The San Jacinto College South Campus brought something new to its gallery space this spring … bugs. Organized by ExhibitsUSA, a program of Mid-America Arts Alliance, the South Campus Gallery featured “Small Wonders: Insects in Focus” by artist Bob Sober.
Since 2017, Sober has shared his cutting-edge exhibit featuring human-scale images of insects, with high resolution that reveals every hair, dimple, and tiny structure. In fact, he is dubbed the “bug guy.”
“That works just fine for me. I’d like to be known for something,” he said. “Quite a few people have started bringing me bugs, some from my home state of Oklahoma.”
Sober is a visual artist and technological pioneer whose photographic techniques are the subject of educational tutorials. He offers a series of 30 images that bring the natural world to a scale rarely experienced.
“Once I started actually seeing insects under a microscope and then photographing them, I was convinced that these things are really extremely beautiful,” he said. “They’re their own artwork all by themselves, but nobody knows that. My job ended up being just to photograph them in a way that other people can appreciate them.”
Creating such an exhibit was impossible before the technological advancements of the past 10 years. High-resolution digital cameras, fast personal computers, economical digital storage, and powerful software capable of assisting with the assembly of hundreds or thousands of individual photographs create the opportunity to capture accurate images of insects.
The exhibit saw student groups, faculty, and staff as well as members of the community, including home-school groups.
“This exhibition provided a great opportunity to display how art, science, and technology are able to work together to create not only a visually engaging experience for the audience but also an entry point to multiple disciplines,” said Bradly Brown, art professor and gallery curator. “Someone may visit the exhibition because they are interested in photography but leave with an interest in entomology or color and aesthetics.”
To learn more about the South Campus Gallery, visit facebook.com/SJCSouthCampusGallery.
Story and photos by Melissa Trevizo
