The University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s Great Plains Art Museum will open “Jennifer Angus: Like a Moth to the Flame,” an immersive art installation designed specifically for the museum, on Aug. 7. The exhibition runs through Dec. 19.
Angus creates installations that use dead and dried insect specimens to create environments often described as otherworldly, magical and sometimes uncomfortable. Over time, her work has evolved to consider issues related to the environment and the important role insects play within it.
The exhibition is presented in collaboration with the Community for Arthropod Research, Education and Materials Innovation — a transdisciplinary initiative at the university that brings together researchers, engineers, artists, educators, students and community members to harness the diversity and resilience of arthropods as sources of knowledge, inspiration and innovation.
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An opening reception, with an informal introduction by Angus, will be 6 to 8 p.m. Aug. 19. The reception follows Arthropodium 2026, CAREMI's annual symposium celebrating arthropod-inspired innovation across science, engineering, art and food. The program features Marlene Zuk, an internationally recognized evolutionary biologist and bestselling author; Angus; and Joseph Yoon, chef at Brooklyn Bugs, along with presentations highlighting arthropod-inspired research from Husker faculty. Arthropodium begins with a public book signing featuring Zuk at 5:30 p.m. Aug. 18 at Francie and Finch Bookshop and continues Aug. 19 at the Food Innovation Center on Nebraska Innovation Campus. Registration is required for the daytime symposium events on Aug. 19. The evening reception at the Great Plains Art Museum is free and open to the public.
“Like a Moth to the Flame” explores the Great Plains region, an ecosystem home to the Sandhill crane migration, American bison, mountain lions, foxes, badgers and numerous other mammals. Less visible, though no less essential, are the nearly 30,000 insect species that inhabit this landscape, most living unseen beneath leaves, within soil and among grasses. The exhibition invites visitors into that hidden world, asking them to imagine themselves insect-sized, dwarfed by the sculptural works around them. Within this immersive environment, the extraordinary adaptability of insects becomes visible, revealing how these small creatures sustain the intricate balance of an interconnected ecosystem.
Angus is a professor of design studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Described by Art Daily as “one of the top contemporary installation artists in the country,” she has exhibited widely across the United States, being one of nine artists selected for the landmark exhibition “WONDER” at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in 2015.
The exhibition and Arthopodium are supported by the Nebraska Arts Council and Nebraska Cultural Endowment.
The Great Plains Art Museum, 1155 Q St., is open to the public from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Admission is free. Learn more.
