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Scientist ‘Dr. Beetle’ Uses Art to Talk About Insect Ecology, Conservation

by Jonathan Feakins

Three people working on a mural depicting colorful beetles.
Photo Credit: Wendy DesChene
Collaborating with artist and art professor Wendy DesChene, Dr. Tierney Brosius and her students made a 40 foot-long mural at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois.

Dr. Tierney Brosius, a professor of biology, believes art can impact science communication. From handmade wares to murals, she’s exploring creative ways to build curiosity around insects.

“It’s a bit of a grandma-core hobby,” Tierney Brosius admits. 

But whether at her children’s soccer tournaments or organizing an “Entomoloknitting Circle” at the Entomological Society of America’s annual conference, Dr. Brosius has found that insect-themed needlecraft can serve not just as an artistic outlet, but as an organic, social means of science communication.

“I love insects in fashion; they’re often used [for] being pretty, but also scary,” she explains. “And I think that fashion designers often reach to insects because of that duality. There’s tension there.”

“I think that’s why I interact with artists that deal with insects. They invite people to be curious. And that fear and hesitation can unfold into this sense of wonder.”

DR. TIERNEY BROSIUS, PROFESSOR OF BIOLOGY, AUGUSTANA COLLEGE
A person of light skin tone smiling. They have long hair and are wearing a knit sweater with an ants pattern.
Photo Credit: Dr. Tierney Brosius
Dr. Tierney Brosius

For the past decade, Dr. Brosius has hung her hat—and a growing collection of bespoke, hand-knitted vests—as a professor of biology at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois. But she’s also built a budding reputation as the entomological fashion maven under the moniker, “Dr. Beetle.”

Her Instagram account documents sartorial projects that include a vest festooned with Salt Creek tiger beetles (the subject of Brosius’s PhD), or a cocoon-style coat that commemorates 2024’s double cicada brood.

Her artistic outreach, however, extends beyond the closet. Inside Augustana’s Hanson Hall of Science, a 40 foot-long wall now hosts a vibrant, larger-than-life “Beetles of Illinois Identification Mural.” Every species pictured—in all of their exoskeleton-ed wonder—were collected by Dr. Brosius and her undergraduates over the course of a single field season.

Wendy DesChene, an artist and professor at Auburn University in Alabama,  collaborated with Dr. Brosius to create the mural. She met “Dr. Beetle” years ago while touring Augustana with PlantBot Genetics, a “satirical biotech company.” As their friendship grew, including on-brand gift exchanges (Brosius once knitted her a pair of moth mittens), DesChene proposed working together to make a mural a reality.

“As an artist, it’s hard to find scientists who don’t belittle arts, or don’t think of us as a true partnership,” DesChene says. “I really wanted to work with somebody who I know as a peer, and who treats me and what I bring to the table as equal.”

Dr. Brosius, meanwhile, had no such hang-ups. “I think that’s why I interact with artists that deal with insects,” she says. “They invite people to be curious. And that fear and hesitation can unfold into this sense of wonder: ‘Oh my gosh, I never knew.’ Even a drain fly, right? The silliest little thing … but if you really get up close, they’re like little teddy bears with wings.”

A knitted vest with beetle patterns all over.
Photo Credit: Dr. Tierney Brosius
Fading from the Landscape Vest: Tiger Beetle Vest (2-ply wool), designed by Dr. Tierney Brosius. Featuring beetle motifs, this piece honors the federally endangered Salt Creek tiger beetle, an endemic Nebraska species. Created to highlight declining insect populations, it was specifically made for a symposium at an scientific meeting that focused on research and public outreach aimed to save the beetle from extinction. Displayed in a co-occuring art exhibit, it complemented discussions on the beetle’s conservation and unique habitat. Recently the vest has been accepted into a juried art exhibit.
An indoor hallway wall mural with a white background and colorful arrangement of insects.
Photo Credit: Wendy DesChene
Artist and art professor Wendy DesChene’s husband and partner-in-arts, Jeff Schmuki, also helped to properly photograph the insects for the eight-foot-tall display. This required speedy work, however, as the beetles were very much still alive! Although time-consuming, multiple trips in and out of a lab freezer induced sufficient lethargy to provide the team with an ample number of coleopteric glamour shots.
An open book with a page showing a vest-like garment. Next to it a sketch book and a sheet with a drawing of a vest pattern and other markings.
Photo Credit: Dr. Tierney Brosius
“Vests on my mind. I remembered this amazing embroidered waistcoat (c. 1780) from Jane Nicholas’s book on stumpwork and embroidered beetles. I would like to try to embroider my own vest based on this one someday. Just getting some ideas down to file away for the future. There are always a dozen or so projects happening at the same time around here,” writes Dr. Brosius on her social media post.
Weevil Fair Isle & Jewel Beetle Vest: Crafted from 2-ply wool, this vest showcases a traditional Fair Isle pattern interwoven with weevil motifs. Displayed alongside a chest plate adorned with real jewel beetle wings, this piece blends intricate knitting with natural elements. This piece is meant to celebrate the beauty of insects through textile and organic artistry.
A person wearing a mid-length light colored coat.
Photo Credit: Dr. Tierney Brosius
Dr. Brosius shares a coat she sewed with the tiniest details that document a once-in-a-lifetime emergence of a double brood of cicadas in 2024.
People standing by a hallway wall with an in-progress mural depicting beetles. Some people are holding cut-out photos of beetles that will go on the mural wall.
Photo Credit: Dr. Tierney Brosius
Dr. Brosius and her undergraduates at Augustana College collected every beetle species that they could find in the state of Illinois over the course of a single field season.

The professor is especially fond of watching these transformations happen in real-time, in the class she teaches for non-majors. These are students who often enroll in the hopes of simply snagging a required biology credit, but who leave with a newfound love for nature’s more chitinous creepy-crawlies. A few have gone so far as to become professional entomologists themselves.

“And I think that’s what’s so great about insects,” she says, “because it’s a great analogy for life: you can be a little tense and fearful, and it’s probably because you don’t know enough about it. Once you start to peel back the layers, that fear can fall away. And you’re left with appreciation and love.”