This is a super common species here in the United States, especially Nebraska, the Chinese Mantis. They were introduced accidentally back towards the turn of the 20th century and purposefully spread throughout the country as a natural form of pest control. It is not considered invasive and seems to be fully naturalized to the country.

I've raised this on and off for years and never bothered to photographed it for the portrait series because of how available it is. Well here it is. These photos also demonstrate a common problem I have. The portrait is least strong of three but other two just do not fit the project at all. I have piles of very nice photos of mantises that I have nothing to do with. This is also the first time I've used polarized lights for the insect and I have say I am having a hard time finding a time to not polarize my lights.

I've been super quiet on here lately mostly because all of the work I am producing is for upcoming shows rather than just my usual grind for myself. There's a lot of new shows on the docket for this year.

April 14 9am-4pm, Omaha Mini Maker Faire at doSpace - I've been invited to participate again this year's Maker Faire. I'll have some different stuff from last year as most of the work will be tied up in a different show.

April 6 6pm, Bug Symposium Exhibition, Petshop Gallery - Dave Crane (Dan Crane's brother) and fellow entomologist Andy Matz are doing their Bug Symposium again this year and seem determined to expand it and make it better. In that effort Petshop Gallery has decided to take over the art portion of it. Unsurprisingly I was asked to participate again this year which I am stoked to do so.

June-September - Museum of Alternative History at the Kaneko - This is eating up the most time by far but I have no complaints about that. I've been producing 2-3 pieces a week for this and they are all under wraps until after the show opens. Similarly you may have noticed some gallery pages have gone dark on my website. That work will be on display at the MAH.

June 9 - Floating Artist Project at TBD - A bunch of the sensory deprivation tank places here in Omaha (who knew we had any?) decided to give artist three free floats. After those floats the artists would create work based on the experience which then be sold at a charity show. I've done my floats and piece for this already. The whole thing was a right good giggle. Blue Oceans Float was the host for me.

October 11-December 6, Rising Etymology, solo show at Fred Simmon - The Nebraska Arts Council was kind enough and amazing enough to give me a solo show at their gallery. Originally this was going to be in April but for many good reasons it was rescheduled to October.

There are couple of more tentative shows for fall and winter here in town and down in Houston. More news on those as they solidify.

Workshops - I've been teaching workshops at Union for Contemporary Art. If you want a strong introduction to large format printing you should take it. It is free for co-op members and 10$(?) for non-members. U-CA has a very good 24" epson available for co-op members. I also knocked at a workshop on work documentation as part of the Omaha Creative Institute's Working Artist Wednesday series. With any luck there will be another workshop in the fall/winter. If you missed or you attended and would like the powerpoint from it let me know and I will pass it on to you.

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