Science and Art Merge In Giant Insect Paintings

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. October 14, 2008

TUCSON, AZ, February 16, 2007. Think big. Like Andy Warhol's giant Campbell's soup can. Or big like Georgia O'Keefe's sensual flowers.

Now think bugs. Really big bugs. True-to-life insects painted 30 to 200 times their actual size. These are America's largest hand-painted scientific illustrations.

Jessa Huebing-Reitinger is a performance artist who paints enormous portraits of individual insects that inhabit planet Earth - while you watch. She works on a stage looking at actual insects under the microscope and transforming them into dramatic wall-sized oil paintings on canvas.

Praying mantid. Tiger face butterfly. Honey bee. Weevil beetle. Robber fly. Orchid bee. Cicada. Mud dauber wasp. Lantern bug. Red dragonfly. These and other insects captured on canvas will be exhibited at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson from Feb. 3 to Apr. 22, 2007. Anyone can watch the art in progress by checking the webcam at www.desertmuseum.org.

Part fine artist, part scientific illustrator, Huebing-Reitinger will create a new work at the world-renowned Desert Museum in the heart of the Sonoran Desert. The subjects are two players in a real-life drama - a giant wasp known as the tarantula hawk and its prey, a tarantula.

The tarantula hawk is a predator with a very intense survival mission. Determined to successfully procreate, the female of the species targets a tarantula (which can be twice her size), injects it with a paralyzing toxin, then lays a single egg on the still living but immobile tarantula. As the larva hatches and develops, it feeds on the tarantula.

The museum staff recommended several indigenous insects as possible subjects for this unique art project. Eventually the tarantula hawk was selected not only because of its fascinating survival behavior but also because it is an iconic resident of the Sonoran Desert, said Tim Vimmerstedt, Director of Marketing at the museum.

The exhibition begins Feb. 3, when Huebing-Reitinger starts to sketch the insect and the arachnid with pastels on a large stretched canvas. This will be the first time she has featured two creatures in a single painting. Over the nearly three months of working on a stage and interacting with a live audience every day, the final painting will emerge. The show closes April 22.

The artist said, "I paint the insects on a very large scale and this process becomes a discovery for people to see them up close, for the first time. The art itself transcends what people typically think of when they see a small little bug crawling across the floor. At this scale, the insects are seen differently and with beauty."

Under the microscope, Huebing-Reitinger sees vivid colors and intriguing details that most people never do - "like the intricate patterns on the gossamer wings of the dragonfly or the double iridescence of the dung beetle that reflects both red and green light waves," she said.

School children especially respond well to this interactive arts and science project, said Susan Fisher, Director of the Art Institute at the Desert Museum. "This exhibit is a good match for us. We want young people to appreciate insects - not as something we need to step on - but to realize that they serve a purpose on the planet and we need to take care of them and respect their role in the Sonoran Desert - which is what the Desert Museum is all about."

While the artist paints on canvas, her husband James paints insect "tattoos" on children and encourages them to talk about their own insect discoveries. This interactive experience delights children and adults alike, Fisher said.

"To me the important aspect of this exhibit is that she will do this painting from beginning to end under the scrutiny of the public eye. This gives people the opportunity not only to see art being made, but also to really dial in on insects in a way they can't normally do," Fisher said. The exhibition features the huge insect portraits displayed with the actual insect that was the subject. An array of other insects also are exhibited, many under microscopes for up-close viewing by the public.

Project InSECT is a traveling performance art exhibition that's part science, part art and all fun, according to the husband and wife team. They thought, why work alone in the studio when you can be out in the world sharing a passion, educating and interacting with an audience as you work?

Born in Wisconsin, Jessa Huebing-Reitinger is a 1993 graduate of the Kansas City Art Institute who became a commercial artist. Her husband kept suggesting she paint bugs. While examining a photograph of a caterpillar, she suddenly recalled a childhood experience of watching the metamorphosis of a luna moth. That's when she realized the power of "this crazy idea," she said.

Since deciding to take the art out of the studio and into public spaces, she's painted in train stations, student unions, botanic gardens and most recently at the Butterfly Pavilion in Denver. Now she's preparing for her 23rd insect painting at the Desert Museum in Tucson. To view the paintings, visit www.projectinsect.com/gallery.htm.

Admitting that she was afraid of spiders as a child, the artist said, "There are huge prejudices about my subjects and battling those prejudices is part of the fun of what I do." Visitor reactions quickly change from "ick" to awe. She added that these interactions with the public "fuel my creativity. I've found what I was born to do."

The Project InSECT exhibition is open daily at the Desert Museum's Ironwood Gallery. Jessa Huebing-Reitinger is on stage and painting Wednesdays through Sundays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Desert Museum also offers a webcam so anyone can watch the process and progress of the art online at www.desertmuseum.org.

The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum is the nation's leading outdoor living museum, featuring more than 300 species of native wildlife and 1,300 varieties of desert plants. The Desert Museum, located at 2021 N. Kinney Rd., is open every day of the year - from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. March through September and from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., October through February. Admission is free for members and children under six, $12 for non-member adults and $4 for children age six through 12. Call (520) 883-2702 or visit www.desertmuseum.org for more information.