This is how they do it: They pick up a maggot with feather-tip forceps; dip it into a non-toxic, water-based paint; and guide it--or let it crawl-- on a piece of paper.
Voila! Maggot art.
The finished product is not only a conversation piece, but perfect for adding to the "refrigerator art gallery" or a frame.
The event, free and family friendly, is the family arts-and-crafts activity at the Bohart Museum of Entomology open house, set from 1 to 4 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 11. The Bohart Museum is located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, UC Davis. Parking is also free.
Visitors can also:
- View the Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) collection, with entomologist Jeff Smith, curator; and naturalist Greg Karofelas.
- Hold a stick insect (aka walking stick) and a Madagascar hissing cockroach in the live petting zoo
- View specimens through a microscope
- Talk to the scientists
- Purchase a T-shirt, hoodie, book, poster, jewelry or collection kits in the gift shop
Forensic entomologist Rebecca O'Flaherty, a former doctoral candidate at UC Davis, coined the term "Maggot Art" in 2001 when she was a student at the University of Hawaii, and seeking a different outreach program activity to teach youngsters about insects. Not to hate them, she said, but to respect them and learn from them.
The art activity was initially meant for children, but anyone can participate. Her website includes the history of the art, and some of the highlights, including an interview with National Public Radio in March, 2007. and a two-montha two-month art show in 2007 at the Capital Athletic Club, Sacramento. The CSI (Crime Scene Investigation) television show featured one of her works, “Ancient Offering,” which hung on the permanent set in Gil Grissom's office.
"I love my work and being able to share my love with so many people has truly been a joy," she told us in a 2007 interview. "I tend to target young elementary students, second and third graders, because I find that at that age, most children are enthusiastic, uninhibited and extremely open to new ideas. They haven't developed aversions to insects, and we're able to instill in them an appreciation for and interest in all organisms, no matter how disgusting those organisms may be perceived to be."
Maggot art is now an annual activity hosted by the Department of Entomology and Nematology at Briggs Hall during the campuswide UC Davis Picnic Day. (This year's Picnic Day is April 12).
The Bohart Museum, founded in 1946 by UC Davis entomology professor Richard Bohart, houses a global collection of eight million insect specimens. It is directed by Professor Jason Bond, the Evert and Marion Schlinger Endowed Chair in the Department of Entomology and Nematology and associate dean of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
For more information on the Bohart Museum, access the website at https://bohart.ucdavis.edu or contact bmuseum@ucdavis.edu.
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