The opening reception for “Like a Moth to the Flame” will take place at the Great Plains Art Museum on Aug. 19, 6-8 p.m. with artist Jennifer Angus. Angus creates site-specific, immersive art installations that utilize dead and dried insect specimens to create environments that are often described as otherworldly, magical, and sometimes uncomfortable. Over time, Angus’s work has evolved to consider issues related to the environment and the important role insects play within it. “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 countless 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. This 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,” Angus has exhibited widely across the United States, being one of nine artists selected for the landmark exhibition “WONDER” at the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Renwick Gallery in 2015. This exhibition at the Great Plains Art Museum is presented in collaboration with CAREMI-the Community for Arthropod Research, Education, and Materials Innovation-a transdisciplinary initiative at UNL 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. More at: https://caremi.unl.edu/ An opening reception will take place with an informal introduction by Angus. The reception follows Arthropodium 2026, CAREMI's annual symposium celebrating arthropod-inspired innovation across science, engineering, art and food. This exhibition is supported by the Nebraska Arts Council and the Nebraska Cultural Endowment.