Christopher Marley, an author and insect artist, will explain how he changed from a former “insect-phobe” into an aficionado during a speech called "The Aesthetics of Insects." Marley's life path started in Covina, CA in the late 1960’s, where he had a great aversion to insects that persisted throughout his childhood in Oregon and even into his time as a missionary in Northern Chile. Upon his return from his missionary trip, he alternated semesters at BYU studying design, with travels abroad working in fashion advertising. Over time, his perspective on insects began to morph from phobia to intense appreciation. The radical morphological variances of insects became an almost obsessive fascination, and he began to incorporate insects into his design work until they became the central focus. He opened his first gallery in Hermosa Beach, CA in 1999, and after two years took his unique form of artwork into hundreds of stores and galleries throughout the US, Canada, Japan. Meeting attendees will see samples of his beautiful work shown in galleries around the world, and they’ll have the opportunity to purchase a signed copy of his book Pheromone on Monday at the ESA booth.