Corpus Melliferous Opening

So it's been a while friends!

Last time I posted I was still struggling with my large scale drawings, well, nothing makes things come together more effectively than a deadline.

The fabulous Christina Arsenault is documenting this series for me so there will be images to follow soon. You can check out her work at http://www.christinaarsenault.ca/ . For now here are some images from the reception.

I was also lucky enough to have a local band, Special Costello, play a thirty minute set of experimental music which was amazing! It's so great to be able to work with talented people making other kinds of art and music. In this case the music seemed to flow perfectly with the drawings somehow. It's the kind of thing I would love to try again.

Grant, Drawings, Mail Outs!

I'm happy to announce my good fortune at having been selected to receive a Creation Grant under Nova Scotia's Department of Communities, Culture and Heritage. This has been a great boon to my art practice since it allows me to work in my studio uninterrupted Monday-Friday.

I am also continuing work on large scale drawings. I was lucky to receive some feedback from Katie Belcher and Susan Wood, who were each generous enough to come out for a studio visit to see my drawings. If you're a shy person like I am it can be daunting to ask others for feedback, especially in this case where I had so much admiration and respect for each of them and their drawing practices. Their feedback was kind, thoughtful and extremely helpful! They both suggested I try making my drawings larger and so I have been. I'm really excited about the results. I hope to have some images to show you soon.

Check out Katie's work here: http://www.katiebelcherart.com/Home.html

Check out Susan's work: http://www.susanwood.ca/

Bee season has begun in most of Canada so I've been sending mail outs of ten bee kits at a time to any interested artist run centres or community organizations. Links to locations that currently have kits are listed below. If any of these locations happen to be near you then you can pick up a kit there. If not, I'd be thrilled to mail you one so please email me your request to ruth@ruthmarsh.net

Links:
http://www.truck.ca/
http://www.thenewgallery.org/
http://www.annapolisriver.ca/
http://www.arcac.ca/artsplace/aboutus.php
http://alternatorcentre.com/
http://www.ecologyaction.ca/

Techno Bees!

Introducing Techno Bees! Here are some drawings of the latest Taxidermy Bees made with computer parts.

Since I'm making so many tiny drawings anyway I thought I could make an animation with them. It will be a nice way to link each of the people who send me a bee with drawings that are small pieces of a unified whole. Eventually it would be nice for everyone to be able to see the animation online but it's still in the planning stages at the moment. It's definitely going to be a steep learning curve.

Bee Kit Drawings

I'm gearing up to enter the next phase of my bee taxidermy project which will include sending out a large number of bee kits; I've prepared two hundred drawings to go along with them. I'm seeing each drawing as more trade than gift since it takes time, not to mention bravery(watch out for those stingers!), to pick up a bee and send it to me. Thinking along these lines, I've signed and titled each small work in an effort to ascribe value to each of them and by extension, value each participant's time and effort. This has also been a great opportunity to find joy in drawing which has previously been somewhat intimidating to me. Above are a few examples of the drawings I've been making. Each measures 2'' x 3'' and they range in media including ink, watercolour and markers.

Drawings and drawings , oh my!

Hello Friends!

These days I'm busily working on making two hundred miniature drawings to give away in bee kits in the Spring. Once completed I will be sending these drawings out to Artist Run Centres, Libraries, Cafes, and anyone else who sends me a request. I've also decided to make pull tab posters with bee kits on them to put in public places so that people will be given the option of remaining anonymous by not having to send me their address. I'm enjoying the idea of creating tiny works of art to barter in exchange for either physical bees or stories.

Also in the works are a dozen large scale drawings of bees. Above are a couple of examples. I've been intimidated by drawing so I hope that by making A LOT of them I can get over it and just have fun.

Bee Taxidermy Update (with examples)

These images are the result of a very tiny (and very fun!) photoshoot. All images were taken by Christina Arsenault, check out her amazing work at www.christinaarsenault.ca

To Explain
Each bee is preserved, posed and repaired in the most careful way possible given its size. Using trial and error I have come up with a process which first involves keeping each bee in the freezer for at least twenty-four hours, this prevents any unwanted stowaways from causing damage to the finished product. Then the bee is soaked in alcohol for about a week to take care of any mold or bacteria which could take hold otherwise, bleugh!

Afterwards the bee is ready to be posed. I try to choose the most "naturalistic" pose possible in an attempt to give each bee an animated quality much in the same way you'd see a taxidermy animal posed at your local museum of natural history(try to see them as itty bitty teeny tiny bears or deer). Once these important steps are finished the bee is given a wire frame (to make it strong and semi-poseable) and filled with glue to make it as sturdy as possible.

Now the actual fun part, deciding what repairs and additions to make to the bee. I use discarded jewelry, electronics and anything else I can scavenge. The key is that the materials must be readily available and they must be reused. In the new year I will be creating an instructional video clearly showing each step of the process so that DIYers can try it themselves.