Preview
Creation Date
2022
Description
Materials: Glazed Terracotta
Dimensions: 15 x 12 inches
Project Advisors: Meghan Sullivan and Benjamin D. Rinehart
Year of Graduation: 2022
Medium
Ceramics
Rights
Copyright for this work is held by the artist.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 License
COinS
Artist Statement
This installation is a library set up to share information about native bees in North America, the impact they have on their surroundings, and the negative consequences on them from climate change and displacement by humans. Libraries are where knowledge is freely given providing community gathering places and the sharing of resources. Similarly, bees spread and share pollen which causes countless plants to grow and thrive. The plants then provide nutrients to other creatures. Although libraries and bees are completely different systems, both have subtle and positive impacts on the world around them.
The terracotta shelves reference traditional utilitarian designs such as garden pots. Clay, much like bee species, is durable but also fragile due to misuse or carelessness. Bees are insects that have survived environmental change, but the continual mistreatment of their ecosystems has led to dwindling numbers. The varieties of clay colors and shapes represent how bees and their environments also come in many shapes, sizes, and colors.
Each book on these shelves covers an individual species of bees and topics relating to them and their environment. The content is divided up so that it is easily digested and not overwhelming to the viewer.
The spaces left empty on the shelves represent my own continual work for this project and the need for more research about native bees. Many of the behaviors and lifestyles of native bees have not been researched in depth, so the empty spaces represent that lack of knowledge with the hope and intention of it being filled. There is more information to learn and share so I will continue to create these books and grow this collection.