“Mildred”
the praying mantis
Scientific
name: Tenodera aridifolia sinensis
Geographic location: Wichita, KS. USA
Artist: Jessa Huebing-Reitinger
Medium: Oil on canvas 96” x 72” 2003
Performance venue: Union Station, Kansas City, MO. USA
Mildred the praying mantis was born and captured in Wichita,
Kansas in 1997. Since then, she had resided at the Kansas
State University Entomology Department, and was donated to
Project InSECT by Dr. Sonny Ramaswamy.
The praying mantis is the only insect that can turn its head
180 degrees and see behind itself. Mantis’ are patient
hunters with a strict carnivorous diet and may feed on small
frogs, lizards, and mice in place of insects on occasion.
They have also evolved with a hallow chamber in their bodies
that allows them to hear high frequency noises which protects
them from predators such as bats and birds.
Mildred was the first insect portrait painted as a live performance
for Project InSECT and took artist Jessa Huebing-Reitinger
7 weeks to complete. She is scaled at 200 times her actual
size. She was created at Union Station Science City in downtown
Kansas City, Missouri in the spring 2003.
