The brainchild of New York artist Matt Willey, The Good of the Hive is a global art project symbolising health and human connection that has seen him set out to paint 50,000 bees — the average number in a healthy hive — all around the world.
Last week, Willey arrived in town to paint a scout bee — the bee that looks for suitable new locations for the hive — on the wall of the ANZ bank overlooking Strathallan Corner.
The bee joins 11,000 others in 60 murals in 10 countries across five continents as Willey painstakingly paints his way towards the total, with support from communities along the way.
"It’s really about being there for four to six weeks and maybe having events, movie nights ... the mural isn’t the only product in the project.
"It’s meant to be a vehicle for people to connect, and leave behind a piece of art that hopefully many people in the community have engaged with before I leave."
Timaru artisan Maeve Britnell was in the midst of a bee-themed project of her own.
She had settled on the Timaru Bee’n the Light art venture as a way of leaving something for future generations, and giving a gift to the community she had grown up in and recently returned to after 30 years.
The project will involve her creating bee mosaics or campaigns, suitably themed, for all Stafford St businesses.
Discovering The Good of the Hive online, and with no idea of Willey’s global renown, she reached out to him to share her ideas and enthusiasm, and the two kept in touch.
But it still came as a surprise to Britnell when Willey — busy painting in Sydney — suggested he could come to Timaru to scout out the town for one of his murals.
A site is in mind for a full mural — subject to various approvals — and with support from locals, organisations and authorities, work has begun on gaining approvals and funding to cement Timaru in the hive.
"She was walking instead of flying, so I got down on the floor and hung out with this little bee for two and a-half hours, and I noticed the cuteness, the fuzziness, the eyes, the antennae."
The bee died, so Willey took her into the back yard and began researching.
He discovered colony collapse disorder was killing millions of bees all over the world and wondered why he had not heard a thing about it.
"Even I could tell bees were a big deal."
He believes while humans have a role to play in saving the bees, the bees also have some important lessons to offer in return.
"Bees aren’t bound by race, gender, nationality, political affiliation or age.
"Honeybees within the hive ‘think’ collectively, they are hard-wired to understand that their immune system is collective.
"Their health is based on the health of the hive, not the individual bee."
