Page 16 September 2011 Giant sculptures of bugs along the trails at the Desert Botanical Garden will feature three ants and a dragon fl y. Photos supplied by the artist. There are really big bugs (on purpose) in this Garden DAVID ROGERS’ BIG BUGS Desert Botanical Garden Sept. 12-Jan. 15 By Elias Tolano The Desert Botanical Garden is going buggy this month – in a big way. Beginning Sept. 12, David Rogers’ Big Bugs exhibit will feature 11 dinosaur- sized insect sculptures along the Garden’s trails, including three 12-foot high ants, a dragon fl y with a 17-foot wingspan, and a giant daddy long legs spider. It will be the Garden’s second showcasing of Rogers’ Big Bugs. The fi rst was nearly 10 years ago. The Garden’s exhibit manager, Grace Soave, said the traveling exhibit was a success the last time around, but Big Bugs will have a different feel this fall. “It won’t be the same exhibit,” Soave said. “It’s a different Garden with different cactus and locations.” Big Bugs also will feature oversized sculptures of a praying mantis, grasshopper, ladybug, damsel fl y, and assassin bug. The sculptures are created using combinations of standing or fallen black locust, red cedar, and willow trees. Dry branches and other forest materials are used as well. Rogers, a New York native who previously worked with all natural materials to build rustic furnishings, said he found inspiration for the larger-than- life insects in 1990, when he was drawn to the curvature of a maple sapling hunched over from a winter ice storm. Rogers imagined the ravaged tree as the “backbone to a large beast,” and 12 days later a “dinosaur” sculpture was created. By 1994, the fi rst 10 sculptures of the Big Bugs exhibit were created, and they would soon make their debut in Dallas. Since then, Rogers’ insects have been displayed at more than 60 exhibits and toured 35 different gardens, but he said his real success as an artist came much sooner. Continued on page 42 A Praying mantis will be among the big bugs in the Garden. Women writers band together to provide each other aid Patricia Brooks By Brittany Morris September marks the sixth year members of the Scottsdale Society of Women Writers have met to share stories, memoirs, poetry and plays, as well as non- fi ction compositions with one another. The president and founder of the group, Patricia Brooks said she remembers when she traveled the Valley, frequenting various groups in hopes of fi nding her literary niche. She ended up putting an ad in a newspaper trying to drum up interest in a women’s writing group. Sixteen members have grown to 65 in the Scottsdale Society of Women Writers. Brooks, who’s been in the book business for 12 years, said she provides consulting to budding, hopeful authors seeking to be published. Club members meet frequently and at different venues. She also hosts monthly showcases at a local Barnes and Noble, allowing new authors in the women’s club to speak about and sign their books for fans. The learning curve in the book industry, she said, is steep and daunting. Her fi rst book, “Gifts of Sisterhood” is a memoir detailing her relationship with her youngest sister, who died of lung cancer. “My fi rst book came out in 2005, and the two I’m currently working on are being produced in a different way entirely. I am not doing anything the same that I was doing years ago. The industry is always, always changing,” Brooks said. Kitty Kessler, a new member to the group and an Arcadia resident, currently is working on her memoir, as well as a children’s chapter book. “There is no substitute for talking to other women who are doing the same thing I am, their dif fi culties help you through your own,” Kessler said. “You need a real- life support group.” Working with the group of women on her project has been invaluable, she said. Kessler also works full-time and is taking online courses to complete her bachelor’s degree in English literature. Kebba Buckley Button, a fi ve-time published author and Arcadia resident, has been with the Scottsdale Society of Women Writers for four years. She designed the cover art for her newest title, “Peace Within.” “ Books have become a more personal experience, you provide the marketing plan and you take the initiative,” Buckley Button said. “Through that process you learn a lot about yourself. And at the (Scottsdale Society of Women Writers) meetings you’re uplifted. I come home bubbling, feeling 10 feet tall. Continued on page 41