Visitors are encouraged to celebrate a "Day of Insect Art" by participating in theBohartopen house and viewing the Design Museum exhibition,It's Bugged: Insects' Role in Design, set from 2 to 4 p.m. in Room 124 ofCruessHall, off California Avenue.
At theBohart, UC Davisundergraduateentomology student and artistKarissaMerritt will be on-hand sketching insects for all to see how she does it, saidTabathaYang, education and outreach coordinator. Other activities/focal points at the open house:
- Art display from the collection of the late Mary FoleyBensen, a former Smithsonian Institution scientific illustrator who lived the last years of her life in Davis, and who worked for entomology faculty
- Art display from LynnKimsey, director of theBohartMuseum and professor of entomology, who illustrated under her maiden name LynnSiri
- Art display by Charlotte Herbert, Ph.D. student; and UC Davis alumnusIvanaLi and Nicole Tam, who hold degrees in entomology from UC Davis
- Exhibit of "insect wedding photography" images byBohartassociates GregKareofelasand KathyKeatleyGarvey
Visitors are also invited to pick up a colored pencil and paper and sketch an insect, said Yang. For those not artistically inclined, images of dragonflies from Dragonflies of North America: A Color and Learn Book with Activities by dragonfly expert/author KathyClaypoleBiggsand illustrator Tim Manolis, will be available for people of all ages to color.
Open house attendees are invited to wear insect-themed attire, including dresses, ties, andjewelry. A contest will take place at 3 p.m. for the best insect-themed outfit, and for the best insect-themed tattoo (tattoo must be in a family friendly location).
At the Design Museum, among the work that visitors can view are the beetle gallery sculptures and hornet nest paper art of AnnSavageau, professor emeritus of the Department of Design; bee, butterfly and beetle specimens from theBohart; and images by UC Davis alumnus and noted insect photographerAlex Wild, curator of entomology at the University of Texas, Austin. Wild received his doctorate in entomology from UC Davis in 2005, studying with major professor Phil Ward.
TheBohartMuseum houses a global collection of nearly eight million specimens. It is also the home of the seventh largest insect collection in North America, and the California Insect Survey, a storehouse of the insect biodiversity.
Special attractions include a “live” petting zoo, featuring Madagascar hissing cockroaches, walking sticks, prayingmantidsand tarantulas. Visitors are invited to hold some of the arthropods and photograph them. The museum's gift shop, open year around, includes T-shirts, sweatshirts, books,jewelry, posters, insect-collecting equipment and insect-themed candy.
TheBohartMuseum holds special open houses throughout the academic year. Its regular hours are from 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 5 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays. The museum is closed to the public on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays and on major holidays. Admission is free.
More information on theBohartMuseum is available by contacting(530) 752-0493or emailing bmuseum@ucdavis.edu orTabathaYang attabyang@ucdavis.edu.