Specimens of Light

Collage with repurposed film. This unique material is what artist Esther Neisen uses to create her insect-based work. Her lightbox artwork is in the Burchfield Penney permanent collection and is currently on exhibit in A Vast, Tiny World: Burchfield's Insects & Spiders exhibition. Participants will work with reclaimed film-related materials to explore transparency and modify existing imagery. Through a process of careful selection and composition (and lots of cutting!) each participant will create a unique, insect-inspired framed artwork to take home. Participants can use a template provided by the artist or design your own unique insect.
About the instructor:
Throughout her life, Esther Neisen has been captivated by the natural world and the "intricacies and variety of both interior and exterior structures." Neisen is an accomplished illustrator and craft artist who works in a wide variety of media. She has lived in Western New York since 2002. Neisen's current body of work focuses on anatomically accurate representations of insects created from reclaimed film, photographic negatives, and the occasional found material. Her creative process for these works is slow and detailed, and "allows [for] a great deal of immediate problem solving, which keeps me both happy and engaged." Her broad range of technical and creative skills all play a role in the creation process.