Honeycomb Vase selected for a prize of $1000 at the RT Nelson Sculpture Awards
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I have very talented little bees. Take a look at what they made.
Honeycomb Vase Sculpture Medium and Materials: Nature Honeycomb Custom perspex display box: 52w x 61h x 42d cm Artist: Studio Reset's collaboration with her bees
This is an incredibly unique and important piece in many ways. Not only is it made of something so precious from nature but it is biologically and environmentally unique to my home in Te Horo. The wax is formed from about 300 organic substances including hydrocarbons, acids, alcohols and unique resin from the local trees. To produce the wax, the bees transform the honey using about ten grams of it to produce a single gram of wax.
Photo credit: Andrew Turner from AT Photo
We silly humans couldn't survive without our little buzzy friends.
Bees use wax to form the hexagon shaped walls and pack it to the brim full of honey stores. The 6 sided shape in the form of a cluster is one of the strongest in the engineering world and compared to other shapes such as a triangle or a square, a “hexagon inscribed in a circular figure encloses the greatest amount of space.” Space efficiency isn’t the only benefit of building with hexagons. Stacked together, hexagons fill spans in an offset arrangement with six short walls around each “tube,” giving structures a high compression strength. Beehives also dissipate heat well, preventing the waxy structure from melting on hot days.
Photo credit: Andrew Turner from AT Photo
Pulling this honeycomb sculpture out of my home hive in Te Horo was certainly a highlight to my beekeeping career.
Here's what Carla Russell, Executive Director of the Awards, had to say; "Bee generated sculptures are very rare and I am excited by the concept".
“I don’t know of anyone else in New Zealand creating this type of sculpture, and it will definitely be a first for these awards,” says Carla. “Overall, I’m delighted at some of the ingenious ways artists are presenting their materials.”
