An Art Exhibition with Community Engagement

Bee Poiesis explores the relationships between wild bees, honey bees, plants and humans. It engages with the global bee crisis and loss of biological diversity that we are currently experiencing, through the poetics and aesthetics of human/bee/plant interactions and communications.I am particularly concerned with the biocultural issues surrounding local wild bees, pollination plants, and the effects of various bee diseases and breeding programs on honey bee colony management. As a newly trained beekeeper, artist and citizen of Switzerland and Australia, Bee Poiesis is my response to these concerns and includes an exhibition of mixed media artworks, a public talk series by local, national and inter-national speakers, and artist workshops for school children.

Over the last decade significant honey bee colony losses have occurred across the globe. Honey bees play an important agricultural role in pollination, providing fruit and vegetables for human consumption, as well as feed for meat and dairy cattle. In response to concerns about bee decline and its effect on agriculture, more and more non-beekeepers are actively interested in keeping bees. The public focus on honey bees (Apis mellifera) and increasing urbanisation means that the significant roles of wild bees in maintaining biodiversity in our local ecologies are often overlooked. Bee Poiesis provides a meeting space for diverse groups - beekeepers, artists, scientists, local food producers, people passionate about biodiversity, school children, and in fact anyone passionate about all bees and their vital roles in our communities.

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Opening Friday, 31 October 2014, 6-9pm

Exhibition 1 to 9 November 2014
Müllerhaus Gallery, Lenzburg
11am to 9pm daily

Closing Sunday, 9 November 2014, 2-5pm

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Vernissage Fr. 31. Oktober 2014, 18.00 Uhr

Ausstellung Sa. 1. November bis So. 9. November 2014
Müllerhaus Gallery, Bleicherain 7, Lenzburg
Geöffnet jeweils 11 bis 21 Uhr

Finnissage So. 9. November 2014, 14.00 Uhr

Bee Poiesis Public Talk Series

These talks facilitate dialogue between the public, beekeepers, scientists and community experts about biodiversity, Swiss wild bees, and local and global beekeeping, issues that are explored through the artworks exhibited in Bee Poeisis.