Posted 7 a.thou. Sunday , Jan. xxx , 2022

Over the years, UW-La Crosse Professor of Biology Barrett Klein has helped thousands of students appreciate the diversity, dazzler and ecological bear on of insects.

For UWL's Barrett Klein, at that place's beauty in every problems

Growing up on the outskirts of Detroit, Barrett Klein treasured every piece of wilderness he could find.

His mother's garden, the city zoo, pockets of nature around the neighborhood — all were sources of endless fascination for Klein.

One day, he discovered a dead butterfly in the family unit'due south driveway. Information technology was a moment that left an indelible mark on his immature mind, and inspired his lifelong obsession with insects.

"I remember experiencing a thrill of knowing that insects could play a huge role in my life. How? I didn't know, merely not knowing helped fuel my exhilaration," says Klein, now a professor of biological science, specializing in entomology, at UW-La Crosse. "Sometimes, all information technology takes is a single, tiny creature to open our eyes or redirect our lives."

A mixed-media model of Chlaenius, a type of ground protrude. Barrett Klein, 1996

Since 2012, Klein has shared his passion for insects — from dancing honey bees, to farming leaf-cutter ants, to singing crickets — with thousands of UWL students. Ofttimes, this involves gently converting those who regard insects as creepy and crawly — little nuisances to be squished by a shoe.

To Klein, insects are spectacularly various, amazing organisms. The vast amount of skilful they do for people and the planet, he says, is rivaled only by their beauty.

"All effectually us, we accept these marvelous little beings that exhibit just about every grade, color and behavior imaginable," he explains. "If you are fatigued to flashy iridescence or perfect crypsis, the delicate or the armored, the lone or the social, the aquatic or the terrestrial, insects correspond over 400 million years of evolution, radiating into more one million described species. The diversity is so outrageous, there is something out there to appeal to any willing eye or mind."

In his quest to capture the intricacies of insects, information technology was fortunate that Klein came from a family of artists.

His mother and begetter owned an fine art gallery for 40 years. His sister is a luthier and a writer. And his twin brother is a scientist who creates masks that could exist considered masterpieces.

Naturally, Klein made insects the focus of his fine art.

A colored pencil illustration of Polistes flavus, too known every bit the xanthous paper wasp. Barrett Klein, 1999

His work includes scientific illustrations, usually colored pencil or ink on paper. He also spent years making insect models for museums, including the American Museum of Natural History in New York Metropolis.

Lately, he has used the sculpting skills he learned from model-making to create wearable, insect-themed masks. The kicker: The masks are made from materials produced by insects, such as wax from honey bees, paper from wasp nests, silk from silkworm moths and ruby dye from cochineal bugs.

For Klein, entomology is much more than than a nine-to-v. He leans — dives — into the "bug guy" persona.

When he applied to UWL, Klein showed upwardly to his interview in ant-themed clothing, head to toe. He jokes that it was the deciding factor in his employment.

Even his home is a shrine of sorts:

"Everywhere yous plow in my abode, insects remind me of their importance and their beauty — whether it'southward insect art on the walls, our tank of Madagascar hissing cockroaches, or my collection of insect comic books, music, literature, stamps, currency, advertisements and foods."

Insects, Klein says, "are just nigh ever on my listen."

All this effort and enthusiasm comes with a simple goal: to get others to stop and marvel at insects the same way a young Klein one time stopped and marveled at a dead butterfly.

More any other fellow member of the animal kingdom, insects manage to fly under humanity's radar. Yet no other course of animal is more important to our survival, Klein notes.

"Our very existence depends on the insects effectually united states. They provide ecological services by pollinating, decomposing and feeding others, without which ecosystems would crumble," Klein says. "If I tin can play a part in getting people to capeesh insects, perchance we can do more, individually and collectively, to behave less destructively and conserve some of the grand diverseness nosotros should gloat and treasure."

A model of a termite soldier. Barrett Klein, 1996

More on Klein and insect art

For a await at how insects and their products have been used in art, read this new commodity written by Klein.

Klein was also recently featured in Knowable Magazine.

Klein will nowadays during the side by side TEDx result on campus.

Klein will explore and reveal cultural connections people have with the 10 quintillion insects with whom we share the planet at 4 p.m. Tuesday, April 19, in The Bluffs, UWL Student Union. Larn more on the TEDx website.