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| Cheryl McClure (DallasWAX group) They Paved Paradise, Encaustic Collage |
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| Carolyn Fox-Hearn, Man and Bee, Encaustic Collage Below are different views of Denise Stringer Davis's collaborative book and the list of artists who collaborated on this project.
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I would also like to mention that besides having Laura Tyler's film stream during the exhibition, getting lots of attention I might add, during the panel discussion, I shared some of the images Laura sent me of a new project she has underway. Another collaboration but with the bees. She and the bees are creating a kind of quilt. Her idea, but the bees are helping. Below is some information about Laura. Click here for Laura's web site. Thank you, Laura.
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| Laura holding up one of her frames that is placed inside the hive. It is a timely process she says, and much depends on the bee's schedule. |
"Laura Tyler, producer and director of the documentary film Sister Bee, is a painter and filmmaker who speaks nationally about beekeeping and honeybees. A co-founder of the Boulder, Colorado based honey company, Backyard Bees, she manages up to 20 colonies of honeybees. She earned a BFA in filmmaking from the Massachusetts College of Art in 1993 and is a lover of sunlight, flowers and alizarin orange."
SISTER BEE, SHORT SYNOPSIS
Sister Bee is a lyrical documentary about six beekeepers who find beauty and wonderment in their work with honeybees. Beekeeping is more than a hobby for the beekeepers of Sister Bee. It's a source of laughter, learning and connecting with the natural world. Sister Bee follows the arc of the beekeeping year beginning with spring queens and ending with the fall honey harvest. Each beekeeper's outlook is revealed through shared thoughts and gestures. Expressive sound effects and a score of vocal music, antique whistling songs and acoustic guitar unify Sister Bee into a celebration of honeybees, beekeepers and the changing seasons. Mortality, sisterhood and the palpable sense of connectedness some beekeepers experience while working with honeybees are addressed.
Lastly, I want to say a bit about the Bee Book I put in the exhibition. As I said earlier, it is a book we (my siblings and I) found in when we were going through my parents house after my mom passed. I remember my step dad keeping the bees, the honey and comb in jars, and seeing him in his protective gear when he was working. I think he had trouble with them surviving through the winter and finally he stopped. I don't know when or how he got the book. It was sealed in a zip lock bag on the book shelf when we found it. The book is C. C. Miller's Fifty Years Among the Bees originally published by A.I Root Company, Medina, Ohio in 1915. The copy I have is too fragile to read but I did take pictures of some of the pages. Dover republished an unabridged edition in 2006 which I have now and am reading. Miller has a charming way of describing his life and his attitudes and it is a fun read so far. Not knowing much about keeping bees myself, I thought it would be boring and too technical but so far, that hasn't been the case.
At one point, Miller had a job in another state and his beekeeping was being done long distance with the aide of his wife and some neighbors. He says, on page 36, "Clearly, keeping bees at along range was a very unsatisfactory business. City life was also unsatisfactory; a traveling life was worse. So in spite of the reduced chance of making money, I decided for a life in the country." Further on, he says, "If I had kept my other job I would have, no doubt, made more money, but I would not have had so good a time, and doubt if I would be alive now. " Reminds me of how I felt when I quit my high school teaching job.
Lastly, I want to say a bit about the Bee Book I put in the exhibition. As I said earlier, it is a book we (my siblings and I) found in when we were going through my parents house after my mom passed. I remember my step dad keeping the bees, the honey and comb in jars, and seeing him in his protective gear when he was working. I think he had trouble with them surviving through the winter and finally he stopped. I don't know when or how he got the book. It was sealed in a zip lock bag on the book shelf when we found it. The book is C. C. Miller's Fifty Years Among the Bees originally published by A.I Root Company, Medina, Ohio in 1915. The copy I have is too fragile to read but I did take pictures of some of the pages. Dover republished an unabridged edition in 2006 which I have now and am reading. Miller has a charming way of describing his life and his attitudes and it is a fun read so far. Not knowing much about keeping bees myself, I thought it would be boring and too technical but so far, that hasn't been the case.
At one point, Miller had a job in another state and his beekeeping was being done long distance with the aide of his wife and some neighbors. He says, on page 36, "Clearly, keeping bees at along range was a very unsatisfactory business. City life was also unsatisfactory; a traveling life was worse. So in spite of the reduced chance of making money, I decided for a life in the country." Further on, he says, "If I had kept my other job I would have, no doubt, made more money, but I would not have had so good a time, and doubt if I would be alive now. " Reminds me of how I felt when I quit my high school teaching job.
