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Through narrative, verse, and art, Where the Grass Still Sings celebrates the many tiny creatures that play crucial roles in our ecosystems—as well as the people on the front lines of the fight to save them.Weaving art and science with inspiring stories of people doing their part to protect insects and the environment, author Heather Swan takes readers around the globe to highlight practical solutions to safeguard our fragile planet. Visit a sustainable coffee farm in Ecuador and a frog expert combating animal trafficking in Colombia. Explore a butterfly sanctuary in an Andean cloud forest and learn about a family of orchid farmers who are replanting a mountainside to attract native pollinators. Meet a bumblebee expert helping Wisconsin cranberry growers, a bark beetle specialist in a new-growth forest in Georgia, an entomologist collecting for the Essig Museum in California, and more. Against a backdrop of climate change, ecological injustice, and impending mass extinction, this book rekindles wonder and hope.Featuring works by artists deeply invested in preserving the smallest beings among us, Where the Grass Still Sings is a paean to the natural world.

The Insectile and the Deconstruction of the Non/Human defines, conceptualizes, and evaluates the insectile—pertaining to an entomological fascination—in relation to subject formation. The book is driven by a central dynamic between form and formlessness, further staging an investigation of the phenomenon of fascination using Lacanian psychoanalysis, suggesting that the psychodrama of subject formation plays itself out entomologically. The book's engagement with the insectile—its enactments, cultural dreamwork, fantasy transformations—‘in-forming'the so-called human subject undertakes a broader deconstruction of said subject and demonstrates the foundational but occluded role of the insectile in subject formation. It tracks the insectile across the archives of psychoanalysis, seventeenth century still life painting, novels from the nineteenth century to the present day, and post-1970s film. The Insectile and the Deconstruction of the Non/Human will be of interest for scholars, graduate students, and upper-level undergraduates in film studies, visual culture, popular culture, cultural and literary studies, comparative literature, and critical theory, offering the insectile as new category for theoretical thought.

Try your hands at these historically and culturally important methods, and create some beautiful paintings of your own.Chinese painting is an ancient art that has evolved and become refined over many centuries. Artists brush ink and color pigments onto silk or paper using a variety of techniques, with two main approaches: gongbi a traditional and realistic style based on line drawing, and xieyi style, a freehand method that uses fewer strokes to suggest objects in a less literal way.Painting themes generally fall into three categories: figure, landscaping, and bird-and-flower. Chinese brush painting is mainly presented in lines, shades and white space to express the feelings about nature, social phenomena, and the very essence of the universe. The framework for this expression is often traditional: certain subjects carry cultural connotations that are well-known and imbue the painting with a layer of meaning beyond face value of objects shown. The traditional subjects such as mandarin ducks, butterflies, and the'Four Gentlemen'(plum blossoms, orchids, bamboos, and chrysanthemum) are examples that contain this rich cultural meaning.Readers will learn first about the tools and materials, then painting techniques. Early pages explore the very basic painting methods and subjects—perfect for beginning painters—but continue to build skills for painting plants and animals of increasing complexity.Chinese Brush Painting illustrates several Chinese brush painting techniques with the use of different tools, brushwork and color mixing. With the step-by-step projects, you can first follow the introductory lessons to learn the necessary skills of brushwork, usage of paper, and characteristics of water, ink and colors; then follow the advanced lessons to learn the compositions and more complicated color applications.

The World Is Great, and I Am Small: A Bug's Prayer is a thoughtful and uplifting reflection on modern life and the human condition, as well as a lighthearted celebration of some of the many truly amazing insects with whom we share our planet (and without whom human existence would cease, almost immediately). In the form of a poem, this meditation is a charming ode to all those that creep, crawl, and fly. Accompanying the poem are stunning photographs of some of the world's most beautiful and unique creatures. At the back of the book, an image key explains the various insects adorning the pages of this prayerful keepsake.

Readers will follow step-by-step instructions to create beautiful drawings of butterflies and other interesting insects. Drawing terms are explained in age-appropriate text that will make this a great read for any young artist. Supplemented with a further reading and websites section to allow readers to continue learning after turning the last page.

Drawing and Painting Insects is a beautiful and inspiring guide. Whatever your experience, whether new to the subject or a seasoned entomologist, this book will help you capture the beauty of insects by helping you understand their structure and appreciate their behaviour, movement, colour and habitat. Advice on finding insects to draw and paint, including how to raise your own insect models; Guide to the anatomy and life cycles of the insect for the artist; Step-by-step demonstrations of drawings, looking at perspective, tonal values and mark-making techniques; Examples of watercolour and oil paintings representing insects in precise, scientific renditions through to more creative interpretations; Introduction to other uses of insect illustration, including printmaking, sculpture, leather and glass; Illustrated with examples and insights from leading artists. A beautiful and inspiring guide to drawing and painting insects, of inspiration to botanical artists, natural historians, wildlife artists and biologists. Gives advice on finding insects to draw and paint, understanding their structure, appreciating their behaviour, movement, colour, habitat and much more. Superbly illustrated with examples and insights from leading artists - 541 colour illustrations in total. Andrew Tyzack is a graduate from the Royal College of Art and is well known for his painting of beekeepers and engravings of bees.

In this book, noted origamist Robert J. Lang has created 20 challenging designs depicting insects, spiders, and related creatures, long considered among the most challenging of origami subjects to design.Among the projects are a treehopper, spotted ladybug, orb weaver, tarantula, tick, ant, butterfly, scarab beetle, cicada, grasshopper, dragonfly, pill bug, praying mantis, paper wasp, samurai helmet beetle, scorpion, and more. For each project, the author has supplied clear step-by-step instructions and diagrams. You'll also find helpful sections on symbols and terms as well as general folding directions. Intermediate to advanced paperfolders will find hours of challenge and satisfaction in creating the cleverly designed creatures in these pages.

Bug zappers were invented for one purpose: to kill mosquitoes, the bane of many summer evenings, camping trips, and exotic vacations. These blood-sucking insects do more than leave us with itchy bites, though. The diseases they carry and inject, such as yellow fever, dengue fever, and the West Nile virus, make them responsible for more human deaths than any other animal. The most deadly of these, malaria, has been mostly eradicated from the northern hemisphere, but it continues to pose a mortal threat in developing countries. It kills nearly 700,000 of the 350 million that succumb to the infection each year, and the majority of the deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa. Drawing on scientific fact, historical evidence, and literary evocation, Mosquito provides a colorful portrait of this tiny insect and the notorious diseases it carries. Richard Jones explores the mosquito's sinister reputation, tracing its transformation from trivial gnat into a serious disease-carrying menace. While Jones recounts the history of mosquitoes'relationship with humans, he also offers a persuasive warning against the contemporary complacency surrounding malaria and other diseases in Western society. Mosquito is a compelling look at tropical medicine, diseases, and their connection to one of our smallest adversaries.

Once considered marginal members of the animal world (at best) or vile and offensive creatures (at worst), insects saw a remarkable uptick in their status during the early Renaissance. This quickened interest was primarily manifested in visual images—in illuminated manuscripts, still life paintings, the decorative arts, embroidery, textile design, and cabinets of curiosity. In The Insect and the Image, Janice Neri explores the ways in which such imagery defined the insect as a proper subject of study for Europeans of the early modern period.It was not until the sixteenth century that insects began to appear as the sole focus of paintings and drawings—as isolated objects, or specimens, against a blank background. The artists and other image makers Neri discusses deployed this “specimen logic” and so associated themselves with a mode of picturing in which the ability to create a highly detailed image was a sign of artistic talent and a keenly observant eye. The Insect and the Image shows how specimen logic both reflected and advanced a particular understanding of the natural world—an understanding that, in turn, supported the commodification of nature that was central to global trade and commerce during the early modern era. Revealing how sixteenth- and seventeenth-century artists and image makers shaped ideas of the natural world, Neri's work enhances our knowledge of the convergence of art, science, and commerce today.

Learn to look at a junk drawer and see the makings of a collection of unique creatures. Using bottle caps, acorns, old spoons, plastic bags, and other found objects, readers can create a variety of projects. Designs in the book include dragonflies, ants, scarab beetles, praying mantises, bedbugs, stag beetles, and sixteen other whimsical insects for quirky home décor and one-of-a-kind gifts.Step-by-step, illustrated instructions for twenty-two projects Projects transform found objects into whimsical, decorative insects Basic patterns can be modified to incorporate any object to make your own original designs

Ants are legion: at present there are 11,006 species of ant known; they live everywhere in the world except the polar icecaps; and the combined weight of the ant population has been estimated to make up half the mass of all insects alive today. When we encounter them outdoors, ants fascinate us; discovered in our kitchen cupboards, they elicit horror and disgust. Charlotte Sleigh's Ant elucidates the cultural reasons behind our varied reactions to these extraordinary insects, and considers the variety of responses that humans have expressed at different times and in different places to their intricate, miniature societies. Ants have figured as fantasy miniature armies, as models of good behavior, as infiltrating communists and as creatures on the borderline between the realms of the organic and the machine: in 1977 British Telecom hired ant experts to help solve problems with their massive information network. This is the first book to examine ants in these and many other such guises, and in so doing opens up broader issues about the history of science and humans'relations with the natural world. It will be of interest to anyone who likes natural history or cultural studies, or who has ever rushed out and bought a can of Raid™.'[Charlotte Sleigh's] stylish, engaging and informative study deserves to win new members for the ant fan club.'—Jonathan Bate, The Times

Join appliqué artist Carol Armstrong for a creative look at the world of nature. Carol shares new designs for flowers and “friends” - the wonderful bugs and beasties that bring a garden to life. You'll want to make every one of these irresistible projects! 9 quilt projects with complete instructions. 24 wildflower patterns, plus 18 insects, frogs, and more, for a total of 42 hand appliqué designs. Unique background quilting designs enhance your appliqué work, creating shades and textures. How-tos for Carol's lightbox appliqué technique, a no-template method suitable for beginners as well as pros.