“Insects, worms, and other small animals that carry out vital functions for life on earth have declined by 45 percent average over 35 years, threatening human and food supplies..”
–Steve Connor, “Vital invertebrates decline 45 percent, study finds,” independent.co.uk, July 2014
THE PROBLEM
I created an insect motel to help save our insect population. Over the years, the insect population has drastically decreased due to humans taking away our wooded areas. I hope to create a safe place for breeding to help raise the numbers of our insects. The motel I created is able house many different kinds of insects. It will help protect them for hibernation in the winter, and allow them to nest in the summer. The insects that I intended this motel for are solitary bees, lady bugs, beetles, invertebrates, and more. I included many different materials to allow for many insects to live inside. We need insects to help pollinate our plants to allow for food to grow. They are very vital to our ecosystem.
THE PROCESS
In addition to being a place to house insects, I wanted it to also be a piece for human enjoyment. I decided to recreate Van Gogh’s Starry Night. Starry Night, is one of the most iconic pieces of art work. Artist have recreated this piece time and time again. Van Gogh got his inspiration from nature and the movement of it. I used the different materials and manipulated them to recreate this piece. I separated the piece into four major sections, to keep the essence of his piece. The tree, the lower hills, the middle wind, and then the very top.
With Sketch up I decided to create my piece as a hanging one. The different colors represent the different materials I will be using inside my piece. The structure is kept as a very simple box, with all the details focused inside.
Initially with my cardboard model I had it hanging and used different kinds of paper or cardboard to represent the different materials I would use. However, after creating my project I realized it would be too heavy to hang. My solution, was to mount it on a 100-year-old piece of barn board to keep it natural and organic. I also added a picture frame to show that it was intended as an art piece.
With this project, I found it to be very different than what I was used to. I am more comfortable with 2D art, so building this was quite a challenge. However, I really enjoyed seeing my 2D idea come to life and be tangible. I like that the piece can be changed and different people can interact with it. As an artist, I decided to push myself and create something that was different than what I was used to. My art style before this was very minimalistic and geometric. With this I had to learn to be more fluid, and just let nature work it’s course. It was a bit of a challenged but I enjoyed it.
The maintenance for this project is fairly simple. When needed, replace the bee tubes with either bamboo rods, or other hallowed out materials. All the materials can be replaced when needed, just follow the wire guides on where to place it. This piece is meant to change and use different materials.