Wow! I so love this, I love everything about it, because it breaks my heart to see people being so callous about bees, even here in farm country. Bees are vital, and we should all be working for healthy bees and a healthy environment.
In an effort to raise awareness about the plight of the humble honey bee, New York-based artist Matt Willey founded the Good of the Hive Initiative, an ambitious project to personally paint 50,000 bees in murals around the world. The number itself isn’t arbitrary, it takes about that many bees to sustain a healthy beehive. So far Willey has completed 7 murals including a large piece at the Burt’s Bees headquarters, and he keeps meticulous notes about the number of bees in each piece which he shares on his website.
For more info you can read an interview with the artist at the Center for Humans and Nature website, and follow his progress on Instagram.
Via Colossal Art.
Always nice to see unsung heroes getting their due. Beautiful.
Yes, it is. I think it’s very beautiful too.
According to Wikipedia, ND is a large producer of buckwheat, sunflower, safflower, flaxseed and mustard seed. AFAIK these need pollinators, so if there’s none left, the farmers will be f.u.c.k.e.d.. Not sure how necessary pollinators are for soy and legumes (peas can self-pollinate).
The bee figures are so vibrant. The honeycomb is neat, it hides in the plain sight.
Ice Swimmer:
Yes, but this state has more than its fair share of fucking morons. I went off several years ago at one idiot, who decided to kill all the wild hollyhocks growing at the schoolyard, because, hey, those looked messy. Dumbfuck. She was seriously taken aback when I lit in to her, telling her how much the bees depended on those flowers.
Now, oil and frakking are laying waste to great swathes of land, rendering it unusable.
The flower in the third photo looks like an echinacea angustifolia, (purple coneflower). A lot of honey is made in North Dakota, and there is a lot of echinacea angustifolia here. It has been a long time since I have had permission to dig wild root to make my own tincture. Wildflower honey would contain coneflower pollen, and that would help immune systems.
I grow lots of flowering plants and trees to encourage the bees.
They just aren’t there like they used to be. Makes me sad, and scared.
At work, when A BEE!!!!!! got in the office, most people freaking out, dragging out their Epi-pens in anticipation of eminent death, I just grabbed an empty coffee cup, and a piece of paper. Waited until the bee settled, set the cup over it. then I slid the paper under the cup, took it outside and let the bee free. IT LIVED TO MAKE HONEY AND FRUIT FOR US!
This is so beautiful. It reminds me of Kit William’s artwork in his various books. Especially “Book Without A Name”.
https://www.amazon.com/Book-Without-Name-Kit-Williams/dp/039453817X
All Hives Matter! https://rivergathering.wordpress.com/2016/07/19/all-hives-matter
DG:
For Chrissakes. I’m glad you were there.
DG
Glad to see you’re saving the bees! I’ve gone through this exact issue with bats multiple times, when they were getting into the house from the attic. (They have since vacated the attic). Just put something over it, put something under your container, and take it outside. Easy as can be, and you saved an important critter.
I’m actually going to be installing a bat house in the back corner of my yard soon.
I’m the same way with catch and release of all things that don’t belong in the house.
Except mosquitoes. I don’t think they actually serve an ecological purpose….