Seeing the Forest For the Bees

About 75% of North American plant species require an insect—mostly bees—to move their pollen from one plant to another to effect pollination. We are familiar with non-native honeybees, but most pollination is done by wild bees. There are more than 400 kinds of wild bees in Ontario—a third of native bee species are reliant on forest habitat. Wild bees are hard to see unless they've landed on something or they're dead, I wanted for them to be seen and their vital role in our ecosystem recognized. The wire describes a shape, but you can see through it. I thought it would be a perfect way to capture that strength of the structure of the bee and get a sense of that invisibility as they move through space. These magnified wild bees as wire sculptures, allow the viewer to encounter a fly-by of bees—a reminder to us of our connection to the land, how plants are pollinated and food is produced. These bee sculptures invite the viewer to notice, look closer and wonder at the variety and the beauty of bees.

The Sculpture Forest Bee-Making Bee

From June 19th to June 24th and August 21st to 26th, 2023, Charmaine was in residence on the Haliburton School of Art + Design campus and in the Sculpture Forest to work with the community to create the wild bees which were installed in the Sculpture Forest. Over the winter of 2023, Charmaine created the wire armatures of the bees.

Community members were invited to join Charmaine under the big tent at the front of the College to do the wrapping of the bee armatures with coloured wire – turning the wire structures into extraordinary multi-coloured wild bees.

Each week Charmaine offered a workshop about wild bees, their incredible solitary lives and their vital role as a pollinator of plants. Community members worked together to create 4 extraordinary bees.