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from the issue of March 30, 2006
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Great Plains museum opens Beeson photo exhibition on April 7
Dragonflies!
Peter Beeson of Lincoln has been actively photographing the scenic beauty of Nebraska for 30 years, and in the last four years his interest has expanded to include capturing images of valuable and beautiful - but elusive - dragonflies.
Some 20 photographs from Beeson's work will be featured in the exhibit, "Dragonflies! Photographs by Peter G. Beeson," April 7-30 at the Great Plains Art Museum. The exhibit is free and open to the public, as is an opening reception 3 to 5 p.m. April 9 at the museum.
Found almost anywhere in Nebraska where there is water nearby, dragonflies rarely sit still for more than a second. Different species of the beautiful creatures come in various combinations of iridescent black, green, red, blue, gray and tan with big bug eyes and fixed wings that sparkle in the sunlight with each movement. Species found in Nebraska have names like Pronghorn Clubtail, Variable Darner, Widow Skimmer, Common Whitetail, Ruby Meadowhawk, Wandering Glider and Black Saddlebags.
Ferocious predators, dragonflies are known to devour up to 600 insects a day. They dine on gnats and flies and are sometimes referred to as "mosquito hawks" because of the number of mosquitoes they eat.
Worldwide there are more than 5,000 different species of dragonflies, with some 450 in the United States.
The earliest dragonflies date back more than 300 million years, before dinosaurs roamed the planet. Dragonflies have extremely acute vision. Each eye is made up of some 28,000 lenses and divided into two separately functioning sections, one looking up for danger and one looking down for prey. In addition, they also have two sets of wings, and each wing can move in different directions, allowing for amazing maneuverability. They can fly up to 60 miles per hour but cannot walk. Their legs are only for perching on twigs and grasses.
Most of the dragonfly photos in the exhibit were taken in Nebraska at places such as Holmes Lake in Lincoln, along the Niobrara River near Valentine, along the Big Blue River near Beatrice, and a few along the North Platte River near Scottsbluff. Others were taken other places in the Great Plains such as South Dakota and Wyoming.
"They have a noble, perhaps regal, air about them, the stuff of fairy tales," Beeson wrote. "Their purposeful and graceful movement coupled with their dedicated and territorial nature gives them a fairy tale-like quality. They are the stuff of dreams."
Beeson was born in Texas but grew up in the northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C. He holds bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Texas at Austin. He moved to Nebraska in 1970 to attend graduate school and received a doctorate in medical sociology from UNL in 1979.
He spent some 22 years in state government directing research and planning relative to Nebraska's Health and Human Services System and four years as the associate director of the Nebraska Humanities Council.
The Great Plains Art Museum has free public hours from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 1:30 to 5 p.m. Sundays.
GO TO: ISSUE OF MARCH 30
ARTS HEADLINES FOR MARCH 30
Slatkin, National Symphony Orchestra hold weeklong residency
American Life in Poetry
Award-winning pianist to perform at the Lied
'Boys of Baraka' and 'Mandalay' open March 31
Chamber music concert is April 1
Chin Reading is April 6
Dragonflies!
Drawings from Sheldon collection on display April 7
GEOMETRIC JAR
Lied hosts 'Will Rogers Follies'
MFA II exhibition opens April 3
Sheldon to host emerging artist
Theatrix to close spring semester with 'Reckless'
UNL print sale is March 30 to April 1
732400S35706X
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