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."

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.