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    • 125 Shares99 Views

      in Art

      Bees Embed Ava Roth’s Organic Mixed-Media Artworks in Waxy Honeycomb

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      Art
      Science

      #bees
      #encaustic
      #honey
      #mixed media

      September 2, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      “Honeybee Collaboration: Tulip Tree Leaf and French Knots,” natural honeycomb, paper, encaustic medium, leaf, thread in Canadian Maple frame, 17.5 x 17.5 inches. All images © Ava Roth, shared with permission
      In collaboration with master beekeeper Mylee Nordin and swarms of the honey-producing insects, artist Ava Roth develops elaborate encaustic works that literally visualize the interaction between humans and the environment. The Toronto-based artist stitches small collages with leaves, twigs, rose quartz, porcupine quills, and other organic matter before handing control over to her six-legged counterparts, who faithfully build hexagonal cells around the original piece. Once complete, the waxy inter-species works are brimming with texture and color variances that highlight the inherent beauty and unpredictability of nature.
      Whereas previous iterations of Roth’s embroideries used stock hoops at the center, she now enlists the help of woodworker Bernoel Quintos, who custom-makes inner and outer frames in the same dimensions that are typical in Langstroth hives. “Each piece requires some kind of border that separates my work from the bees’ work,” she says. “This (change) has allowed me to experiment with different sizes and shapes and has helped to make every aspect of my work hand (or bee) crafted.”

      Detail of “Honeybee Collaboration: Honeycomb and Twigs,” natural honeycomb, paper, encaustic medium, twigs, thread, gold seed beads in Canadian Pine frame, 17.5 x 17.5 inches
      Roth tells Colossal that although it’s possible to manipulate the hive conditions to produce a 3D honeycomb or work with artificial elements, she creates self-imposed limits to use only organic materials and engender environments that mimic those bees would gravitate toward naturally. She explains:
      I recognize that Langstroth hives are not a natural habitat for bees, but neither are most of the spaces that humans find themselves occupying right now. Ultimately, this project is about exploring the ways in which humans collide with the natural environment today and finding ways to make making something beautiful from this specific time and place. This means working in cities, in manufactured hives, in the midst of enormous environmental and political despair.
      Roth will be pulling multiple pieces from her hives in the next few weeks, and you can follow that progress on Instagram. She also has a few works on paper currently available at Wallspace Gallery in Ottawa.

      “Honeybee Collaboration: Honeycomb and Twigs,” natural honeycomb, paper, encaustic medium, twigs, thread, gold seed beads in Canadian Pine frame, 17.5 x 17.5 inches
      “Honeybee Collaboration: Rose Quartz and Porcupine Quills,” natural honeycomb, paper, encaustic medium, rose quartz, porcupine quills, thread in Canadian Maple frame, 17.5 x 17.5 inches
      “Honeybee Collaboration: Porcupine Quills and Thread,” natural honeycomb, paper, encaustic medium, porcupine quills, thread in Canadian Maple frame, 17.5 x 17.5 inches
      “Honeybee Collaboration: Twigs and French Knots,” natural honeycomb, paper, encaustic medium, twigs, gold leaf, thread in Canadian Maple frame, 17.5 x 17.5 inches
      “Porcupine quills, Green and Gold,” encaustic, Japanese tissue, porcupine quills, seed beads and thread in an embroidery hoop, embedded in honeycomb, 17.5 x 17.5 inches

      #bees
      #encaustic
      #honey
      #mixed media

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    • 175 Shares199 Views

      in Art

      Plants Embedded in Wax Sprout from Fragile Hands in Memory-Infused Works by Valerie Hammond

      by

      
      Art

      #encaustic
      #flowers
      #hands
      #memory
      #plants
      #wax

      March 2, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      All images © Valerie Hammond, shared with permission
      In Valerie Hammond’s series of wax drawings, protection is two-fold: the artist (previously) encases dried flowers and ferns in a thin layer of wax, preserving their fragile tissues long after they’ve been plucked from the ground. In outlining a pair of hands, she also secures a memory, or rather, “the essence of a gesture and the fleeting moment in which it was made.”
      Centered on limbs lying flat on Japanese paper, the ongoing series dates back to the 1990s, when Hammond made the first tracing “partly in response to the death of a dear friend, whose beautiful hands I often found myself remembering.” She continued by working with family and friends, mainly women and children, to delineate their wrists, palms, and fingers. Today, the series features dozens of works that are comprised of either hands tethered to the dried botanics, which sprout outward in wispy tendrils, or others overlayed with thread and glass beads.
      Although the delicate pieces began as a simple trace, Hammond shares that she soon began to overlay the original drawing with pressed florals, creating encaustic assemblages that “echoed the body’s bones, veins, and circulatory systems.” She continued to experiment with the series by introducing various techniques, including printmaking, Xerox transfers, and finally Photoshop inversions, that distorted the original rendering and shifted her practice. Hammond explains:
      The works suddenly inhabited a space I had been searching for, straddling the indefinable boundary between presence and absence, material and immaterial, consciousness and the unconscious. For me, they became emblematic not only of the people whose hands I had traced but of my own evolving artistic process—testimony to the passing of time and the quiet dissolution of memory.
      Hammond’s work recently was included in a group show at Leila Heller Gallery. Her practice spans multiple mediums including collage, drawing, and sculpture, all of which you can explore on her site and Instagram.

      #encaustic
      #flowers
      #hands
      #memory
      #plants
      #wax

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    • 163 Shares199 Views

      in Art

      Bees Encase Raw-Material Embroideries with Honeycomb in New Encaustic Works by Ava Roth

      by

      
      Art
      Design
      Science

      #bees
      #encaustic
      #honey
      #mixed media

      September 18, 2020
      Grace Ebert

      “Falling Horsehair, Gold #2,” encaustic, Japanese tissue, horse hair and thread in embroidery hoop, embedded in honeycomb, custom double length Langstroth hive frame, 19”x 9.5 inches. All images © Ava Roth, shared with permission
      When Ava Roth adds the last stitch grasping horsehair or porcupine quills to her embroidered artworks, she passes the fibrous material on to her black-and-yellow counterparts. The Toronto-based artist collaborates with bees to encase her mixed-media pieces in waxy honeycomb. What emerges are organic artworks that consider interspecies interactions and the beauty that such meetings can garner.
      Since 2019, Roth has been expanding the wooden frames of her works to twice the size as previous projects. She receives help from master beekeeper Mylee Nordin, and together, they vertically stack hive boxes, which are known as supers, and insert large, custom-made structures. The artist also has developed a more detailed practice in recent months. “Because this project has required so much trial and error, I was still experimenting with materials last season, trying to find substances that the bees would consistently respond to positively,” she writes. “I was trying to find organic substances that would not harm the bees but also that the bees would not eat or otherwise destroy.”
      When the bees finished wax production in late October, Roth says her understanding of the species and confidence in her choice of raw matter had grown. “I spent the winter weaving and embroidering beeswax, porcupine quills, horsehair, and other organic material into embroidery hoops, and then fixing them onto my new custom made frames,” she notes.

      Beeswax, porcupine quills, Japanese tissue, metallic thread in embroidery hoop, embedded in natural honeycomb
      Roth’s projects also have a sense of urgency through their connection to Colony Collapse Disorder, a phenomenon that’s killing colonies and threatening the species’ population. “Honeybees are often considered a harbinger of the health of our planet, and CCD is interpreted by many environmentalists and scientists as a clear indicator of our current environmental crisis,” the artist says.
      I consider the bees to be my co-workers, collaborators in every sense. I take cues from their needs, design the project around their capacities, and work in sync with their seasons. Ultimately, this art that we make together is essentially hopeful at a time when we are overwhelmed with despair at the state of the environment, and our role in its destruction.
      During the winter, Roth plans to refine her project further after reflecting on another season of interspecies collaboration. Follow the latest updates on her encaustic works on Instagram.

      Beeswax, porcupine quills, Japanese tissue, metallic thread in embroidery hoop, embedded in natural honeycomb
      “Honeycomb Embroidery, Amber,” beeswax, Japanese tissue, glass beads, thread, honeycomb in embroidery hoop, 6 inches
      “Porcupine Quill Flowers,” encaustic, Japanese tissue, porcupine quills, metal thread, seed beads, and embroidery hoop embedded in honeycomb, a traditional Langstroth hive frame, 19 x 9.5 inches
      Left: “Honeycomb Embroidery, Birch and Moss,” beeswax, Japanese tissue, glass beads, thread, honeycomb, birch bark in an embroidery hoop, 6 inches. Right: “Honeycomb Embroidery, Flora,” beeswax, Japanese tissue, glass beads, thread, honeycomb, birch bark, leaves, in embroidery hoop, 9.5 inches

      #bees
      #encaustic
      #honey
      #mixed media

      Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member and support independent arts publishing. Join a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about contemporary art, help support our interview series, gain access to partner discounts, and much more. Join now!

       
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