Nature’s 3D Printers: Using Honeybees to Create Art

[aspundir]

The importance of bees cannot be understated. In the US alone, the Department of Agriculture estimated that bees pollinate about 80% of flowering crops, constituting about 1/3 of everything Americans eat. Their ability to pollinate has a tremendous environmental and economic impact on the entire globe.
And now their influence is spreading to the art world where artists have used bees’ ability to build honeycomb to create sculptures made of the hexagonal wax cells. Honey bees naturally build honeycomb in their nests to contain their larvae and stores of honey and pollen. Below you will find a collection of bee art sculptures from various artists who have been experimenting with this technique since the early 2000s.

Dewar’s ’3-B’ Printing Project


http://twistedsifter.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/3-bee-printing-dewars-sid-lee-ebeling-group-honeycomb-sculptures-2.jpg

[aspundir]

http://twistedsifter.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/3-bee-printing-dewars-sid-lee-ebeling-group-honeycomb-sculptures-6.jpg

[aspundir]

http://twistedsifter.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/3-bee-printing-dewars-sid-lee-ebeling-group-honeycomb-sculptures-1.jpg

[aspundir]

Typically, honeybees build their honeycomb hives inward so that their queen can populate it with eggs. So in order to create the sculptures the team had to invert the bees’ instinct to build inward by creating a 3-D model template for the bees to build on and off of. To ‘encourage’ the bees, the team wrapped the 3-D model with a base of honeycomb wax and ‘lightly’ textured hexagonal pattern. The clear outer casing helped mimic the enclosed space of a normal hive.

[aspundir]

http://twistedsifter.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/3-bee-printing-dewars-sid-lee-ebeling-group-honeycomb-sculptures-3.jpg

[aspundir]

http://twistedsifter.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/3-bee-printing-dewars-sid-lee-ebeling-group-honeycomb-sculptures-5.jpg

[aspundir]

http://twistedsifter.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/3-bee-printing-dewars-sid-lee-ebeling-group-honeycomb-sculptures-4.jpg

[aspundir]

Tomás LibertÃ*ny’s Bee Art


Born in Slovakia in 1979, LibertÃ*ny studied engineering and design at Slovakia’s Technical University Košice and then earned a scholarship to study at the University of Washington in Seattle. He continued his study at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava in painting and conceptual design and then enrolled in the Masters program at the Design Academy Eindhoven where he received his MFA in 2006. He has founded a studio in Rotterdam where he is focused on exploring strategies in design and construction of objects.
http://twistedsifter.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/beeswax-sculpture-3-bee-printing-tomas-livertiny.jpg

[aspundir]

http://twistedsifter.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/tomas-libertiny-the-agreement-beeswax-sculpture-1.jpg

[aspundir]

http://twistedsifter.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/tomas-libertiny-the-agreement-beeswax-sculpture-2.jpg

[aspundir]

http://twistedsifter.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/tomas-libertiny-the-agreement-beeswax-sculpture-3.jpg

[aspundir]

http://twistedsifter.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/vessel-1-beeswax-sculpture-honeybee-printing-tomas-livertiny.jpg

[aspundir]

http://twistedsifter.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/the-unbearable-lightness-beeswax-tomas-libertiny-1.jpg

[aspundir]

http://twistedsifter.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/the-unbearable-lightness-beeswax-tomas-libertiny-2.jpg

[aspundir]

http://twistedsifter.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/the-honeycomb-vase_tomas_libertiny.jpg

[aspundir]

Aganetha Dyck’s Bee Art


Aganetha Dyck is a Canadian artist who is interested in environmental issues, specifically the power of the small. She is interested in inter species communication. Her research asks questions about the ramifications all living beings would experience should honeybees disappear from earth.
http://twistedsifter.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/the-plexiglass-house-aganetha-dyck-bee-art-1.jpg

[aspundir]

http://twistedsifter.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/the-plexiglass-house-aganetha-dyck-bee-art-2.jpg

[aspundir]

http://twistedsifter.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/the-plexiglass-house-aganetha-dyck-bee-art-3.jpg

[aspundir]

http://twistedsifter.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/extended-wedding-party-aganetha-dyck-honeybee-art.jpg

[aspundir]

http://twistedsifter.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/masked-ball-dyck-honeybee-art-2.jpg