Why is Annie Hickman interested in insects?

Answer 1

Annie grew up as the daughter of a veterinarian... next door to the animal hospital. She grew up with an appreciation for the animal world. From her earliest days, she was inspired to create small worlds for her dolls and constant art works. In the early 1970's she moved from the Midwest to New York City to become the "great artist" but found the NYC art world to be too stuffy and contrived for her tastes. The first visitor in her apartment was a large NY cockroach. She caught it and kept it in a mayonnaise jar. In the street trash she found an old medicine cabinet ("a home with six rooms!") and began making artwork homes for insects. The Razor Gallery had the first display of her Bug Houses (complete with the living creatures crawling around) which later on toured in Australia and Japan. She added her talents and skills in costuming, dance, and mime with her perky personality and developed a performance show where she would transform into these creatures. At the same time she was making costumes for a number of organizations in New York. By the late 1980's, when she was pregnant with her son, she looked for a healthy, organic medium for making her costumes (rather than use the standard toxic glues, resins, and paints) and found basketry. For the past 20 years she has made a name for herself creating her bug and creature costumes out of basketry. For more about Annie - www.BugsandBalloons.com