An image of the installation on view in the exhibition Reverie and Alchemy in Towson University's Center for the Arts Gallery.

The Insectarium shadowbox is inspired by insect collections from the 16th - 18th centuries. The accompanying informational card contains the following text: 

"Insects were ideal subjects for study: they were abundant, easy to collect, and could be raised in captivity. Enthusiasts traded and purchased foreign insects, many from the Americas. Instructions on how to trap, preserve, and transport insects – including living pupae and larvae – accompanied the voyages.

Women contributed to the study of insects through art. Maria Merian, a pioneering artist and naturalist, observed, studied, and painted insects. Her illustrated publications contributed to scientific understanding."

The Materia shadowbox is inspired by the link between medicine and natural history collections. The accompanying informational card contains the following text: 

"Early apothecary shops were hubs of scholarly pursuit, often housing curiosity cabinets in adjoining rooms. In addition to attracting customers with curious displays, cabinets demonstrated the apothecary’s access to exotic medicinal ingredients. In the main shop, brightly colored drug jars lined the shelves. Jars contained herbs and elixirs like oil of violets, as well as less appealing concoctions, like oil of earthworms and earwax. 

Materia Medica – the term for medicinal items – includes a vial of elderberry, dried viola, earthworm cutouts, and a decorative drug jar."

The Brood X shadowbox is inspired by cicadas in natural history collections. The accompanying informational card contains the following text: 

"Brood X immortalizes the brood x cicadas, which emerged in droves in 2021.  After spending 17 years underground, these curious insects surfaced for a brief period to metamorphose, mate, lay their eggs, and die.  A few weeks later, their young fell from the branches to burrow underground and begin the process again. 

This shadowbox seeks to provoke curiosity and wonder by recalling the curious phenomenon of the cicada’s emergence, illuminating cicada wings and molted shells, which frame a cicada."

The Orchidelerium shadowbox is inspired by pressed flower collections. The accompanying informational card contains the following text: 

"Though Victorian women were barred from participating in the field of botany, they contributed to botanical understanding through gardening, drawing and collecting plants. Herbariums, books of pressed flowers, were a popular format to display their collections.

Orchidelerium displays flowers popular in Victorian collections: daffodils, tobacco, and orchids. Victorians were so obsessed with orchids, that the craze was nicknamed ‘orchidelerium.’ Many of these plants were imported from British colonies, making them intrinsically linked to colonialism."

The Pocket Bestiary shadowbox is inspired by items from animals and insects that provoke curiosity and wonder. The accompanying informational card contains the following text: 

"Medieval bestiaries were written compendiums of real and fantastic beasts, including creatures like centaurs and sea bishops. Curiosity cabinets perpetuated myths by assembling wonders: mermaids were made from monkeys and fish, and dragons were made from fish skins. Famed apothecary and collector Albertus Seba even claimed to have a 7-headed hydra.

Pocket Bestiary contains relics from real creatures that appear fantastic: a fisher spider’s molt, a male dobsonfly with oversized pincers, a shrew skull with iron-red teeth, and highly decorative box turtle scutes."

The Serpentes Vanitas shadowbox is inspired by mortality and the cycle of life. The accompanying informational card contains the following text: 

"Vanitas artworks illustrate the shortness of life using symbols such as dying flowers and burning candles. This theme was also present in early curiosity cabinets.

The Serpentes Vanitas shadowbox explores vanitas symbolism through nature. The snake skin and snake spine represent the cycle of life. Within the spine is the skull of a rabbit, the snake's prey.  The butterfly, a symbol of rebirth, represents new life, and the beetle, a decomposer, represents death."

The Shellwork shadowbox is inspired by shell cabinets of the 18th century. The accompanying informational card contains the following text: 

"In the 18th century, shells were considered luxury goods, imported via channels like the Dutch East India Company. Shells were housed in cabinets with satin-lined drawers, grouped to form elaborate pictures and arrangements.

Shell collecting and shellwork – arranging shells to create decorative objects – were considered appropriate activities for 18th century women. Artist Mary Delany was an avid shell collector and designed shellwork grottos. Her colleague, the Duchess of Portland, amassed one of the greatest shell collections of the time."

The Super Flower Blood Moon shadowbox is inspired by the mass emergence of horseshoe crabs from the Delaware Bay in May and June. The accompanying informational card contains the following text: 

"Horseshoe crabs are living fossils, animals that have remained almost unchanged for millions of years.  During full and new moons in early summer, thousands of these curious animals assemble on Delaware Bay seashore to breed.  They are threatened by overharvesting – both for bait, and for a compound in their blood used in vaccine production.

Super Flower Blood Moon, named after the coincidence of multiple lunar phenomena, illuminates molted shells of horseshoe crabs, cutouts of whelk egg cases, and cutouts of the horseshoe crabs themselves."

The Staff of Asclepius shadowbox is inspired by the connection between early medicine and natural materials. The accompanying informational card contains the following text: 

"Staff of Asclepius references the link between curious materials and early medicine. Stuffed alligators, dried fish, and plants hung from the ceilings of early apothecary shops. Mummies, oil of vipers, and exotic herbs were used to make drugs.

Unicorns were a popular motif in medical branding, as “unicorn horns” (narwhal horns in actuality) were thought to have healing properties. Snakes were another common theme in medical branding. Asclepius, the Greek good of medicine, carried a staff wrapped with a single snake; a motif that is still used today."

Orchidelerium shows the collection and transplanting of orchids from the wild into a Victorian-era glasshouse. Collecting orchids was dangerous and unsustainable, with collectors depleting entire landscapes of the highly sought-after flowers. Materials: cut paper, acrylic paint, pressed plants and flowers, bark, vellum.  Partially animated on a lightbox.  

Brood X Illustrates the lifecycle of the brood x cicadas.  Materials: dirt, pressed and dried flowers, stones, beach glass, cicada molts, cicada wings, cicadas, vellum, bark, leaves.  Partially animated on a lightbox.  

The animation shows a mermaid's purse, whelk egg case, and a whelk shell washing up on the Delaware Bay shore before the sun sets.  The moon, represented by a moon snail shell, rises from a black hollyhock and triggers the emergence of horseshoe crabs from the water.  Materials: pressed and dried flowers, feathers, pebbles, seashells, vellum, acrylic paint, molted horseshow crab shells, rhinestones, and sequins. 

Vanitas utilized the beetle from the Serpentes Vanitas shadowbox and themes and symbols representative of mortality – a ticking clock, a beetle being devoured by a carnivorous plant, and a candle melting.  Materials: bark, butterflies, beetles, pressed and dried plants, cut paper, leaves, candle.  Partially animated on a lightbox. 

This image shows a series of graphics created for the Showy Orchis' bloom phases. Behind the graphics are photographs I took while collecting data.

This image shows a series of graphics created for various wildflowers. Behind the graphics are photographs I took while collecting data.

This image shows a chart that I used for wildflower data collection in Spring 2024. The top row indicates the week (IE week of 3/23) and the left column indicates the wildflower species. The graphics are placed within the chart to illustrate the bloom phase over time. The squares highlighted with green indicate an approximation of the wildflower's peak bloom time.