Click on the picture to listen to the sounds of moths while viewing their pictures, and see a photogallery of detailed moth...fur.
The writer Vladimir Nabokov once observed that "It is astounding how little the ordinary person notices about butterflies." Just imagine being a moth. Even though some 90 percent of insects known as lepidoptera are not butterflies, they're the ones that get all the glory. Puccini, after all, didn't write "Madame Moth," and we don't protect our favorite woolens with "butterflies-balls."
None of this literary and historic prejudice bothers the printmaker Joseph Scheer. His high-resolution scans of moths reveal tapestries of color, texture and detail you just don't expect from a bug. Furry and deep vermillion, translucent and lime green. And flying, finally, into the spotlight.
Joseph Scheer, professor of print media, Alfred University's School of Art and Design, co-founder, Institute of Electronic Arts, and artist, "Night Visions: The Secret Designs of Moths"
Theodore Sargent, professor emeritus of Behavioral Ecology, University of Massachusetts, and author, "Legion of Night: The Underwing Moths"
Richard Lewington, illustrator, most recently, of "Field Guide to the Moths of Great Britain and Ireland"
