For the past month, students at St. Mark’s School in Southborough, MA have pondered invisible marine microbes as part of the school’s science curriculum. Using photos of marine microbes in the visiting Tiny Giants exhibit, students learned “why marine microbes matter,” says art teacher Barbara Putnam.

Thanks to the efforts of longtime St. Mark’s art teacher Barbara Putnam, a new exhibit—combining science and art—is on display in the Taft Hall lobby. Tiny Giants features large-scale photographs of marine microbes, created by scientists at the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in East Boothbay, Maine. The images on display in Taft are shown at three different scales, each taken using one of three different microscopes: compound-light, confocal, and scanning electron. The result is scientific truth expressed in art.

“I am thrilled that we are able to bring this exhibit to St. Mark’s,” says Ms. Putnam. She first saw the Tiny Giantsphotographs in Maine at Colby College, and she knew they had to come to Southborough. “They are a powerful example of art intersecting with science: a cross-disciplinary project providing greater insight and understanding.”

The following photos show students in a science class working on a unit introducing oceanography.

The exhibit will be in Tafts Lobby at St. Mark's School through mid-March. To read more about the exhibit, click here. For future Tiny Giants exhibit dates and locations, click here.