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The Locusts Are Coming!
No, not the one below, a banded-winged grasshopper (family Acrididae and subfamily Oedipodinae) that we spotted west of the UC Davis campus--and identified by Steve Heydon, senior museum scientist at the Bohart Museum of Entomology.
These particular locusts will be something you've never seen before--and will probably always remember.
Sculptor Cyrus Tilton will display his work in a solo exhibition titled The Cycle that runs Oct. 4-29 in the Vessel Gallery, 471 25th St., Oakland. He's created a kinetic locust swarm and two 11-foot sculptures of mating locusts.
Morphologically correct, too.
Tilton will unveil his work at a press preview party on Saturday, Oct. 1. Until then, it's a surprise, but the photo below (of the work in progress) gives you a glimpse of what's to come.
Who is Tilton? He's an Oakland-based artist and the art director of the Scientific Art Studio in Richmond. His work includes a bas-relief of Barry Bonds' 500th home run. A 1998 graduate of the Art Institute of Seattle, Tilton was born in Palmer, Alaska in 1977 and spent his early years in a one-room cabin near Anchorage. His parents, he recalls, embodied the "back-to-nature movement" of the 1960s.
The Cycle "explores the parallels between locust swarms and humanity's habits of mass consumption and overpopulation, throiugh sculpture and site-specific installation," says Vessel Gallery director Lonnie Lee.
Of his work, Tilton says: "I am making a huge generalization but a lot of people I know work in offices and behind computers. I am not judging them because people have to make a living. But are we becoming more like insects? When I drive by an apartment building, I can’t help but see it as a hive. Seems like compartments for individuals to live in. We are connecting to one another in ways that look to me like we’re worker bees or worker ants, feeding the queen ant. Are we more insect-like in our behavior? And is that bad? Or maybe we are closer to insect hierarchies than we like to think.”
Lee describes Tilton's work as "a fine example of an artist who taps into the collective subconscious of humanity. The Cycle reveals the self-defeating and contradictory behaviors of society. Most will be moved to discomfort and reflection. Hopefully the audience will experience both an internal shift and a change of behavior. I urge everyone to see this show, as being enveloped by a giant locust swarm just might open pathways to our salvation.”
Fifty percent of the net sales of "Individuals" (the site-specific kinetic installation) will benefit the Alameda Food Bank.
Admission to show, which can be viewed Tuesdays through Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Oct. 4-29, is free. A reception is set Friday, Oct 7 from 6 to 9 p.m. In addition, Tilton will talk about his work from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 8, discussing his processes, thoughts, and approach toward creating this body of work.
"Are we insect-like in our behavior?"
"Are we like worker bees or worker ants?"
The Cycle should prod us to ponder those questions.
This grasshopper, aka locust, is a banded-winged grasshopper, family Acrididae. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A work in progress by Oakland-based artist Cyrus Tilton. (Courtesy Photo)
Bee-ing There
Bees at The Bee.
Some 60 creative artists will be showing and selling their bee-themed work on Saturday, May 8 at the "Bees at The Bee" art show in the Sacramento Bee's outdoor courtyard, 2100 Q. St.
The event, free and open to the public, will take place from 3 to 8 p.m. It's part of The Bee's annual Second Saturday event.
Art show coordinator Laurelin Gilmore said you'll see acrylic paintings, watercolors, pen and ink drawings, metal and paper sculptures, photographs, fused glass plates, pendants, a fleece blanket, crocheted multimedia, collages, monoprint-woodcut, neckpiece, individually painted CDs, and a scrimshaw engraving on a mammoth ivory.
Lots of other activities are planned, including live music, refreshments and educational displays, including a bee observation hive form UC Davis.
Artists will donate part of the proceeds from the sale of their work to honey bee research at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility, UC Davis.
One item you'll see is a fused glass plate by scientist-artist Olga Barmina, a staff research associate at the UC Davis Department of Evolution and Ecology. The colorful plate features exquisite flowers--and of course, the beleaguered honey bee, amid hexagonal cells of the hive.
Barmina, who teaches at the UC Davis Crafts Center, was born in St. Petersburg, Russia and is a graduate of St. Petersburg State University (degree in biochemistry). “I’ve always been interested in the arts, and I was drawing, painting and sculpting for as long as I can remember myself. I began taking classes in ceramics and oil painting when I was 12. As time passed, I found myself doing less painting, and more and more ceramics – in retrospect, the three-dimensional art had a greater appeal."
During her five years at St. Petersburg State University, she had no time for art. Later when she accepted a job at St. Louis University, she took an evening jewelry class and “realized that I found my true medium - metal." Throughout the years, she has improved her skills at fabrication, casting, chain making, stone setting, enameling, and other techniques.Here's a scientist who enjoys a rewarding career in science and finds pure joy in art.
And in calling attention to the plight of the honey bee.
Olga Barmina
Lovely Work
In Celebration of Bee Art
Mark your calendars.
Saturday, May 8 is the "Bees at The Bee" art show.
The art show, featuring the work of bee artists from throughout much of Northern California, is a benefit for honey bee research at the University of California, Davis. The occasion? The Sacramento Bee's annual Second Saturday event.
"Bees at The Bee" takes place from 3 to 8 p.m. in newspaper's courtyard at 2100 Q St. Admission is free, as is parking in The Bee's Q lot.
Some 60 talented artists from a 12-county area submitted work that includes acrylic paintings, watercolors, pen and ink drawings, metal and paper sculptures, photographs, fused glass plates, pendants, a fleece blanket, a neckpiece, crocheted multimedia, collages, monoprint-woodcut, individually painted CDS, and a scrimshaw engraving on a mammoth ivory.
A portion of the art sales will go directly to honey bee research at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility at UC Davis.
“I’m really blown away by the level of quality, the ingenuity, and the variety of content we’re seeing for this show,” said Sacramento artist Laurelin Gilmore, who is coordinating the show. “It’s a relatively narrow theme, but concern for the plight of the honey bees is filtered through each artist in a different way, and the results run the gamut from funny to beautiful to profound. Every time I see a new piece for this show, I am re-energized!”
"Bees at The Bee" will feature a festival-type atmosphere with live music, refreshments and lots of fun things to do, see and sample. For example, visitors can see a bee observation hive and single out the queen bee, workers and drones. They can sample a honey product--the Honey Lovers line of Gimbal's Fine Candies, based in San Francisco. The company is donating five percent of the proceeds from the sale of Honey Lovers (fruit chews made with natural honey) for UC Davis bee research.
One of the artists displaying her work is Marilyn Judson of Davis. She's passionate about calligraphy and paper sculpture.
“I have always loved letters and studied calligraphy in London and taught calligraphy in the local school district and the Davis Art Center,” Judson said.
“Paper sculpture is something I have always want to do and I really have enjoyed the possibilities that it produces,” she said. “Manipulating the paper into a three-dimensional piece can be challenging.”
Her paper sculptures, she acknowledges, include "lots of insects and flowers." Her husband, Charles, is an emeritus professor of entomology at UC Davis.
Her paper sculptures of moth brains, moth antennae and bacteria are as stunning as they are intricate.
For the art show, Judson submitted two pieces: a framed paper sculpture titled "Queen Bee" and a framed caligraphy and watercolor featuring a quote from the book, “Archy and Mehitable” by Don Marquis.
Marquis (1878-1937), an American humorist and longtime columnist for The New York Sun, claimed that a cockroach named Archy jumped on his typewriter at night and wrote bits of wit and wisdom.
Archy couldn't punch two keys at the same time so his work contained no punctuation or capitalization. In fact, he wrote his name as "archy."
The "night-writing" cockroach wrote this:
as a representative
of the insect world
i have often wondered
on what man bases his claims
to superiority
everything he knows he has had
to learn whereas we insects are born
knowing everything we need to know
To really appreciate those words, you just have to see Marilyn Judson's amazing calligraphy, illustrated with colorful insects.
One of them is, yes, a honey bee.
Marilyn Judson
Queen Bee
