many modern technologies as processes, and the avant-garde has seen science as a subject for artistic exploration for over a century. This exhibition aims to reverse the traditional roles by presenting the science as the art.

I got wind of this through the ArchMetals discussion group. David Killick is also involved in our own Early Iron discussion as well.

Quoted sections and images from the Arizona State Museum web site.