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| Honey in the Heart |
What is Apiometry?
Well, it’s a made-up word for the geometric and mathematical feats of
the bees. And by bees, I mean any
comb-building pollinators. But especially
honey bees because of the intimate relationships we humans have created with
them. That’s where the apiary comes in,
a two-way street of co-evolution, a place to see that we are not so different
from, nor can we live without the bees.
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| Honey in the Heart |
There are so many lessons to learn from the bees, and I have
only just begun my apprenticeship. The
primary lesson behind this series was the experience of the hum, the vibration
that fills all the air around a human when tending to the beehives. It’s like being suspended in air and time, a
meditative state induced by external forces.
Not only an external force, but the combined force of many tiny
miraculous insects.
It is from this space that I began this project, and it is
this space I return to when I seek calm, when I seek peace, when I seek
balance. It is this lesson that I least expected and from which I gained the
most. It is from here that I begin this
journey that has only just begun. It is
from here that I step forward into my next lessons, to gather pollen from which
to bear future fruits.
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| Swarm and Brooding |
Of course, there are many other things to be learned from
the bees. I hope to convey that the bees
are not alone as pollinators. We, too,
pick up bits and pieces and move them around and drop them off where they’re
needed in order to produce fruits of many labors. These bits and pieces are ideas, supplies,
information, anything we pick up and pass along. Willing or not, we pollinate
each other, and we have no choice but to relinquish ourselves to the hive in
order to survive.
As always, I owe many deep thank-yous to the beautiful
beings who helped me create this exhibition.
As always, I couldn’t have done it without all of you.
Thank you, thank you, thank you to Mark Walters of Miel
(Duluth) for being open and kind enough to take me on as an “apprentice” of
beekeeping, for going out of your way to give me this incredible and longed-for
opportunity to work with the bees. Thank
you for teaching and guiding me.
Thank you, Tom Fitz, for building frames for me, and thank
you for enjoying the process so much.
Thank you for always arriving with bright clean energy and a positive
outlook on life to feed my creative fire.
And thank you for muffins, wine and fish.
Thank you to Eric Faust and Duluth Coffee Company for
creating a welcoming place to start my days.
Thank you for your openness to having my work displayed here and for the
positive support you have given me through the whole process. And thank you for delicious coffee.
Thank you to Brittany Kruger for taking photos of my work
and for being a beautiful and kind support for me. Thank you for “tea” dates, for reaching out
to make a connection, and for knowing that neither creativity nor science can
thrive without an open style.
Thank you to Dana Johnson for giving me printmaking supplies
to try something new, for always encouraging me to follow my creative path and
for cross-pollinating my ideas and dreams with endless inspiration. Thank you for two-hour skype dates that pass
by as brief moments in time.
Thank you to all my relations, but on this day, especially
the bees. Thank you for the magic, for
your healing vibrations, thank you for gathering the sweetness of the flowers
which without you seem to serve no other purpose than beauty, for reminding us
not only of the utility of beauty but that utility does not preclude beauty.
Thank you for being.
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| Duluth Coffee Company Exhibition |
Medium: Silk painting/Batik/Mixed Media
corypitman
@gmail.com
