Courtesy of Hudson Valley Bee.
I know that Summer has truly arrived when I am greeted with the sight of honeybees working hard to get the nectar from our milkweed plants, which they then turn into honey. This essential process not only sustains the lifecycle of the bees, but the larger ecosystem including other animals, plants and human civilization.
From a multicultural perspective honey has been revered as an elixir for pleasure, sweetness, truth and knowledge. Artists like Joseph Beuys symbolically refer to the inspiration derived from this organic material. In his 1965 performance, How to Explain Pictures to a Dead Hare, Beuys likens the production of honey to the formation of critical and creative thinking, noting that: “honey on my head of course has to do with thought. While humans do not have the ability to produce honey, they do have the ability to think, to produce ideas. Therefore the stale and morbid nature of thought is once again made living. Honey is an undoubtedly living substance-human thoughts can also become alive” (quoted in Harlan, Rappmann, and Schata, 1984, 92).
The beehive is also a structure that inspires the flow of human ingenuity. Honeybees develop and maintain a highly sophisticated hive culture with distinct processes of providing nutrition and nurture throughout the colony. In 1923, an educational reformer named Rudolf Steiner (founder of the Waldorf educational method) gave a lecture on the social structure of bees, where he compared the bee’s hive life to human civilization. Steiner equated the natural function of bees to an ideal human society: “all that is living, when it is rightly combined, works rightly together. When one stands before a hive of bees one should say quite solemnly to oneself: ‘By way of the bee-hive the whole Cosmos enters man and makes him strong and able’” (Steiner, 1923).
Interspecies symbiosis is necessary in order for bees and humans to live their ideal lives. The bees are living up to their end of the bargain; however, we are falling drastically short in our role as ecological stewards by taking nature and its natural resources for granted. Bees are steadfast in their goals and social structures, which have been intrinsic to the well-being of both their community and nature at large. Humans, on the other hand, have generally progressed in ways that are detrimental to the natural world. Our self-serving thinking and actions has led to significant environmental degradation, at a pace that has put bees at risk for extinction.
The good news is that we have the ability to cultivate creative and critical thinking and utilize our prowess for technological innovation in a manner that will maintain an equilibrium throughout the natural world. The arts, working in tandem with science and engineering, portray a hopeful scenario for the future of bees and humans alike. Sculptor Emily Puthoff came into beekeeping by happenstance and combined her skills as a visual artist with her newfound understanding about the nature of bees. She founded an organization called Hudson Valley Bee habitats which designs visually compelling and utilitarian structures for solitary bees.
At this point, you might be thinking, “what is a solitary bee?” Hudson Valley Bee explains that: “most people know that honeybees live in large colonies and are ruled by a queen. Honeybees only make up 10% of the bee population, while solitary bees, such as mason, leafcutter, carpenter and sweat bees make up the other 90%. Solitary bees, unlike honeybees and bumblebees, do not have a queen nor live in large colonies. The female lays her eggs in individual tubes in reeds, wood or the ground. They are non-territorial and docile as they do not have a large colony or queen to protect. Solitary bees are all around us, too busy with their work to bother with humans, which makes them ideal bees for your backyard and public spaces.”
The bee habitats combine elements of art and aesthetic design principles with the necessary components that allow solitary bees to have a sanctuary space and live alongside humans in gardens and yards. Each sculpture is based on the form of a specific plant that attracts bees, and they use materials that can be reasonably sourced and utilized so that artists and non-artists can be inspired to create similar structures. This coincides with Hudson Valley Bee Habitat’s mission to educate the public about environmental conservation and how to creatively partake in ecological care within any communal outdoor environment. The symbiotic impact of the sculptures is evident: they are designed so that the bees will have a space to lay their eggs and so that humans can have a unique work of outdoor art that also promotes a safe and ethical interaction with the natural world. It is a hopeful scenario that visualizes the benefits of arts integrated environmentalism and interspecies relationships.
References, Notes, Suggested Reading:
Harlan, Volker, Rappmann, Rainer, and Schata, Peter. 1984. Soziale Plastik: Materialien zu Joseph Beuys. Krefeld: Achberger Verlag. p. 92.
Steiner, Rudolf. 1923. Nine Lectures on Bees.
Toscano, Peterson. “Sculptor Emily Puthoff: Artfully Creating Bee Habitats,” Citizens’ Climate Radio, 4 March 2019. https://artistsandclimatechange.com/2019/03/04/sculptor-emily-puthoff-artfully-creating-bee-habitats/
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