The secret's out.
Or, rather, the secret's in. Inside.
A number of years ago, UC Davis entomologist Diane Ullman created a ceramic sign outside the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility, located on Bee Biology Road, west of the UC Davis campus.
The colorful sign features a bee hive, blossoms and bees. Some of the bees are ceramic. Some are real.
Real bees? True. The ceramic hive serves as the opening to a real hive tucked in back of the sign. If you look closely at the front of the sign, you'll see bees buzzing in and out of the narrow opening.
Ullman, associate dean for undergraduate academic programs at the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and professor of entomology, enjoys fusing art with science and creating community awareness. She's the 2008 faculty recipient of the Chancellor's Achievement Award for Diversity and Community.
As for the bees, unknowingly part of Ullman's creative art-and-science project, it's definitely home "sweet" home.
Attached Images:
See the ceramic hive on this sign at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility? The black hole leads to a real hive, located in back of the sign. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Honey bees head through the opening of the hive in the sign at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)