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Curious? Be There!
And they're not letting the secret out until Saturday, Dec. 3.
What it is: the UC Davis Art/Science Fusion Program will sponsor a "Cabinets of Curiosity" scientific art show on Saturday, Dec. 3 in Davis.
Billed as "found object and sculpture featuring 17 student artists," the event will take place from 7 to 10 p.m. at 721 7th St., Davis (corner of 7th and G streets). A performance art by Evan Clayburg is set for 8 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.
"But what's in those drawers?" we asked entomologist/artist Diane Ullman, co-founder and co-director of the UC Davis Art/Science Fusion Program. She is a longtime professor of entomology at UC Davis and associate dean for undergraduate academic programs in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
Ullman did not disclose the secrets, but she said folks attending the event "will find out what happens when artists mix this concept with the strange world of insects using found object and sculpture."
A little background: She and Donna Billick of Davis co-founded and co-direct the Art/Science Fusion Program, which meshes art with science in undergraduate education and community outreach. Some of their work is showcased in the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven on Bee Biology Road, west of the central campus.
The Dec. 3rd show "is based on the fusion of art and science, particularly insects and art and is based on the theme of Cabinets of Curiosity," said Art/Science Fusion Program teaching assistant Anna Davidson, who is a third-year PhD student in the Horticulture and Agronomy Graduate Group, housed in the Department of Plant Sciences.
"Cabinets of Curiosity were pre-museum, pre-Linnaeus collections of curiosities from around the world featured for the affluent in the 15th and 16th centuries," Davidson said. "Curious items were either displayed in cabinets or entire rooms. We have created a cabinet of curiosity consisting of 20 drawers. Each drawer is a shallow, glass covered box that tells a story about insects using found object and sculpture. Each piece is very unique."
"There will also be a local--but becoming more famous--performance artist named Evan Clayburg performing at 8 p.m. His piece will be a surprise. We will also have two Djs."
And the site? "The gallery is an empty house that we will transform into an art space to facilitate this one-night underground art show," Davidson said.
Davidson did provide a couple of "bug" images (below)--but the rest you'll have to see on Dec. 3.
And learn more about them...
This little critter will be displayed at the Cabinets of Curiosity show on Saturday, Dec. 3 in Davis. (Photo courtesy of Anna Davidson)
What is it? A student meshed art with science. (Photo courtesy of Anna Davidson)
Don't Miss 'Specimens'
The UC Davis Art/Science Fusion Program and the Pence Gallery, Davis, are co-sponsoring a “Consilience of Art and Science Exhibit,” set Jan. 14-Feb. 27, at the Pence Gallery, 212 D St., Davis.
This will include several special events: a reception on Jan. 14 from 6 to 9 p.m.; a talk by Byron Wolfe, photographer and professor of art at California State University, Chico, who will discuss the work of pioneer photographer Eadweard Muybridge; and a juror’s walk-through from 6 to 7 p.m., Feb. 11. All are free and open to the public. (See more information.)
Diane Ullman, co-founder and co-director of the UC Davis Art/Science Fusion Program, and James Housefield, professor of design at UC Davis, juried the show, which drew artists from California, including Davis and northern California; New Mexico, Oregon, Washington state, and New York.
“The artwork we received from artists across the nation explores the creative nexus where art and science interconnect," said Ullman, associate dean for undergraduate academic programs at the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, and professor of entomology. "The exhibit is visually and intellectually exciting and we commend the Pence Gallery for sponsoring it.”
Said Housefield: "Artists' investigations of the forms, structures, practices, and philosophies of science have provided long provided ways for the general public to dream about what art and science can become. We are very fortunate that the resources of the University of California, the arts communities of Davis, and a national array of contemporary artists come together in the space where art and science meet. I hope that this version of the 'Consilience' exhibition will spark more conversations about the ways that artists and scientists may inspire one another."
One of the works, by Joanna Kidd of Davis, is titled "Specimens." It is comprised of three wall cases and a floor case. Specimens are small human sculptures (see top photo), all pinned and displayed as they would be in an insect collection.
So very creative!
Housefield's comment about the ways that artists and scientists can inspire one another definitely holds true with "Specimens."
Diane Ullman
James Housefield
Specimens
Miss Bee Haven
Undergraduate degree in genetics? Check.
Master’s degree in fine arts? Check.
Scientist and artist? Check.
Such is the case with scientist-artist Donna Billick, who created the “Miss Bee Haven” six-foot bee sculpture in the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven at the University of California, Davis.
Miss Bee Haven?
“I like to play with words,” said Billick, who received both her degrees from UC Davis and then embarked on fusing art with science by teaching classes at UC Davis.
The sculpture, funded by Wells Fargo, graces the half-acre bee friendly garden, located on the Department of Entomology grounds of the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility on Bee Biology Road.
“The bee sculpture is beautiful and provides the perfect focal point for the garden,” said entomologist Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology and professor and former chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology who oversees the garden. “On top of that it accurately represents a worker bee and provides an educational component as well as an aesthetic one.”
Kimsey, who is master-planning the grand opening celebration of the garden, set from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 11, said the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven “is sure to become a campus destination.”
The key goals of the haven, Kimsey said, are to provide a year-around food source for the Laidlaw bees and other pollinators, to raise public awareness about the plight of honey bees, and to encourage visitors to plant bee-friendly gardens of their own.
It’s quite appropriate that the bee sculpture is beneath an almond tree in the garden. California has some 700,000 thousand acres of almonds; each acre requires two bee hives for pollination.
Billick, who worked on the bee from her Davis studio, Billick Rock Art, is the co-founder and co-director of the UC Davis Art/Science Fusion Program. Billick founded the program in 2006 with entomologist-artist Diane Ullman, professor and former chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and now associate dean for Undergraduate Academic Programs, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
A self-described “rock artist,” Billick designed, fabricated and constructed Miss Bee Haven, using rebar, chicken wire, sand, cement, tile, bronze, steel, grout, fiberglass and handmade ceramic pieces. The project took her four months to complete.
“During this entire process, I developed a real in-depth relationship with honey bees,” Billick said. For inspiration and detail, she visited the apiary in back of the Laidlaw facility, read about the functions of bees, and held the thoughts close. “It was not about expressing anything other than the beeness. I have a lot of respect for bees.”
A 35-year artist, she studied with such masters as Bob Arneson, Roy De Forest, Wayne Thiebaud and Manuel Neri.
Her work on the UC Davis campus includes the colorful Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility’s ceramic sign that features DNA symbols and almond blossoms.
Scientist? Check. Artist? Check.
Scientist-artist? Most definitely.
Rock Artist
Close-Up
The End
The Face of Darwin
Look closely at Charles Darwin's ceramic face.
You'll see selections from his secret notebooks and images of organisms that most influenced his scientific studies.
His beard is peppered with moths. You'll also find barnacles, iguanas, finches, orchids and other creatures on his face.
It is, says Diane Ullman, "a profound learning experience in and of itself."
The ceramic mosaic, appropriately titled "The Face of Darwin," will be among the art work displayed June 3-July 3 in the Buehler Alumni and Visitors' Center at UC Davis.
The background of "The Face": Ullman, an entomologist-artist, taught a freshman seminar with fellow artist Donna Billick to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birthday. Ullman and Billick co-founded the UC Davis Art/Science Fusion Program and serve as the co-directors. The seminar was part of the Art/Science Fusion Program.
The Buehler art exhibit features more than 50 student photographs from Terry Nathan's class, "Photography: Bridging Art and Science," also part of the Art/Science Fusion Program. The photographs, Nathan said, explore the conceptual connections between art and science and the role of art and science on the UC Davis campus.
A public reception takes place from 3 to 5 p.m. on Thursday, June 4.
"The Face of Darwin" is both hauntingly beautiful and a vividly detailed study of the science that engulfed the evolutionary biologist. The eyes plead his passion, begging for knowledge, understanding and realization.
It is, indeed, as Ullman said, "a profound learning experience in and of itself."
The Face of Darwin
Faces Behind the Face
Analyze This!
A chimpanzee holds a monarch butterfly in a ceramic art work titled “
Human hands cradle insects and assorted objects in a ceramic work titled “Analyze This.”
Those are just two of the art works featured in a juried show under way at the Pence Gallery,
You can view the art, listen to music and talk to artists at the free public reception set for 7 to 9 p.m., Friday, March 13 at the gallery. The art is amazing, said Art/Science Fusion Program co-director Diane Ullman, associate dean undergraduate academic programs of the
The “Analzye This” piece is by Ann Savageau, associate professor of design at UC Davis. Savageau explains: “This is Art analyzing Science analyzing Nature. It makes visible the analytical methodology at the heart of the scientific endeavor. We take our measuring, probing, dissecting, and classifying for granted, as "the way things are". We forget that these are recent cultural constructs. “
Another ceramic work, “Twins,” by Marnia Johnston of
And it’s all a part of the Consilience of Art and Science Colloquium. What is consilience, you ask? William Whewell (1794-1866), who coined the term in 1840, described it as the linking together of facts and principles from different disciplines to form a broad, comprehensive theory that spans the realms of knowledge.
E. O. Wilson brought consilience into the modern lexicon with his highly acclaimed book, Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge.
Darwin
Analyze This
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