bees

I have a love/hate relationship with bees. As a kid, I was phobic about them - running and screaming if one came near me. As an adult I've learned to coexist. Where's the love? The honey. Raw honey has considerably more and better flavor than after it's been cooked and processed. So serious thought is being given to keeping a hive of honeybees. Tomorrow night there is a meeting of the local beekeepers group and I plan to be there to learn if beekeeping is really an option for me.

Here's something I made earlier this year (it is at Diddywopps & Keeffers Gallery in Monkton, MD). A small side table, the bottom is enclosed with glass, and the top is decorated with a poem which was the inspiration for the piece*. The table itself is crafted of tulip poplar wood and finished with black milk paint and a hand rubbed wax. The hive is paper mache covered with strips and bits of old dictionary pages, then coated with beeswax. The bees are made from paperclay with resined paper wings and hang from fine black wire. The "honey" oozing out of the hive is tinted resin.

* "Again, let us dream where the land lies sunny,

And live, like the bees, on our hearts old honey,

And from the world that slaves for money --

Come journey the way with me."

Madison Cawein

I love this poem. It speaks to my soul.