Artistic bees make point
Art student Aimee Bourne spent hours creating the bodies of 1300 honey bees out of beeswax for her graduate exhibition.
‘‘You can only make so many a week, because your fingers get really sore. I think I spent 100 hours in the last week just putting the wings on. All up its thousands of hours.’’
Aimee has strung her wax insects on nylon between pinewood frames.
She wants her work to draw attention to the important role the small critters play in the production of food, for both the animal and human world. Sadly bees are dying globally at a worrying rate.
‘‘Honey bees pollinate about a third of our food; they maintain the ecosystem. But they are under threat due to disease, predators, agrichemicals and loss of habitat (flowers etc). We could all help save the bees, I want to inspire people to do what they can.’’
In the future Aimee hopes to combine her art with her other passions of community and environmental projects. She hopes to study at the permaculture and heritage seed centre, the Kohanga Institute, in the North Island.
She would like to eventually set up an urban garden similar to the Kohanga Institute’s to show the community what food can be grown in a small urban space.
She is inspired by ecological and visual artists including Mel Chin.
‘‘I want to come back to Nelson and set up another example here for people to come and look at.’’
Aimee’s work is on display at Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology, along with the other 23 graduates of the Bachelor of Arts and Media programme.
The exhibition is an eclectic mix of visual art and design and represents three years hard work from the students.
The exhibition includes installation, photography, design, drawing, jewellery and sculpture, and covers a wide range of subjects.
Graduate Amber Clark’s work looks at packaging and the personalisation of products that are given as gifts.
‘‘I am exploring gift giving and the role it plays in the way we position ourselves societally. This work focuses on package design and the personalisation of a product.
‘‘It is all about persuading the customer and wowing the recipient of the gift.’’
BAM 2014 is open to the public for three days - Saturday and Sunday, 10am till 4pm and Monday, 10am till 7pm in G Block, 57 Nile St, Entrance 7, NMIT. Short floor talks run daily at 2pm.