Have you ever met someone who is like an onion…the more you peel back, the more you see is there? I guess we’re all like that, really. But I recently spent some time with someone who is especially so.
Dr. Harold Willis is an entomologist (that is the study of bugs, not words!) who retired from teaching at the University of Wisconsin in 2002. He now lives in Grove City, where he works on his art.
When we got together, here’s what I learned:
You can pet a bumblebee when it is gathering nectar from a flower because it is so engrossed in its task that it doesn’t notice.
Citric acid placed under a microscope and shot through with polarized light is super-cool.
It isn’t “micro-photography” but “photomicrography”.
Dr. Willis is really, really, really, really smart.
It is possible for the precision of science and the creativity of art to co-exist.
I asked Dr. Willis about what inspires him. He paused before saying something like, “Oh…this and that.” After spending the morning with him I would say “anything and everything.” Polarized light. The shapes of leaves. The grain of wood. A bag of feathers. A box of discarded matboard scraps. The paint samples at Walmart. Digital technology. Lines and ink splotches.
Anything and everything.
When asked about success and goals for the future Dr. Willis says he would like to keep trying new things, while circling back to watercolor, a medium that has fascinated him for three decades. His work ranges from intricately representational (he illustrated his own doctoral thesis in biology!) to wildly abstract. And everything in-between.
You must come down to the Blue Heron to see some of Dr. Willis’ art. If you’re lucky, he and his microscope will be there and for a moment, you may be invited to enter his world where each detail is examined and prized for its unique beauty, where colors are rich and celebrated and saturated. It is peaceful, it is lovely, and if you pay attention, you just might pet a bumblebee on the way home.
