Rebecca O'Flaherty teaches Maggot Art at a Bohart Museum of Entomology children's workshop. (Kathy Keatley Garvey/UC Davis photo)
Blowfly youngsters provide a colorful education in entomology
See the art
Rebecca O'Flaherty's Maggot Art exhibit can be found at the Capital Athletic Club, 1515 8th St., Sacramento, and it's open to the public. The show includes the work of UC colleagues Brandi Schmitt and Charlotte Wacker. It will be on display through March.
When UC Davis forensic entomologist and doctoral student Rebecca O'Flaherty teaches art workshops, she doesn't bring brushes, palette knives or color shapers.
She doesn't bring easels or canvas, either.
She brings white copier paper, forceps, and cups filled with non-toxic, water-based paint.
And, oh, yes, she brings maggots.
With specially designed larval forceps, they dip the squirming larvae in non-toxic, water-based paint, position them on paper, and watch them crawl, creating color trails. Voila! Maggot Art, the educational teaching curriculum she coined and trademarked after launching the program in 2001 at the University of Hawaii.
O'Flaherty teaches the class to generate interest and respect for an entomological wonder that's more associated with roadkills and goosebump chills than art thrills. Since 2001, she has taught thousands of students, ranging from kindergarteners to college students to law enforcement professionals.
Draws more than 2,000 participants
Her program at the annual UC Davis Picnic Day draws more than 2,000 participants. Thousands of others see her work, Ancient Offering, commissioned by the TV show, CSI, and hanging on the permanent set in CSI character Gil Grissom's office.
Some art critics compare the abstract lines of Maggot Art to the work of American abstract expressionist Jackson Pollock. Some lines are straight and simplistic; others curved and crisscrossed.
UC Davis forensic entomologist Bob Kimsey, who is O'Flaherty's major professor, says the idea of using maggots to create art was a stroke of genius.
"It provides an entre into the biology and development of insects that people can really appreciate and understand," Kimsey said.
A maggot artist displays its artistry. (Kathy Keatley Garvey/UC Davis photo)
That stroke of genius came to O'Flaherty when she was enrolled in a University of Hawaii entomology graduate program and rearing blowflies. She saw the artistic connection while observing maggot that left trails across decaying flesh.
It sparked an idea: Why not combine an entomology topic with hands-on art? Her student entomology club wanted a community outreach program to teach others about the fascinating world of insects. O'Flaherty began teaching Maggot Art workshops in 2001.
Fascinating world of insects
"I tend to target young elementary students, second and third graders, because I find that at that age, most children are enthusiastic, uninhibited and extremely open to new ideas," she says.
"They haven't developed aversions to insects, and we're able to instill in them an appreciation for and interest in all organisms, no matter how disgusting those organisms may be perceived to be."
The beauty of the Maggot Art program, she believes, is its ability to give hands-on, non-threatening experience with an insect that most people fear or loathe.
Her first Maggot Art workshop, held in the summer of 2001 at the Hawaii State Farm Fair, expanded into a series of programs in elementary schools and science centers in Hawaii and California.
O'Flaherty began offering the program at UC Davis Picnic Day in 2003, and it's now a fixture.
Kids draw in their parents
"Most people are open-minded," O'Flaherty said. "The kids are excited and the parents become enthusiastic when the kids are so excited. We've had only about five children at Picnic Day refuse at first to participate, but the more they watched, the more they wanted to paint, and they usually did. Most children are so transfixed that a parent has to drag them away."
‘I rear flies in large numbers for my research and over the years, I have come to love their writhing offspring.’
UC Davis grad student Rebecca O'Flaherty
Some adults find maggots revolting.
A few parents have pulled their children away with a Eeew! and Don't touch that! she said. One school principal canceled my demonstration prior to my arrival when she found out about the subject, stating that she felt it was an inappropriate activity for children.
O'Flaherty keeps her workshops age-appropriate. With elementary students, she'll discuss the four development stages of the blowfly (egg, larva, pupa and adult) and ask Have any of you ever seen maggots? and What are maggots good for?
Clean up the environment
After eliciting answers, she explains that they're good for cleaning up the environment, helping doctors by eating dead tissue to keep wounds from being infected, and helping police officers solve crimes.
She explains how they breathe (Maggots are equipped with anterior and posterior spiracles. The posterior spiracles are the two dark spots at the posterior end, which allow them to breathe while their heads are buried into food) and how they eat (Maggots have mouthhooks and pre-oral digestion. The mouthhooks are used to tear food. Pre-oral digestion involves enzymes that are spit into the food and slurped back in once they have aided in liquefying the food.)
She demonstrates slurping, much to the children's delight.
"I think the most comical incident happened during a demonstration at the Explorit Science Center in Davis," she said. "One girl was so enthralled with how her maggot was moving across the paper that she dropped to the floor and attempted to slither around like a maggot, without using her arms and legs."
Most children, she said, get very attached to their maggots. At the UC Davis Bohart Museum of Entomology workshops last summer, some children named their maggots and asked to take them home.
Preserving maggots for next generation
"I don't think your parents would want a maggot in the house," O'Flaherty replied. "Besides, we want it to complete its development stage, from larva to pupa to adult and raise another generation of maggot artists."
As a certified instructor in forensic entomology, O'Flaherty consults with law enforcement officials in Northern California and teaches criminal investigators how to recognize and collect insects from crime scenes.
At her lab space at the Bee Biology facility, she rears blowflies and studies the behavior of first stage maggots, particularly their responses to olfactory cues. "I rear flies in large numbers for my research and over the years, I have come to love their writhing offspring."
On the home page: A maggot artist displays its artistry. (Kathy Keatley Garvey/UC Davis photo)
O'Flaherty conducts Maggot Art workshops for criminal investigation and forensic identification classes in Sacramento.
"I find that it is a good icebreaker activity and helps police officers and crime scene investigators get over their aversion to handling maggots, something that they will be doing frequently at crime scenes," she said. "The activity usually begins with some measure of skepticism or disdain, but the maggots are quick to win over the critics."