Wasp Event

The Beauty of Wasps: Beads and Wood

In collaboration with Shana and Mother, this event was held on Sunday June 25, 2023.  The first objective of this event was to share the vast breathtaking beauty of wasps who are often hated by people. The second objective was to provide a space for an eclectic and fascinating group of people to gather and meet. The third objective was to collaboratively create a piece of artwork that would showcase the beauty of wasps. 

 In the first part (Reality), I gave a presentation on how wasps are beneficial to the ecosystem and then I shared several pictures of gorgeous wasps of different species that I found in my backyard! Some of those wasps were a brilliant scintillating green and red! For each wasp, I shared some interesting science facts.  Then, I did an epic show-and-tell of different wasp nests and structures that I have found on my journey through nature.  After my presentation, Shana talked about our artistic collaboration where we made a queen wasp from woods and beads.  Shana shared the process of how she used beads to make the wings and how that was integrated with the wood. 

As a side note, Mike had brought his youngest child and she was really engaged in the presentation and it switched me into my teacher-persona.  My teacher-persona is genuinely over-the-top excited, and silly, and devotionally caring.  I had forgotten how much I missed that part of my self-expression.  My years as a high school teacher were so precious. The adult-world of behaving properly in an office and writing reports can sometimes be like an iron that presses flat the mountains and valleys of our emotions and expression.  We need to actively think about how to re-introduce the freshness of expressing excitement in the things around us which now may seem mundane.  I strongly believe that in every mundane drop of life there is an infinite universe of beauty and excitement and exploration.  Lets explore it together :) 

In the second part (Digestion), Shana taught people how to make wasp larvae from beads.  We encouraged people to talk to someone different for every new larvae that they made. It was important to create an atmosphere where people felt open, friendly, and warm, so that each person felt cherished.   To help move beyond small talk, Shana gently recommended the discussion topic of grey areas: to share something  that may have initially seemed bad but had some hidden and meaningful beauty.  Each larvae, therefore, physically represented a deep conversation between people and also reinforced the idea that while wasps may be seen as negative, there also have some deep beauty. The larvae were placed into a used wasp's nest. 

The idea for this collaborative project had formed when Shana found a piece of a wasp nest and brought it to the woodworing group.  There we brainstormed the idea of making a wood-bead collaboration.  I made the wasp's body from an oak tree that had fallen in my yard.  This oak tree I used to call the Tree of Death because whenever I would find a dead animal in my yard, I would lay it to rest by this tree.  I chose this wood because I wanted to represent that grey area between Life and Death.  Shana made the wings and head using beads.  

The whole art piece will be presented at an arts event and will convey the importance of environmental conservation, the value of wasps in the ecosystem,the depth of the grey area and the beauty of collaboration and community.