26/10/2010 Into the Hive - Part 2 (Woven Spaces)

Chagford Willow

Willow, used since ancient times for basketry, ritual and sculpture among its many other uses, this marsh-growing plant is very flexible when soaked in water making it an extremely useful material. I have sourced it growing in Chagford, Devon along with rush (a more straw-like material).
If planted shortly after being cut, willow will grow again, meaning it could form a site-specific living sculpture. However un-planted and untreated, willow will rot and disintegrate, creating an ephemeral quality to a sculpture, and could perhaps be used as a compost material.

I would like to create a willow crawl space that will immerse the audience in natural sights, sounds, textures and scents but would also be a habitat for bees and other insects.

15/10/2010 Wild is Right..?

Kaua'i, Hawaii - "Where the honey grows on trees"

Wild or Farmed? Feral or Managed?
So far my research has solely been centred on farmed bees, but this suddenly feels like a contradiction of my passion for all things natural.
The aesthetic differences between the two bee hives are astounding. Beehives as I, and most of us know them to be are regimented stacks of perfectly formed honeycombs, each cell bulging with honey, a conveyor belt process of honey production.
The wild hives however are not contained in neat boxes, they are nestled inside protective hollow trees or the entrance to caves. The honeycomb, although it seems always formed vertically, has a natural curvature, a soft fluidity, heavy with the weight of the golden honey.

13/10/2010 Into the Hive - Part 1

Ernesto Neto

"Inspired by nature, organic matter or cellular tissues Ernesto Neto knows how to turn stretching fabrics and spaces into perfect symbiosis, a true representation of organic matter growing and filling in an an empty space." Neto's use of luxurious, transparent fabrics impregnated with exotic spices and scents encase the audience in a sensuous protective space.

Inspired by his womb-like creations, I would like to construct a space in which audiences would be immersed in the scent, colour and texture of a hive. I would like to use only natural, bio-degradable materials that can be sourced locally.

12/10/2010 Stillness in Movement

Hilary Berseth - Artist/Insect Collaboration

Ephemera - Is a word that I repeatedly use when I talk about my work. I thrive on the fact that like nature my work is always changing, living perhaps. I feel it gives my work a rare status that can only live through those few who have witnessed it. It becomes part of the story, not the story itself. 
The sun, the changing of the seasons and the Pagan calender are as important to my work as they to the balance of nature and eco-systems. 

Artist Hilary Berseth has formed an artistic collaboration between artist and insect. Berseth created a 'platform' for the bees inside the hive to work out from, when he lifted the hives lid inside was an intricate spiral of honeycomb.The idea of Artist/Nature collaborations fascinate me.

11/10/2010 Give the Bee Back Its Buzz

Agnes Dene' Wheatfield - A Confrontation (1982)

I would like to create a sculpture that reaches beyond sustainability from just an individual message to have a physically positive impact on the specific environment the work is situated in. Agnes Denes’ 1982 sustainable art piece Wheatfield – A Confrontation has been a great political and moral influence on my work. A feminist Land Artist, Denes planted a 2 acre field of wheat in a vacant lot in the middle of New York City, it was a comment on “human values and misplaced priorities.” The then harvested 1,000 lbs of grain travelled to 28 cities around the world for The International Art Show for the End of World Hunger. The grain was then symbolically planted all around the world.

5/10/2010 Me and the Bee

Wolfgang Laib's Pollen Work

'The Vanishing Bee, Colony Collapse Disorder, the Plight of the Honey Bee' all describe the devastating environmental crisis that is affecting honeybee colonies worldwide. As a sculptural artist I have been both terrified and fascinated by this subject for the last few years of my artistic practice. It began when I needed a new sculptural material that could be found locally, was eco-friendly and very malleable, I found Dartmoor beeswax. I believe that as an artist I am in a position of responsibility to use my work as a tool to promote awareness, which would result in changes to our immediate and shared environment. Through artistic experimentation and interdisciplinary enquiry I have created a number of sculptural forms that promote the awareness of CCD.

My work has been greatly influenced by Wolfgang Laib’s delicately haunting pollen and beeswax artworks, Roger Ackling’s simple but striking sun burnt drawings and sciences from plotting weather and sun patterns to entomology.