Kate Clover

I’ve been fascinated with geology my whole life, always looking at rocks, fossil and landforms and ever wondering --why are these rocks here? What story of earth’s history do they tell? Why are there fossil trilobites in Michigan? And likewise with sand. I grew up on a white sand beach on Lake Michigan; and at some point in my childhood, I traveled to a beach with black sand and remarked— beach sand is not all the same! That’s when started collecting. First it was just looking at the sand in vials and various containers, then I popped some samples under the microscope and was totally in awe of the beauty and diversity of the grains. Looking at the grains, I began asking: where did the grains originate? what are the mineral in the sand? how did the grains get so round? why is it only quartz? what are those bits of marine creatures? why is lots of desert sand red?

In my years in higher education, I've studied geology, technical writing, education and some marine science, and I integrate them all in my work as a museum professional, gallery manager and educator at the Science Museum of Minnesota. In 1999, I had the opportunity to create a small exhibit around sand, and museum visitors were intrigued and began brining me samples from their travels—my collection mushroomed! In 2003, Gary Greenberg found information about the museum's sand collection and asked for sand samples to photograph; and that started our collaborative work. The Secrets of Sand is our most recent project. It’s been a pleasure to work with him and Carol Kiely on this beautiful book.