On Oct. 8, Art Space on Main in downtown Turlock welcomed Carla Bengtson and her exhibition “Spilling Over Falling Out,” giving California State University, Stanislaus (Stan State) students and community members the chance to view a compelling and unique body of work.
Bengtson and her husband Peter Wetherwax collaborated on the project, which explores the lifeworlds of other species. Bengtson began her career as a painter, but found that she simply was unable to paint and give artistic justice to what she saw.
“Everything is moving, buzzing. I really wasn’t capturing what I wanted to capture through painting,” Bengtson said. “I wanted to invite nature to invite me to see it.”
 Wetherwax, who is a biologist, helped Bengtson change the way she makes art. In order to create a relationship between media and nature, Bengtson inserted art objects and media (photographs, paintings, sculptures and videos) into the habitats of various creatures, such as hummingbirds, leafcutter ants and lizards. Her attempt at interspecies communication is brought to life through her work, showing remarkable interactions between the natural world and her art.
“And Say: The Animal Responded” is a piece by Bengtson which allowed leafcutter ants and stingless bees to partake in the artistry. The piece was laid out in chronological order by days, and snapshots of each day were placed along the wall in the art gallery.
For the piece, Bengtson placed an enlarged print of an ant track drawing near the bee and ant nests. The print, with its vibrant red and orange paint splatters, contrasted with the bright green background foliage in a way that made the line between nature and media very distinct.
However, after a few days, the bees and ants turned media into nature, exploring and acting upon the print in only ways that insects can. The leafcutter ants began to cut the print up, much like they would a leaf. The stingless bees used the print to their advantage, building their nests underneath its cover and using the edges as spots to build their entrance tunnels.
After only a couple of days, what was once a simple print became part of the ecosystem. Something that we see as art was interpreted in an entirely different way by nature; our culturally specific meanings became lost on the ant and bee authors – something that Bengtson was aiming to show from the beginning.
“We don’t share a language. We are on different scales, have different languages; we have different cultures,” Bengtson said.
This concept was the main theme throughout the exhibit, as pieces showed hummingbirds interacting with sculptures, lizards gazing at their own reflections in mirrored rocks and male orchid bees attempting to mate with videos of females on an iPad.
Through her art, Bengtson creates a bridge between two completely different existences: humans and nature. To watch animals interact in such a foreign way with objects that we use almost everyday reminds us how far away from nature we have stepped. But, there is a sort of beauty in her work. It allows us to appreciate the different species that make up this earth, and just how unique the communication between each one is.
“Spilling Over Falling Out” will be on display at Art Space on Main until Nov. 21. The gallery is located at 135 W. Main St. and is open Monday-Wednesday from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. and Thursday-Saturday from 12 p.m. to 9 p.m. All events are free and open to the public.