Apis Mellifera, The Honey Bee – Art Exhibition by Raymond Watson
The opening exhibition was held in the Artisann Gallery, Bloomfield Ave. Belfast, and was featured in the NI Science Festival.
Discussion: Raymond Watson and a Representative from Buglife.
Apis Mellifera: The Honey Bee. A creative ‘first time ever’, in the Artworld
I am an artist and a beekeeper. I have been observing and noting the activity of my apiary for years. I knew that I would eventually present art that explores the life of the honey bees. In the process, I have created art that has never been done before.’
The exhibition Apis Mellifera, The Honey Bee, reflects on the importance of bees to mankind and life on earth.
The exhibition is composed of unique sculptures, ‘soundscapes’ and paintings.
Bronzes
With a global first, I have made a number of totally unique bronze sculptures. These sculptures were created by moulding the extremely fragile living beehive frames from inside the hive box. This is an artistic achievement and a technical feat.
The amazing beehive bronzes reveal so many thought provoking dimensions – brood patterns, Queen cells (empty and occupied), developing brood and capped honey. But this is much more than an opportunity to get up close to and intimate with, the inside of the hive.
Everything in the beehive is temporary and changes on a daily basis. Eg. When the queen egg is laid there are 16 days of growing before it hatches. On a single brood frame I have managed to capture a moment with 3 queen cells… the magical moment after a new queen had hatched and the moment before the next queen hatched. The act of capturing this intimate and fleeting ‘living moment’ and then to further transform ‘the living moment’ into the artefact format of a solid and almost eternal bronze raises conceptual questions.
Together the bronze casts are viewed as challenging freezeframes of an extremely fragile and an actual growing living entity.
Original Soundscapes
For several ‘bee seasons’ I placed small microphones inside the hives. I also recorded bees at various activities outside the hives. With the recorded audio, I composed original ‘Soundscapes’. Audience members will be able to don headphones and experience the sounds of – Track 1: The Swarm. Track 2: The Beehive Story. This story is told in the bee’s own language – including ‘piping’ Queens and unhatched Queens ‘quacking’.
I encourage listeners to fit the headphones, close their eyes and to get on the magic carpet of sound – enjoy your amazing journey with the bees!
Paintings
An additional core component of the exhibit is a series of paintings that explore different activities within the lifecycle of the bees and the beehive.
This Apis Mellifera subject is perhaps one of the most challenging that I have attempted to portray. It is important to know that this is an evolving body of work that I have greatly expanded and elaborated on. The new installations will be presented in the next year or two.
For more: raymie.watson@gmail.com mobile. +447754595370
Soundscape: Bee Story, In the bees own words.
