Paul Brent – Insect collection won 5th place in the Oklahoma State Fair
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What’s In Your Closet?
Closets hold heirlooms, closets hold secrets, and closets hold treasures, dreams and hopes.
We were not after dirty laundry when we asked local residents the question: “What’s in your closet?” The question quickly became a wonderful way to learn more about a person’s life and bits and pieces about their past, the paths they have taken, the lessons they have learned and the plans they had. Have a peek into local personalities’ homes and lives as they open up their closets and share anecdotes and stories with us while showing off items that are special to them, items that they will never part with and items that will always be vivid reminders of what once was and still is special.[/box]
Paul Brent, artist, illustrator and businessman of Panama City, Florida shows off the insect collection that he started when he was a nine year old boy. “This is the advanced collection. I started out small with a cigar box and then the next year the collection got bigger and the following year it grew even more and then my father helped me build this large box. It had to be a certain size and had to be built a certain way, with a specific number of insects on display. There are rules on the way the insects have to be shown.” His handiwork from many years ago is an impressive sight today. His collection convinced jurors at the Oklahoma State Fair back in the day so much that Paul Brent, then twelve years old, won the fifth place and outperformed many other competitors who were much older high school age kids.
“Among the other insects is a specimen of the cottonwood beetle, which is not so common. One of these wasps is a tarantula killer and there is another one that kills cicadas. There is also a Jerusalem cricket and a lubber grasshopper.” The grasshoppers are always displayed showing just one extended wing, he explains and it becomes clear that there is a science to collecting and displaying insects.
But biology or natural history did not become his career path. It was art that he chose to focus on. “I paint insects.” Paul states. “When you paint an insect, you really observe the detail and you really understand how its wings attach, for example.”
The wonderful heirloom that required a lot of meticulous work stands not only as witness to the diligence of a 12 year old Paul Brent but is a vivid reminder of an affectionate and patient father. “My father helped me make the labels,” he states as he points out the neatly written and perfectly aligned script lettering on a tiny label under each insect body, with both label and specimen held in place by a long needle.
He then looks through his father’s Navy dress uniforms from World War II. “My father was stationed in Coral Gables, Florida for a good portion of the time that he was in the Navy and he lived in Winter Park with his parents when he was a young boy. My father really had a Florida connection and when I moved here he really enjoyed coming to visit.”
Paul Brent also shows off a white suit that he wore to his wedding in the 1970’s. What once must have been the bright white height of fashion, has now a yellow tinge but is a stately sight nonetheless.