- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The free multimedia event will pay tribute to the honey bee "and the wonderful world of pollination," said cultural entomologist Emmet Brady, host of the Davis-based Insect News Network, broadcast on KDRT 95.7 FM Radio, Davis.
"The Bee-a-Thon 3 will take intelligent humans everywhere on a deep dive into the Microcosm and the wonderful symphony of pollination," Brady said.
The event will begin online with a series of videos about honey bees and other members of the Microcosm, including videos created by Brady and clips from previous Bee-a-Thons.
UC Davis will be represented by Eric Mussen, Extension apiculturist with the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology; and entomologist/artist Diane Ullman and artist Donna Billick, co-founders and co-directors of the UC Davis Art/Science Fusion Program. Mussen, a member of the department since 1976, is world-renowned for his honey bee expertise. Ullman is the associate dean of undergraduate academic programs in the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and a professor of entomology. Billick is a self-described rock artist whose work has been shown throughout the world. She created the "Miss Bee Haven" ceramic mosaic sculpture in the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven on Bee Biology Road, UC Davis, and the sign that graces the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility.
The schedule includes:
- a pollination fundraising luncheon, with a honey-inspired menu, from noon to 1 p.m. at Monticello Seasonal Cuisine, 630 G St. (not broadcast).
- fruit presentations from 1 to 1:30 p.m. at the Davis Food Co-Op, 620 G St.; (not broadcast)
- a live broadcast from 2 to 4 p.m. on Davis Community Television public access Channel 15
- a radio/video feed from KDRT, 95.7 FM, from 4 to 6 p.m.
- BATMAP (Bee-a-Thon Monster After Party) billed as the world’s first Pollinator Party from 7 to 10 p.m. at the Davis Media Access, 1623 Fifth St., and featuring music by Eminent Bee. Admission is free, but guests must come adorned as an insect, spider or flower.
- a lounge chat from 10 p.m. to midnight at deVere’s Irish Pub, 217 E St.
The pollination luncheon at Monticello Seasonal Cuisine, a fundraising event for Davis Media Access, will include a special honey menu prepared by the owners. Brady will be offering a special preview of his forthcoming book “The Insect Tribe: Who? What? Why?”
Brady says the art-science event is designed to ignite a community about the full story about honey bees and other pollinators — "not just the science, but the art, the anthropology, the technology and design, the pop culture."
“The interdependence we have with insects — especially bees — is profound and complex and most people are only discussing half the story," said Brady, who holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from Hiram (Hiram, Ohio) College. "The key word is biocomplexity — how human behavior fits into the global ecology. It’s also about how insects inspire and amaze our society. That will all be covered on the show.”
Brady described the Bee-a-Thon as timely; Time magazine just published a cover story on “beepocalpyse.”
Noon - 1 p.m.
A pollination fundraising luncheon at the Monticello Seasonal Cuisine, 630 G St.
1 p.m. – 2 p.m.
The broadcast continues online with more videos and interviews pre-recorded for the event.
1 p.m. – 1:20
Melon Chat at Davis Food Cooperative (not broadcast). This is a special presentation about the unique connection between melons and honey bees, and the dramatic impact they had on the formation of the United States.
2 – 4 p.m.: Broadcast from the Studios of DCTV in Davis, CA
2 p.m. - Live Introduction for the Bee-a-Thon 3 and the lay-out of the event.
2:10 p.m. - Green Screen: Meet the Honey Bee
2:15 p.m.- Visit to Redwood Barn to see live bees with guest Doneice Woody-Harlan of Henry’s Bullfrog Bees with a bee observation hive
2:25 p.m. - Symbols of the Insect Tribe / BUFFER
2:40 p.m. - First musical artist - To be announced
2:45 p.m. - Interview: Patrick Adams of Blue Moon Bees and the Monterey Bay Aquarium and Yuki Kamashi, Japanese Beekeeper (pre-recorded)
2:55 p.m. - Pollinator Video: with Derek Downey of the UC Davis Bee Sanctuary, located next to the Dome Cooperative Housing (pre-recorded)
3 p.m. - Interview: Professor Ille Gebeshuber of the University of Vienna from Kuala Lampur, Malaysia (pre-recorded)
3:20 p.m. - Green Screen Video - How a Honey bees Flies
3:30 p.m. - Interview: Kim Flottum, editor of Bee Culture magazine, described as the definitive magazine for the beekeeping industry in the U.S. (pre-recorded)
3:40 p.m. Interview: Marina Marchese, founder of the American Honey Tasting Society and owner of the Red Bee Honey (Pre-recorded)
3:45 p.m. - Roving Cam: Don Shor, owner of Redwood Barn Nursery and radio host of the Davis Garden Show (live)
3:55 p.m. – Rachel Edler, designer of Bee-a-Thon graphic media and owner of Rachel Edler Designs (pre-recorded)
4:00 p.m. - KDRT, 95.7 FM – Introduction of the Insect Tribe
4:05 p.m. - Eric Mussen, Extension apiculturist and world-renowned bee expert from UC Davis (live)
4:20 p.m. - Ria de Grassi, director of federal policy, California Farm Bureau Federation (live)
4:30 p.m. - Musical Break
4:35 p.m. - Mike Somers, state director of Pesticide Watch and Pesticide Watch Education Fund (live)
4:45 p.m. - Celeste Ets-Hokin, creator of the Pollinator Gardens at Lake Merritt, Oakland, CA (live)
4:55 p.m. - Musical Break
5:00 p.m. - Eddie Dunbar, founder of the Insect Sciences Museum of California (live)
5:10 p.m.- Musician - To be announced
5:15 p.m. -Teen interview - UC Davis Bio Boot Camp youth Bjorn Bush and Jack Henderson (live)
5:25 pm -Artists Corner: Tattoo Art with Jenn Ponci and Sara Ely, co-director of the Davis Music Festival (live)
5:35 p.m. - Kamal Lemseffer, computer analyst at UC Davis (live)
5:45 p.m. Close
5:58 sign-off
6 – 7 p.m.
Broadcast continues online at www.insectnewsnetwork.com with a series of videos about honey bees and other members of the Microcosm, including videos created by host Emmet Brady.
7 – 10 p.m.
Live video stream of the BATMAP (Bee-a-Thon Monster After Party) the world’s first Pollinator Party, and featuring music by Eminent Bee. This will take place at Davis Media Access, 1623. Admission is free, but guests must come adorned as an insect, a spider or a flower. Donations are asked to support the Davis Media Access.
10 p.m. – Midnight
Lounge chat at deVere’s Irish Pub, 217 E St., Davis, with members of the Insect Tribe (not broadcast)
For more information, contact Brady at info@insectnewsnetwork.com. The telephone number for the Davis Media Access is (530) 757-2419.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
In announcing the awards, Provost Ralph Hexter noted (1) that Tatiossian’s research on the walnut twig beetle makes a significant contribution to establishing an integrated pest management plan; (2) that her manuscript, “Flight Response of the Walnut Twig Beetle, Pityophthorus juglandis, to Aggregation Pheromones Produced by Low Densities of Males”; is in preparation for submission to the Journal of Chemical Ecology; and (3) that her poster received attention at a national entomology conference for the ceramic bark beetle she sculpted.
Hexter presented awards of excellence to Brenda Marin-Rodriguez and L. Carolina Tavarez. In addition to Tatiossian, honorable mentions went to Amanda Steele, biomedical engineering; Rachel Borthwell, biological sciences and art history; and Lindsey Black, history.
A photo of Tatiossian and Black appears as the cover photo on the UC Davis Undergraduate Facebook site at https://www.facebook.com/UCDavisUndergraduateEducation. Her poster, including the ceramic bark beetle she crafted, is mounted on the third floor of Briggs Hall, next to the administration office of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology.
Tatiossian, who joined the Research Scholars Program in September 2011, graduated from UC Davis in three years (she achieved the top grade point average in entomology) and is currently working in the laboratory of Diane Ullman, professor of entomology and associate dean for undergraduate academic programs in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
Among those nominating her or supporting her nomination were her mentor, chemical ecologist and forest entomologist Steve Seybold of the Davis-based Pacific Southwest Research Station, USDA Forest Service, and an affiliate of the UC Davis Department of Entomology; professor Jay Rosenheim who co-founded and co-directs the Research Scholars Program in Insect Biology; and Diane Ullman.
Rosenheim noted that Tatiossian was a member of the first cohort of undergraduates recruited to the program. “I witnessed her tremendous determination to develop independent research skills” and she “succeeded in all phases of the project, from design, data collection, data analysis and manuscript preparation.”
Among the 30 students who have entered the program since 2011, “Kristina is absolutely the standout in terms of motivation and enthusiasm for research,” Rosenheim said. “She leaped at the opportunity to learn how to become an independent researcher. Kristina will generate the first-lead authored publication for any student in our program—hopefully, the first of many. In this sense, she has already been a trailblazer for our program.”
Seybold noted that Tatiossian “worked on the host-finding behavior of a major pest of walnut trees, the walnut twig beetle. This is a nationally significant pest that spreads a disease of live trees called thousand cankers disease (TCD). The condition threatens not only the English walnuts that form the basis of the California nut industry, but also the black walnuts that represent over $500 billion in growing stock value of fine wood products in the eastern U.S.
“Kristina formulated her research project in fall 2011 and spring 2012 and then carried it out in spring and summer 2012. As she developed the project, she also applied to the Department of Entomology for a McBeth Scholarship, which she was awarded in summer 2012. The award helped her offset the costs of her research supplies and funded her travel to several scientific meetings.”
“Kristina collected a live population of the walnut twig beetle from a traditional orchard habitat in the southern Central Valley, reared the insects to the adult stage, and re-introduced the adults into freshly cut black walnut branch sections. Once the male beetles had begun producing their aggregation pheromones (attractants) in the branch sections, Kristina used the branch sections as lures to attract new males and females into flight traps. Using this basic technique she was able to establish that as few as 1 to 5 male beetles would provide a threshold of flight behavioral attraction in the field. This finding has ramifications for establishing an integrated pest management program for the walnut twig beetle nationwide.”
Tatiossian developed and displayed her poster at the 60th Annual Meeting of the Entomological Society (ESA), held Nov. 11-14, 2012 in Knoxville, Tenn. “Her poster reached a very interested target audience because Knoxville is in the heart of the distribution of eastern black walnut trees and in the center of the current distribution of TCD in the eastern U.S.,” Seybold said. “In a very creative touch, Kristina sculpted a replica of the female walnut twig beetle (through her participation in the UC Davis Art/Science Fusion Program) and attached the sculpture directly to her poster. This elicited quite a response at the national meeting and led to a news story released by UC Davis.”
The poster also drew attention at the arts exhibit at the 24th Annual UC Davis Undergraduate Research, Scholarship and Creative Activities Conference, held April 26, 2013.
In addition, Tatiossian delivered an oral presentation on her research at the 97th Annual Meeting of the Pacific Branch of the ESA in South Lake Tahoe, Nev.
Her poster, now on permanent display at Briggs Hall, credits Seybold; Extension entomologist Mary Louise Flint, associate director for Urban and Community IPM, UC Statewide Integrated Pest Program; entomology graduate student Stacy Hishinuma, and postdoctoral researcher Yigen Chen of the UC Davis Department of Entomology. Robin Schmidt of UC Davis Molecular and Cellular Biology mounted the unusual poster with the ceramic beetle.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The exhibit features 50 student photographs exploring the conceptual
connections between art and science and the role of art and science on the UC Davis campus. The opening reception, which is free and open to the public, is Thursday, June 6 from 3 to 5 p.m.
The UC Davis Art Science and Fusion Program, co-founded and co-directed by entomologist/artist Diane Ullman and artist Donna Billick. Ullman is the associate dean of undergraduate academic programs in the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and UC Davis professor of entomology, and Billick is a self-described rock artist whose work has been shown throughout the world.
The UC Davis Art/Science Fusion Program, launched in 1997, helps students reach across disciplines to learn science through art, and art through science, Ullman said. Each course focuses on key areas of biology, physics or environmental science and expressive art media, including ceramics, graphics, textiles, photography, poetry and music.
Of his course, “Photography, Bridging Art and Science,” Nathan says: “Beginning with centuries-old experiments in optics and chemistry to the present-day digital revolution, the camera has relied on science for itsdevelopment while also serving as a vital scientific tool for probing and documenting the natural world. In the hands of the artist, the camera has heightened our awareness of the aesthetic qualities of space and light while revealing hidden truths about culture and society."
“In this art/science fusion course (SAS 40), students use photography to explore the common ground occupied by art and science. Two lectures each week address topics such as the art and science roots of photography; principles of space, time and light; Gestalt psychology meets Einsteinian physics in photographic composition; the geometric foundations of art and science; order versus disorder; and photographic interpretation of the environment. One studio session each week builds visual literacy skills through hands-on photography projects. This final student exhibition highlights the learning and creativity that emerges when students explore the intellectual realm shared by art and science.”
Nathan is a professor in the Atmospheric Science Program of the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, as well as a professor in the Art/Science Fusion Program and the Graduate Program in Applied Mathematics.
See more news from the Department of Entomology and Nematology.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
“I like to play with words,” said noted artist Donna Billick who created “Miss Bee Haven,” a six-foot-long honey bee sculpture for the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven at the University of California, 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.”
“The Wells-Fargo honey bee sculpture is a wonderful educational tool in the garden,” said Melissa “Missy” Borel, program manager of the California Center for Urban Horticulture who has helped develop the garden since its inception. “Visitors can get up close and personal with the bee, even touch the pollen baskets on her legs. We're fortunate to have such a beautiful model as a showcase to the public.”
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 bee, shaded by an almond tree, stands on a pedestal/bench decorated with ceramic art tiles, the work of the UC Davis Art/Science Fusion Program. 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.
The Art/Science Fusion Program includes design faculty, science faculty, museum educators, professional artists and UC Davis students. “Participants see and feel art and science, hold it in their hands, hearts and memories—in ceramics, painting, photographs, music, and textiles,” Ullman said.
Millions of yellow porcelain tiles resembling hair cover the structure. “It's pretty hairy,” the artist quipped.
Miss Bee Haven, placed in the garden in June, is no lightweight. Anchored with 200 pounds of cement and with six bronze legs drilled into the pedestal, this worker bee is destined to stay put—unlike the six million bees that forage from the 110 hives at the nearby Laidlaw facility.
Billick's sculpture is morphologically correct, said Cooperative Extension apiculturist Eric Mussen, member of the UC Davis Department of Entomology faculty. He praised the intricate detail of the head, thorax and abdomen.
“This is a surprisingly accurate rendition for a highly attractive work of art,” Mussen said. “I can gather a group around it and point out the special anatomical features that make the honey bee such an invaluable pollinator of our food crops. This bee and all the other magnificent ceramic works of art around our building, on-campus structures, and planned-for future structures demonstrate the enormous, highly visible value of the Art/Science Fusion Program.”
Billick used lost wax bronze casting to craft the six legs, which extend from the thorax to rest on a ceramic “purple dome” aster, fabricated by Davis artist Sarah Rizzo. The purple dome aster is among the flowers in the garden.
Billick created the double set of translucent wings with three sheets of fiberglass. The result: wings that are fragile-looking and true to life, but strong.
“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.”
“It was fun and satisfying to do,” the rock artist added.”I learned a ton.”
Billick is now creating a bee sculpture called “Swarmed,” which she calls a “wild-card idea” gleaned from the making of Miss Bee Haven. The piece, being finished for an art show in San Francisco, features 30 suspended bees.
A 35-year artist and an alumna of UC Davis, Billick toyed with a scientific career before opting for a career that fuses art with science. She received her bachelor of science degree in genetics in 1973 and her master's degree in fine arts in 1977, studying art with such masters as Bob Arneson, Roy De Forest, Wayne Thiebaud and Manuel Neri.
Billick traces her interest in an art career to the mid-1970s when then Gov. Jerry Brown supported the arts and offered the necessary resources to encourage the growth of art. He reorganized the California Arts Council, boosting its funding by 1300 percent.
The mid-1990s is when Billick and Ullman began teaching classes that fused art with science; those classes led to the formation of the UC Davis Art/Science Fusion Program.
Billick's work is displayed in numerous public and private collections, including the Oakland Museum, Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, Carborundum Museum in New York, Richmond Art Center; Richard Nelson Gallery at UC Davis, William Sawyer Gallery in San Francisco and Mills College in Oakland.
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. A hole drilled in the sign leads to a bee hive.
Also in Davis, Billick created the whimsical Dancing Pigs sculpture and the Cow Fountain, both in the Marketplace Shopping Center on Russell Boulevard; the Mediation sculpture at Central Park Gardens; and the Frawns for Life near the West Area Pond.
She maintains a compound in Baja, where she teaches three workshops a year called "Heaven on Earth."
Miss Bee Haven also promises to provide heaven on earth--as a draw to admire the honey bee and as a sculpture to study the art form.
“Bees are very engaging,” Billick said. “I have a strong love for the work they do and how they go about doing it.”
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The ceramic art work being installed at the half-acre bee friendly garden on Bee Biology Road is the work of not only undergraduates in the UC Davis Art/Science Fusion Program but community residents.
A grand opening celebration of the haven is planned for 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 11.
“We are so inspired by the learning that happens as students from majors across the campus and community members collaborate to create beautiful and educational artwork,” said Art/Science Fusion Program co-director and co-founder Diane Ullman, an entomologist and an artist. “It is exciting to see the learning we can share extended to so many people as a result of connecting art and science in this way.”
Diane Ullman, an entomology professor-artist and associate dean for undergraduate academic programs at the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, founded the Art/Science Fusion Program in 2006 with Davis-based artist Donna Billick. However, they trace the beginnings of the program back to 1997 when they began teaching art-science fusion classes on campus.
At the invitation of the UC Davis Art/Science Fusion Program, sixth graders at Korematsu Elementary School, Davis, and community members crafted flowers, pollen grains and bees for the haven.
At one recent community workshop, third-grader Aleta Ballinger, 8, of Davis, finished a handful of ceramic bees and also completed a larger ceramic of a worker bee on hexagonal cells.
Artists Carol Rogala of Folsom, wearing a “Save the Bees” t-shirt, and her friend, T. J. Lev of Sacramento, crafted flowers from clay. They recently participated in the “Bees at The Bee” art show in Sacramento.
Members of two Davis families clustered around a table to work the clay into flowers and bees and paint them. Enthusiastically participating were children Jason Henkel, Sophia Leamy, Nicolas Leamy, and Matthew Henkel and adults Merissa Leamy, Nicolas Leamy and Barbara Friedman.
A special seminar offered by the Art/Science Fusion Program also allowed undergraduates in the Davis Honors Challenge to explore the life and importance of honey bees. Christine Santa Maria, a UC Davis honors student majoring in biochemistry and molecular biology, finished a piece on the life cycle of bees. She included larvae, nurse bees feeding the brood, and worker bees nectaring flowers. She formed a retinue of worker bees around the queen bee.
Billick created a gigantic bee sculpture for the garden. Donors making gifts or pledges of $1000 or more by July 20 will have their nams placed on ceramic art tiles in time for the Sept. 11 opening. Their names also will be placed on the website of the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility. Pledges can be paid over five years, according to Jan Kingsbury, director of major gifts, UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
The deadline to contact her in order to have these tiles in place before the Sept. 11 opening is July 20. "We are just about to finish the art work for this set of tiles," Kingsbury said. More sets will follow. Kingsbury can be reached at (530) 304-4327 or jkingsbury@ucdavis.edu.
The grand opening celebration of the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven will include speakers, educational information about bees and how to help them survive, children's activities and tours.
(Editor's Note: Initially, plans called for RSVPing to the opening celebration. This is no longer necessary.)