whorl

She also got an up-close look at the delicate purple whorls on the outside of exterior of the snails’ shells.

Representations of the religious teacher started out as nearly abstract symbols a few thousand years ago — a starburst shape inside a spiraling whorl, for example, which configures an emanation of light within an eternal flow.

Its deep crimson color and complex bloom — a crowded whorl of ruffled petals that coalesce in the center to form a heart — add an element of visual intrigue.

The team also noted oddities in the tissue, such as a small number of axons that formed extensive whorls.

Photographic series he made there, like “Westtexaspsychosculpture,” depict forlorn whorls of fencing-wire debris that look like uncanny mimics of Wool’s own writhing scribbles, and which inspired scaled-up versions cast in bronze.