A new art exhibition will show the life of honey bees through the seasons.

Titled 'Hive Geometrix Exhibition', the exhibition will feature paintings by Stephen Livingston, a visual artist based in Durham.

 

His work deals with human impact upon landscapes and habitats and often involves collaboration with museums and archives, academic institutions and individuals with specialist knowledge and skills.

He has developed major projects for the British Library, the National Trust, Durham University and the Museum of Art and Design in New York.

Stephen has prepared for the exhibition over a number of years by observing Penrith beekeepers at work, participating in hive inspections and honey extractions and studying how bee colonies change throughout the seasons.

The vivid images he has created illustrate the impact of seasonal patterns on the ways in which honeybees work together to reproduce, collect and manage their stores of pollen and nectar and cluster over the winter months.

He has also been instrumental in selecting photographs taken by association members which will also be on display and will complement the paintings.

About his paintings, he said: "Beehives are places of mystery and magic.

"Even beekeepers, who over many centuries have developed an intimate, symbiotic relationship with honeybees, can never properly understand nor fully visualise the complex inner-workings of their hives.

"The paintings are an interpretation of the inside of a working beehive, representing the activities of the queens, workers and drones throughout a bee year.

"They portray, in symbolic form, their political and social activities and often desperate efforts to survive, aided and abetted by the interventions of their human guardians.

"The paintings are cutaways, architectural diagrams of the interior structures of a beehive, each panel representing a particular part of the hive, the colours selected and layered in order to evoke the light and scent sensing experiences of the bees."

The art exhibition has been planned in collaboration with Penrith & District Beekeepers Association.

It will also feature a large mobile installation ‘Dancing Bees’ which has been created by schoolchildren of Temple Sowerby School with the support of another, local, visual artist, Ali McCaw.

For further information click here.

To reserve places and purchase tickets, email mr4cnr@gmail.com or call 01768 89440.