You guys, I have a museum exhibit!!

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Well, last week was pretty great. Thursday evening, we had the opening reception for the Hidden Prairie temporary exhibit at the University of Nebraska State Museum’s Morrill Hall. The exhibit, which runs from now until May, 2022, features the square meter photography project I did back in 2018. First a book, now a museum exhibit – all from a silly idea I had to see what I could find within one little bit of prairie over a year! As I said during the reception, I kinda feel like I’ve just pulled off the greatest prank of my life…

Here’s the first view of the exhibit as people enter.

From the beginning, the square meter photography project was meant to showcase the beauty and diversity of prairies and encourage people to explore prairies near them. Prairies can sometimes produce spectacular flower shows or contain big wildlife spectacles, but much of the time they look relatively dull when viewed from a distance by the uninitiated. I was hoping to show that prairies always have something interesting to discover if you look closely enough. I’m really happy to see that message resonating.

On Saturday, I went back to the museum with my two older kids and spent some time photographing the exhibit (and exploring the rest of the museum, which is really terrific – I’ve been there many times, but always learn new things). While the photos included here don’t show them, there were a lot of visitors passing through, and it was really fun to eavesdrop on their reactions. They included just what I was hoping for – a lot of surprise about the diversity of prairies and admiration for the beauty of the community and species.

My favorite parts of the exhibit are the four square meters of prairie made of preserved plants with insect specimens hidden in them for people to find.
This Maximilian sunflower will have a few other insects added to it and is designed to talk about insect/plant interactions with this sunflower species as one example.
There’s a combination of big vibrant photos and videos that talk about why prairies are interesting and encourage people to explore them more closely.
Here are the summer (left) and autumn (right) square meters, built by Zak Kathol, who did a phenomenal job. Visitors are given lists of species to look for, but there are many more included than just those on the lists.

I’m incredibly grateful for the museum staff’s energy and creativity that went into creating this exhibit. Angie Fox, in particular, drove the entire process and it was a joy to work with and learn from her. I also want to call out Zak Kathol for his amazing work in constructing the exhibit itself. When we first decided to pursue this exhibit, I said my dream would be to provide actual square meters of prairie for people to explore, but that I knew that was pretty impractical. Thanks to Zak’s willingness to innovate, we ended up exactly what I’d hoped for! He is also a wizard with PVC, as you’ll see in both the Maximilian sunflower and sideoats grama sculptures he created.

Here’s a closer look at the autumn plot. The plots were built with real prairie plants that Zak preserved through a variety of means. For being dead plants, they really amazing.
Can you see the little weevils on this rose? Entomologist MJ Paulsen worked to collect insects and include them in appropriate locations within these plots.
Here’s another close-up view of the spring prairie plot, showing a bumblebee on a yarrow flower.
This is a sorting blocks activity built into a sideoats grama plant.

There are several activities for kids (and adults) within the exhibit, including a sorting blocks exercise displaying the key characteristics of various insect groups, a couple activities related to research on the variety of insect larvae that can be found inside sunflower heads, and a video screen that encourages visitors to practice dancing like various prairie organisms. There are also several videos that talk about both the ecology of and cultural relationships with prairies, including indigenous perspectives and both historic and modern relationships between people and grassland.

Here’s a closer view of the sorting blocks.

If you live near, or will be traveling through Lincoln, Nebraska between now and May, I hope you’ll stop and visit the exhibit. Hopefully, you’ll be joining many many others who will be exposed to what most us already know – the fascinating and complex communities that live in prairies.

This is my daughter Anna looking at the wall of photos that shows the 113 species found during the square meter project.

Photos of the Week – October 15, 2021

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Ok, I know there are some milkweed seeds below, but I promise there’s more than just milkweed seeds in this week’s Photo of the Week post. Also, these are butterfly milkweed seeds and most of the others I’ve posted this year have been common milkweed. If you’re tired of milkweed seeds, just scroll down for more. If you’re not tired of milkweed seeds, scroll down anyway. If you want – it’s your life.

Also, “there is more than just milkweed seeds?” Or “there are more than just milkweed seeds?” You wouldn’t say, “There is milkweed seeds” so are is probably the right word to use but it also sounds wrong to say “there are more than just milkweed seeds.” English is hard… How about this – just pretend I said “There are photos of other subjects besides just milkweed seeds”. I’m on pretty solid ground there.

Butterfly milkweed seed, Lincoln Creek Prairie. Nikon 105mm macro lens. ISO 500, f/11, 1/60 sec.
Butterfly milkweed seed, Lincoln Creek Prairie. Nikon 105mm macro lens. ISO 800, f/14, 1/60 sec.
Butterfly milkweed seed, Lincoln Creek Prairie. Nikon 105mm macro lens. ISO 800, f/14, 1/80 sec.

While photographing those milkweed seeds at Lincoln Creek Prairie last week, I got distracted by the red leaves of smooth sumac. I’m still waiting to get a perfect autumn leaf photo of smooth sumac, and these don’t qualify, but I still like them.

Smooth sumac leaves, Lincoln Creek Prairie. Nikon 105mm macro lens. ISO 500, f/7, 1/200 sec.
Smooth sumac leaves, Lincoln Creek Prairie. Nikon 105mm macro lens. ISO 500, f/8, 1/160 sec.

Earlier this week, I was at the Platte River Prairies at sunrise. We haven’t had a hard freeze yet, so insects are still fairly abundant. Flowers, however, are not. Other than a few stray asters, most of the prairie color now comes in shades of golds and browns.

Katydid and morning light. The Nature Conservancy’s Platte River Prairies. Nikon 105mm macro lens. ISO 800, f/18, 1/80 sec.
Stiff goldenrod with autumn color. The Nature Conservancy’s Platte River Prairies. Nikon 105mm macro lens. ISO 640, f/14, 1/320 sec.

I’ve been seeing an awful lot of spider shelters suspended near the tops of plants this year. I’m not saying there are more of them, I’m just noticing them more for some reason. I still don’t know what the shelters are for, though. This late in the season, I wonder if the shelters are for winter cover, but maybe they’re just a safe overnight hiding place. Or maybe they’re for something else altogether? This particular spider seemed be hanging out in the sun outside of its shelter. I hope she gets the chance to catch a few more insects before winter comes.

Crab spider outside its silken shelter. The Nature Conservancy’s Platte River Prairies. Nikon 105mm macro lens. ISO 800, f/18, 1/80 sec.
Crab spider outside its silken shelter. The Nature Conservancy’s Platte River Prairies. Nikon 105mm macro lens. ISO 800, f/16, 1/160 sec.

Some parts of Nebraska had a big snow this week but we’re still holding on desperately to our warm autumn days here. Soon enough, that’ll end, but I’m going to enjoy it as much as I can while it lasts. Have a great weekend, everyone!