Thrilled that this piece has been included in the exhibition, An UnNatural History at the T.E.S.T Gallery Space in Toronto Canada. On display through November 2nd, along with fascinating work by 13 other artists working in a variety of media. It's lovely when someone else can describe your work better than you can - here's what they said in an instagram post: "Cynthia Winters reinterprets flora and fauna, both real and imaginary, in her beaded specimens". Wish I had thought of that - and am grateful they did.

Here's the explanation on display with the piece. And, yeah, the photo might look familiar because those are reverse images of the beadwork in the blog banner above.

The Lost Specimens

A collection of curious insect, plant and sea life-like specimens of mysterious origins, perhaps indigenous to another place or age. Examples on display are:

1. Papilio bacatus (beaded butterfly)

2. Vermis ornatus (ornate worm)

3. Lilium vitreus (glass lily)

4. Arbusculus Yosemite (twigs resembling samples found in Yosemite National Park)

5. Fructus secretus (secret fruit)

6. Agave spendidus (splendid agave)

7. Concha dezallier (conch shell similar in appearance to those found in illustrations by

18th century French artist Antoine-Joseph Dezallier d’Argenville.)

Glass beads, sequins, nylon thread, cotton, riker display case, insect mounting pins, paper.