“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
Research Proposal
In this art project my goal is to shine some light on the blight of our small neighbors.
Those neighbors are the many species of insects that we share this fine earth with. I will attempt to spark some interest and dialog on the subject of their dire situation. Building a small bug house might give the viewer a good homey feeling about insects. In the same way the children’s cartoon a Bugs Life gives insects a personality and human face. Hopefully the bug motel will bring people to empathize with an insect’s trials and tribulations.
Pesticides are a big problem for insects. I know this. As I surf the internet, using keywords like “problems insects have”, nothing but advertisements for pest control appear on my choices page. So insects in the collective imagination of our society is that of a pest. Just like the iconic wolf, insects are terminated with extreme hatred. Although a flea can carry the plague and a mosquito can carry malaria not all insects are bad. All insects are affected by the spraying of insecticides. The beneficial insects die as well as the terrible ones. Spraying agricultural crops with pesticides have killed insects for the sake of improve yields. But have killed other beneficial insects and affected populations of insects like the simple hard working honeybee. Bugs have many issues because of pesticides.
The Bald Faced Hornet is my research insect. It usually lives in a football shaped nest.
These nests are built by the wasps throughout their lives and are described working on the nest in Balduf’s article “Observations on the White Faced Hornet” (1952) “applying the pulpy mixture of salivary secretion and masticated plant fiber, the wasp invariably crawls backward, and, in so doing, her mouthparts appear to clip off bits from the anterior side of the adhesive mass and simultaneously to apply the bits to the edge of the Layer” These wasps are pretty impressive builders by using plant fiber and saliva as a building material in a way like concrete or adobe.
They are also beneficial pollinators. Just like bees and some other types of wasps they have a sweet tooth for nectar. They will also eat other bad insects like caterpillars. And save a portion of the prey’s “bug juice” to feed the larvae back at the nest. (Redmond)
Final thoughts / Reflection
The past tense goes back to the research , sketching and cardboard modeling of this project. Any notion of a satisfying completion of a project was the planning and nurturing of a simple but complex idea. Researching an insect was a daunting task . If you wanted to research ants and bees , the source could easily be found because people have almost domesticated bees and farmed ants. The challenge was finding the dirt facts about a seemly exotic insect that is native to Wisconsin. After finding the basic needs of the subject like food and housing. One can use the knowledge gained to visualize the housing needs of the subject and start sketching a few models. Cardboard modeling gave me some insight to potential problems I might face fabricating the actual piece. One problem was making some pieces fit correctly.
The clique was a triumph for some and heartbreak for others. All art project s have a story. Just like the Chicago Cubs who won the World Series after years without any type of satisfaction for all involved. An art projects ’ story is just as epic. Both stories have examples of triumph and moments of discouragements. Using hindsight, the journey person artist is discovering ways and means to complete a future project in a personally satisfying way.
Resources
Balduf, w. Observations on the White Faced Wasp. (1952) Annals Entomological Society of America [Vol.47 Retrieved from: http:// driftlessprairies.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Observations- on-the-Bald-faced- Hornet.pdf.
Redmond, K. Bald-faced Hornet (Family Vespidae). Field Station. University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Retrieved from:https://www4.uwm.edu/fieldstation/naturalhistory/bugoftheweek/bald-faced- hornet.cfm