Frontier Fellow 2024-2025:
Ella (Ty) Brown
Title of Research Project: “The Native Santa Cruz Insects Tarot Deck”
Summary:
Ty Brown (Environmental studies/Art, 2025) will be working with Stacy Philpott and Jorge Menna Barreto on creating a local Santa Cruz insect tarot deck. The deck will act as a guide to native and local insects, as well as an interactive resource for people to grow spiritually and ecologically. Ty’s goal is for the insect and the card to work together to communicate and educate about us, insects, and more. It will include a booklet with relevant information on tarot, and why each insect was chosen for the card they represent. Ty hopes to give people a greater appreciation and understanding of insect life through what can be an enlightening, and enjoyable experience. This project is branching off of Ty’s 2024 local Santa Cruz insect calendar, created for the Norris Center, which also aimed at bringing public awareness to the entomological natural history which surrounds us.