BELLEFONTE — ‘Butterfly Memories,’ on display at the Bellefonte Art Museum throughout July, promises to be a show that will delight both your eyes and imagination.
Artists Jennifer Tucker and Gerald Lang are nationally known for their scans of flora. This is the first time that the two have scanned actual butterflies. They used specimens from the collections of Dr. Jordan Finkelstein, a professional collector.
‘I lay the delicate butterfly on the glass of the scanner bed and Gerald scans the butterflies into digital files,” said Tucker. “We both finalize the images and Gerald prints them in our Hill Crystal Farm Studio. No camera is used in the process. The resulting images, printed on mat surface paper using the pigmented ink jet process, create the illusion of dimension for the viewer.
“Persons who view the butterflies often have the urge to touch them because the appear so real. The museum asks that you do not touch the butterflies. Oils in skin can ruin the surfaces of the images.’
According to Lang, “Integrating 21st-century digital imaging technology, we have resurrected the small butterfly specimens to an art form and size that allows the viewer to see how the color, scales, fur, structure and patterns of creation and disintegration of a butterfly are artful in themselves.’
To Lang and Tucker, butterflies symbolize soul, light, hope, joy and transformation. They say that the beauty and fragility of the wings is seen when their technology and artistry draw attention to how worn, faded and torn they are from life’s flight. Moved beyond the documentation of butterfly specimens, the two artists felt the experience as a metaphysical one.
The Bellefonte Art Museum for Centre County is located at 133 N. Allegheny St. in Bellefonte.
For more information, call (814) 355-4280.
