“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, water quality and food supplies…”
– Steve Connor, “Vital invertebrates decline 45 percent, study finds,” independent.co.uk, July 2014
What is this … thing?
This is a bug hotel. A bug hotel is a manmade structure that is built with natural materials in order to provide shelter for beneficial insects. There are many different types of bug hotels. (Just type in “bug hotel” in Google and you can see many examples.)
Why Make a Bug Hotel?
Wisconsin has a big problem and not many people are aware of it. The problem is that many of our beneficial insects are in rapid decline. Beneficial insects provide ecosystem services to humans, such as pollination, pest control, decomposition and nutrient recycling. One of the biggest issues in Wisconsin is the loss of our pollinators, including bees and butterflies. In fact, our rate of decline is among the highest in the nation. In my preparatory research for this project, I learned that there are many different types of bees that live individually. One common, and important type of bee that is a key pollinator is the Crown Bee. These bees are hardworking insects that are very social with each other but don’t live in hives. They prefer to find holes and tubes that are warm and dry. These bees are considered friendly as they only string when attacked.
The main reasons for the decline of our pollinators include habitat loss, disease, parasitic mites and pesticides.
You can help our hard-working little friends in several ways. Avoid using pesticides and when you must, choose products that are less toxic to bees and follow all label instructions. Make your yard pollinator friendly by planting a diversity of flowers and being aware of seasonal blooming patterns. Provide a nesting habitat, aka, bug hotel in your yard and/or neighborhood. There are many tips for building bug hotels online or you can purchase one.
About the Project and the Artist
This project was assigned as a part of a first-year 3D sculpture course through the University of Milwaukee’s Peck School of the Arts program. Students in this course learned to manipulate paper, plaster and wood through three different projects. The third and final project of this course was to build an insect hotel out of wood. Students learned about the building process, including how to make initial and final sketches, 3D digital modeling, building cardboard models and finally how to safely work in a wood shop to cut and join wood using good design elements.
The artist responsible for this structure, the Beastie Bungalow for Bees and Butterflies is Heidi Brody. Heidi studied English Linguistics and French at the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire and graduated in 2010. After teaching English and French in Japan for a year, Heidi returned to the United States and worked in Public Relations and for the past few years and as a copywriter. It was when Heidi was working as a copywriter that she was introduced to graphic design. Now Heidi is enrolled in the Design and Visual Communication program at UW Milwaukee’s Peck School of the Arts. She hopes to be a writer and graphic designer in a Milwaukee agency once she graduates. This was her first 3D course and first wood sculpture. She is excited to have her work displayed in a public park here in Wisconsin.
A Project Proposal
My goal was to create a hippie castle for the bees and butterflies of Wisconsin. These means I needed to create a structure that would keep the insects dry, warm and safe, and fill it with materials these insects would want to live inside. I decided to keep my hotel off the ground with a waterproof roof. I wanted this structure to be quirky and impressive in size. Why quirky? Because bugs seem to be strange alien creatures to us humans and I felt they belonged in a quirky, hippie-like castle. The reason I wanted the structure to be large and eye-catching was to highlight the issue of insect decline (which is working right now if you are reading this.) I didn’t want to make this structure very modern or human looking because it is these types of buildings that are damaging the insect population by removing their habitat.
In order to catch the viewer’s eye, I built this bug hotel to be large, at eye level and visually appealing with curvy lines. The entire structure is built around a pole. The pole screws into the wood base and the roof screws into the pole at the top. I found three pine discs at Home Depot that I cut into wavy, irregular shapes. Then I cut dividers to place in between these three discs. This created sections that I filled with either pinecones, bamboo shoots or slices of wood with holes drilled into them for bees and butterflies. I learned that bees prefer tubes and holes between 3 to 10 mm wide and 30-40 cm long. The material I used is natural, not treated, to keep the insects healthy.
I built the roof to be a tall, pointed conical shape that stands out amidst the trees of the park wherever this hotel is placed, like a strange, natural beacon. One aspect of this structure you can’t see is the large area designed specifically for butterflies, such as the Karner Blue butterfly (pictured below), an endangered pollinator here in Wisconsin. I learned that butterflies prefer hay, pinecones and grasses. Underneath the grapevine of the roof is a waterproof, upside-down plastic bucket. This can be filled with hay and grasses to create a safe, dry place to butterflies to nest year-round.
Final Reflection
This project introduced me to many new materials and building processes. I’ve never worked with wood before, nor built anything so large. I enjoyed learning how to cut wood using the table saw, chop saw and band saw. I gained confidence in a wood shop and feel like I have a basic understanding of how to build objects out of wood. I’m looking forward to my next project.
Another aspect of this project that really helped change my perspective was the chance to learn more about insects. I hate insects. I will go far out of my way to avoid them and I certainly don’t want to spend time thinking about them. However, this project helped me to see how helpful and important beneficial insects are to our world. I am happy I was able to contribute a little bit to the health and well being of Wisconsin’s beneficial bees and butterflies.