Fifty Bees - the Inter-connectedness of All Things

1 - 22 July 2017

Venue - Ace Arts, Market Place, Somerton

I loved taking part in this exhibition. It was the brainwave of felting artist Lydia Needle. She wanted to raise awareness of the plight of our bees which are under assault from fast disappearing habitat, farming methods and overuse of insecticides and pesticides. Without bees no pollination occurs and therefore no crops, no harvests, but a dead end. The consequences for us do not bear thinking about!

She chose 50 bees and matched them to 50 artists, writers, textile artists, musicians and sculptors from among the many who had expressed interest. I was given the giant scabious bee! A solitary mining bee dependent upon the nectar and pollen of the large wild scabious. I was entranced with the bee and the flowers! The exhibited piece shows a bee's eye view as it prospects for nectar. It sold on preview night and apparently I could have sold it a few times more. You can see my love of colour and abstract shapes as well as the more detailed scabious flower heads.

The exhibition was very well received and even prompted a visit from a journalist from The Ecologist Magazine who wrote an article, highlighting the exhibition and its message. Six artists' work was mentioned, of which I was very proud to be one. See it here www.theecologist.org