About This Stamp
A pale green luna moth graces the latest non-machineable stamp for use on irregularly sized envelopes, such as square greeting cards, invitations, or announcements.
The stamp art was created using a high-resolution scanner with extended focus, which was programmed in a variety of depths of field at exact points above the scanner glass. As many as 32 layers of the preserved luna moth were scanned individually to ensure that all parts of the preserved moth would appear in sharp focus. To create the final image, these layers were stitched together.
Noted for their lovely green coloring and larger than average size, luna moths (Actias luna) are among the most beautiful moths in the United States. Also known as American Moon moths, the moths were named after Luna, the Roman goddess of the Moon because of the Moon-like eyespots on each of their four wings. Luna moths dwell in the hardwood trees of the eastern United States and southern Canada with a habitat range spreading westward as far as eastern Texas and North Dakota.
The Luna Moth stamp is available in panes of 20. The words “NON-MACHINEABLE SURCHARGE” on the stamp indicate its usage value. Like a Forever® stamp, this stamp will always be valid for the rate printed on it.
Art director Derry Noyes designed the stamp with an existing image by Joseph Scheer.
Stamp Art Director, Stamp Designer
Derry Noyes
For more than 40 years Derry Noyes has designed and provided art direction for close to 800 United States postage stamps and stamp products. She holds a bachelor of arts degree from Hampshire College and a master of fine arts degree from Yale University.
Noyes worked as a graphics designer at Beveridge and Associates, a Washington, D.C., firm, until 1979 when she established her own design firm, Derry Noyes Graphics. Her clients have included museums, corporations, foundations, and architectural and educational institutions. Her work has been honored by American Illustration, the Art Directors Club of Metropolitan Washington, Communication Arts, Critique magazine, Graphis, Creativity International, and the Society of Illustrators.
Before becoming an art director for the U.S. Postal Service, she served as a member of the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee from 1981 to 1983.
Noyes is a resident of Washington, D.C.
Existing Art
Joseph Scheer
Joseph Scheer is an internationally acclaimed artist, printmaker, photographer, and author.
He taught for many years as a distinguished professor of print media at Alfred University in New York and founded and co-directed the university’s Institute for Electronic Arts.
Growing up in a military family, Scheer moved frequently and had many diverse experiences both in the United States and abroad. From an early age, he was especially drawn to the natural world and the unique local flora and fauna around him. His expanded world view and love of nature led him to study fine arts at Alfred University and pursue an M.A. and M.F. A. with a focus on printmaking from the University of New Mexico.
Scheer specializes in creating images of moths using a high-resolution scanner with extended focus, which allows him to capture multiple views of a specimen to ensure that all parts appear in sharp focus. To create the final print, he makes a composite of all these images.
Scheer’s work has appeared in numerous books and scientific journals such as National Geographic, The New York Times, ArtNews, Science, Nature, American Photo, DerSpiegel, and The Chronicle of Higher Education. He has also published two books—Night Visions: The Secret Designs of Moths, and Night Flyers.
Institutions that have exhibited Scheer’s work include the Guanlan Museum of Printmaking, Guanlan, China; the Queensland College of Art and Design, Brisbane, Australia; the Solander Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand; Burchfield Penny Art Center, Buffalo, New York; the Yantai Museum of Art, Yantai, China; and the National Museum of China, Beijing. An exhibition at Regionmuseet in Skåne, Sweden, comprising 100 of his large-format prints, traveled to four other museums in that country.
Scheer is a recipient of numerous awards including the New York State Council for the Arts Project Grant, the Fulbright-Garcia Robles Scholar Research Grant, an Artistic Merit Award from the Constance Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts, The State University of New York’s Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities, and Alfred University’s Outstanding Teaching Awards.
Scheer works from his studio in Hornell, New York. When not engaged in ongoing projects about the moths of Changbai Mountain in Jilin, China, and the biodiversity of cacti in Mexico and Argentina, he enjoys traveling and fishing.
Scheer's image appears on the 2025 Luna Moth stamp.