UC Davis distinguished professor Diane Ullman with her student-community project, "A Bird's Eye View," a ceramic-mosaic mural recently installed at the California Raptor Center. She is pointing to "The Great Horned Owl" that she created. She teaches ENT 001. Her last class exhibit, titled "Tablescapes," is Thursday, June 6 in the Environmental Horticultural Courtyard. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
UC Davis Distinguished Professor Diane Ullman: Last Class Exhibit June 6
The noted entomologist and artist is retiring in June
by Kathy Keatley Garvey
UC Davis distinguished professor Diane Ullman in front of the plaque, "Bird's Eye View." (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
UC Davis distinguished professor Diane Ullman, noted entomologist and artist who teaches Entomology 001, "Art, Science and the World of Insects" --and is retiring in June-- has scheduled her last class exhibit for Thursday, June 6 in the Environmental Horticultural Courtyard.
It is titled "Tablescapes." Faculty, staff and students are invited to attend the free event, set from 5 to 7 p.m. "Jos Sances of The Great Tortilla Conspiracy will be helping us print tortillas with edible 'ink' (Hershey's chocolate)," Ullman announced. "There will be toppings, including cheese, chapulines and fried mealworms. The wonderful student work will create the Tablescape."
The Great Tortilla Conspiracy, a collective based on food, is described on its website as "the world’s most dangerous tortilla art collective. Modeling themselves after the Free Masons, artists Jos Sances, Rene Yañez, Rio Yañez, and Art Hazelwood bring the gospel of tortilla art to the masses like no other...The founding document of the Conspiracy cites the miraculous appearance of several deities, not least of which is the Virgin of Guadalupe, upon various surfaces—clouds, rocks, folded laundry, as well as upon various food stuffs… most famously toast. The tortilla roots of miraculous apparitions goes back to the early days at the Galeria de la Raza in the Mission District of San Francisco. An artist taking his inspiration from vaqueros of yore bent a coat hanger into a sacred shape and branded tortillas with the saintly image."
A Member of UC Davis Faculty Since 1995
Ullman, a vector biologist known for her work with insect vectors of plant viruses, in particular interactions between thrips and the orthotospoviruses, joined the UC Davis faculty in 1995 after serving as an associate professor of entomology at the University of Hawaii.
She received a bachelor of science degree in horticulture in 1977 from the University of Arizona and her doctorate in entomology from UC Davis in 1985. A veteran UC Davis administrator, she chaired the UC Davis Department of Entomology, from 2004-2005; and served as an associate dean for undergraduate academic programs for the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, 2005 to 2014. She co-founded and directs the UC Davis Art/Science Fusion Program, launched in September 2006.
A Fellow of both the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2014) and the Entomological Society of America (2011), Ullman was named the 2014 recipient of the ESA National Excellence in Teaching Award and a 2022 recipient of an Academic Senate's Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching Award.
Previous Exhibit, 'A Bird's Eye View'
Ullman and colleague Gale Okumura, a Department of Design lecturer emerita, recently led a project titled "A Bird's Eye View,” a large-scale, ceramic-mosaic mural that graces an outer wall of the visitors' center at the California Raptor Center, Old Davis Road. Finishing touches were added in April.
The mural is primarily the work of 80 students in Ullman's class, ENT 001. Measuring 22-feet wide and 8-feet in height, the mural is comprised of more than 1300 handmade ceramic relief artworks, tiles and trim pieces, commands both awe and attention on the museum wall. It tells the story of the interdependence of raptors and insects, ranging from a golden eagle, great-horned owl and a red-tailed hawk to a clear-winged grasshopper, fiery skipper butterfly and figeater beetle.
“The mural celebrates 11 key raptor species found in California and 84 insect species that are either parasites of these raptors or eaten by them,” Ullman said. “The interdependence of birds and insects is striking in food chains around the globe. As insects decline, bird populations are also damaged. When birds decline, some insect populations surge and can rise to damaging levels.”
Not only did Ullman's students participate, but so did faculty and members of the community. (See news story)
