The Museum of Arts & Sciences’ Signature Fundraising Gala SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 27, 2025 Celebrating 70 Years of Wonder
On that luminous September night, the Mu- seum of Arts and Sciences in Daytona tran- scended its walls to become a living celebra- tion. Light danced across the galleries, music wove through the air, fine cuisine and the soft clink of glasses blended with the murmur of anticipation—a gala of shared wonder. By then, *Shoosty Bugs: An Art Infestation* had taken deep and expansive root. Paired with a companion exhibition of giant 3D bugs, it occupied three dedicated spaces within the museum—some 14,000 square feet—and had already escaped the walls entirely. County buses carried the designs through the streets; a commanding billboard presided over a main thoroughfare; and the parking lot greeted ev- ery arrival with twelve signs, like twelve tribes, bearing the unmistakable signature of Shoosty Bugs. At the center stood the L. Gale Lemerand Wing, where sixteen monumental silk pan- els—each twelve feet tall by four feet wide, rendered on luxurious 18 mm silk twill—hung in commanding splendor. There, a large wall presented my biography and the foundational statement of my process: beginning each piece by thinking on paper. The exhibition spilled over into the Elaine and Thurman Gillespy, Jr. Gallery and the Karshan Center of Graphic Art, merging with the 3D bugs on display. These were no longer private studio explorations or mere artworks; they were bold declarations of Chromatic Fu- sionism—the fusion of art’s science with the humanities—where precise insect bodies en- twine with the world’s patterns. Through the explicit control of vector craft, I could shape unrestrained imagination. The museum chose this vibrant backdrop for
its most significant charity event of the year. Two hundred and fifty-two guests gathered around thirty-two tables. Because the evening unfolded beneath my work, I felt compelled to extend the vision—to make the art not only seen but touched and worn. To complete the immersion, I designed sixteen original pat- terns echoing the towering silk panels: table runners, napkins, and placemats printed on fine cotton-linen blends, each setting crowned with a jeweled dragonfly napkin ring. The gesture was simple yet profound: every guest would slip the ring free, unfold the napkin, feel its texture against their skin, and drape it across their lap—complete immersion. For me, this was the capstone of my career to that point. The work had grown so intricate, so in- sistent, that it demanded a wider resonance, a larger audience. That single evening raised more than $300,000 for the museum’s future. This gala unfolded in the radiant afterglow of the museum’s most transformative chap- ter: the $150 million gift from Cici and Hyatt Brown, announced the previous year, which set in motion a new building and the eventu- al renaming of the institution as The Brown: The Cici & Hyatt Brown Museum of Art, Sci- ence & History. My show arrived at precisely the right season, lending its palette and vitality to a place already alight with possibility and promise. More than an event, it was quiet evidence that beauty—deliberate, generous, meticu- lously crafted—can draw people together, kin- dle communal imagination, and contribute, in its gentle way, to the repair of the world, one vibrant pattern at a time.
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