Bees Become Creative Collaborators by Helping Complete This Artist’s Embroideries
“Porcupine Quills and Pussy Willow”
Contemporary artist Ava Roth is not afraid of bees. In fact, honeybees are critical to Roth’s mixed-media encaustic artwork which combines beeswax and pigment to create striking abstract compositions. Her recent series Honeycomb Collection embraces the natural products of beehives by working in collaboration with the insects to add their hexagonal combs for the finishing touch on each piece.
The Honeycomb Collection brings together materials both man-made and natural. Most works within the series are composed within two frames. Inside an embroidery hoop, Roth begins with wax, beads, fabric, horsehair, and other materials. The hoop is then placed within a beekeeper’s frame and later in a beehive. The frame then fills with honeycombs which naturally integrate with—and spill into—Roth’s own work. The result is a cross-species collaboration of great beauty.
READ: Bees Become Creative Collaborators by Helping Complete This Artist’s Embroideries