I grew up in Nebraska among the butterflies, bees, and lady beetles. I spent long summer days in the shade of the cottonwood trees catching ladybugs to make my own terrarium. As a little person, not knowing any better, I would feed them raisins and watch as they would climb across the obstacles I placed in their box.

My Granny, who lives in Florida, is obsessed with dragonflies. When I was younger, she would paint them on her luggage, wear them as jewelry, and put paintings of them on the walls around her house. Every time I see a dragonfly flitting around, I think of her.

In 7th grade, my science teacher Ms. Nightingale spent a whole semester teaching us about Monarch butterflies. We visited the Overwintering site in Pacific Grove where thousands of monarchs covered eucalyptus trees. At a local garden habitat, I found the first Monarch caterpillar of the season. Sadly, an insect beloved by our whole nation was disappearing. From this moment, my passion for butterflies became a total obsession with insects.

This year I contacted a retired teacher and local entomologist to learn more about insects. He gave me his “beater” collections to kickstart my own specimen collection. At first I was apprehensive, but once I began to look closer, I found unrivaled beauty in insects I once thought to be dangerous.

People rarely consider the world of insects that sits right under our noses. While we treat them like a plague, they work hard to keep balance in our ecosystems. Using pieces of my past in conjunction with what I have learned today, I created this piece. An homage to my past and the insects that have impacted my life in the most profound ways.