Bombus Morrisoni II Ghost
I was not happy with the first Bombus Morrisoni so I made more. The first is swimming in violet blooms
Bombus Morrisoni III
Bombus Morrisoni III ghost
Rumblings - Bombus Morrisoni - repeat
Bombus Morrisoni II
Same Time Next Year 2017, 2018, 2019
Same Time Next Year, is an annual survey of organic found objects preserved in the form of a bird’s nest cast in bronze. I retrieved these objects in a given year. I started making these modern-day fossils in 2013; each piece is a smidgen of a historical record of the natural world found in urban Texas. I include things I pick up gardening, walking my dog, flipping my compost bin, and daily outdoor chores. They are things that find me; I never go out hunting for them however I am always looking. Neighborhoods today are exceptionally manicured to the point of being sterile as opposed to full of life. Mosquito home misting machines and heavy weed control chemical additives keep the insects, birds and available organic matter relatively bland. I am campaigning to change the landscapes of urban settings. One day I hope there will be a greater diversity of found materials.
This year I am playing catch up and created the pieces for years 2017, 2018, 2019, in these pieces, there are bug casings, dried flowers, bug carcasses, twigs, wings, feathers, leaves, seeds a beetle, cicada and a dead bee. In January - March, I coated them in wax, sprued them up, dipped them to make the shell, and did two burnouts at the MFAH Glassell studio school foundry, and then the COVID 19 quarantine kicked in.
The MFAH responsibly closed the school but allowed us to pick up any work. I picked up the shells and took them to Legacy Fine Arts Foundry. They are great people, I have used them on several occasions on projects over the last six years. Their work is phenomenal; they finished burning out the shells and cast them, broke off the shells, cut off the sprues, and sandblasted the nests. I could break off the shells, but I have torn my shoulder twice, breaking off shells. I am so grateful for their help and enjoy working with them. I am excited to have the pieces cast, and I am ready to do the finish work and patina.
Below are the images I took as I worked on the three nests.
Shaping the dried organic matter.
Creating a system to get bronze into the sculpture.
The best with the wax sorue system.
The sprue system after the first dip in slurry.
All three pieces after several dips.
Drying after the last dip to build the shell.
My tools to cut off the top of the cup and blind vents. The wax will drain out if the tuop of the cup. I also drill holes to keep the shell from cracking as the wax expands in the furnace.
After cutting the cup and blind vents.
The pieces at legacy as Victor is breaking off the shells.
The three nests and some small bronze casting to use for studio visit gifts.
Nash Baker is my art photgrapher, Nash lost his photography studio to a fire studio during COVID. I will wait to have these pieces photographed when he is back in operation.
Herman Park bees
Early last winter I was at the Herman Park family garden- it is a jewel of a garden. They had everything; yummy plants, honey bees, fruits, and veggies galore. They had almost everything, I say almost- they did not give a native bee condo.It was my pleasure to gift to the Herman Park family garden an air, Bee, And Bee. It is awesomely installed right next to the berries. I also have them a bunch of reeds full of blue orchard bees. I hope their air bee and bee outs out the no vacancy sign soon. My vacant little bee condo houses lizards—no bees in my area. :(
Herman Oatks newly installed air bee and bee.
Rumblings-Augochloropsis anonyma
In the past years blogging about my art practice was something I did everyday. It is how I document ny work. Then I started focusing on bees and their role in urban environments. Idecide to post a cool fact about native bees in my daily art post. Researching what fact to post bees has been like falling through the looking glass. I like to really get into whatever it is I am getting into. As a result the summer of 2019 Curtis and I binged watched bee documentaries. Sadly these are all about honey bees. I read every article that pops up on bees. I am constantly amazed at how much is unknown about this everyday insect. It has been so overwhelming I stopped posting information about the bees. I just could not pick just one cool thing to post a day.
There is very little information available about the Augochloropsis anonyma which is very frustrating. They are a sweat bee and there is a fair amount known about the sweat bees; they are a brilliant metallic blue-green color and one of the 140 members of the Halictidae family.
The earned the nickname sweat bees because they are attracted to sweat. With this information it is good to know they are not aggressive. They will only sting if you press them into your skin. If you are studying bees or garden and don’t want them to land on you wipe off the sweat and they will leave you alone. Please don’t hurt them. They are essential wild native bees.
You have probably seen one flying around wildflowers and various crops, including stone fruits, alfalfa and sunflowers but did not know you were seeing a bee. They are known as generalist and will pollinate almost anything. These bees fly under the radar, Being extremely tiny they measure only 0.125 to 0.5 inches in length they. You have to keep your eye out to notice this keystone creature.
Besides being generalist I see them as important because Augochloropsis anonyma adults have a long window of activity, and produce more than two generations of offspring a year. They are active between April and September in the northern portion of their range and year-round in its southern range. Having this long window of activity makes this species more likely to forage from a large number of different plants.
Sweat bees
I have had several people text me or Dm me to tell me about the bees they have seen this spring. That they are looking for bees during their Coronavirus afternoon walks. Some have was even said they would have killed the bees, except they knew I would not have been happy and that they need to protect the bees. It is so lovely to hear about these sightings. Thank you for the feedback- the role of an environmental activist artist can be frustrating at times. This feedback is inspiring. I love this native bee. Did you know this minuscule creature buzzing your native plants is a bee? I think it is a sweat bee part of the Halictidae family. There are 4,000 native bees and hard to identify. The Halictidae is the second largest family of Apoidea bees. Halictid species occur all over the world and are usually dark-colored and often metallic in appearance. With a macro lens, their colors are amazing. Several species are all or partly green, and a few are red; a number of them have yellow markings, especially the males, which commonly possess yellow faces, a pattern widespread among the various families of bees. (Source: Wikipedia, Halictidae, CC BY-SA 3.0) They are tough to photograph as they are swift and only about 1/4” - such a beautiful creature. Aren’t they cool.
Zoomed in
This gives you an idea how tiny these are.
Bombus dahlbomii
Bombus Dahlbomii is #1. on my bee bucket list. It is about three times larger than the largest bumble in the US. B. Dahlbomii is 1.5” long, they are affectionately called "flying mice" or "a monstrous fluffy ginger beast." This fluff bomb is in serious buzz pollinator mode. They are the primary pollinator of a Chilean bellflower, the National flower of Chile. Native to Chile, this bright orange-ish red arthropod is one of the few bees that can see red. Birds pollinate most red flowers, but this reddish bee loves red bellflowers and Alstroemeria the Peruvian Lillies. The decline of the fluffy ginger beast populations started with the introduction of commercial bumblebees. In the end, the commercial bumblebees did not pollinate as effectively and spread disease. If you are in Patagonia, keep your eye out for this amazing creature.
scientific American has a great article about this unique bee.
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/extinction-countdown/biggest-bumblebee-threatened/
These pieces are a part of an environmental abstract body of work - Rumblings. In the natural world a rumbling in the distance forewarns a forthcoming gale. Rumblings; a monumental collection of endangered wild bee portraits. The watercolor ink carefully manipulated on the monotypes to reflect the synergistic, aqueous effect of; the wild bee's magnetic attraction of golden dust, the movement of the Keystone species mission to cross pollinate, and their fragility due to the applied chemicals that flood industrial agriculture. With Rumblings there is knowledge and knowledge is power.
I have made 2 experimental monotypes of a Bombus Dahlbomii. I was experimenting with techniques to make him extra fuzzy. I went a bit crazy with the botany around the bee. These pieces feel experimental, or maybe I need to step back from them. As individual pieces they feel overworked to me- muddied and too much background- That said they may work when all 50 bees are exhibited as one piece. It is good to have options. When I get back in the print studio I will redo them in my normal style just to have on hand.
In quarantine during the coronavirus epidemic I do not have access to a large press. In lieu I am stitching bees and native plants on a jean jacket. Stitching keep my hands busy, is a meditation and really good fo mental health.
Bombus dahlbomii Thread on denim
Bombus dahlbomii I 30” X 44” watercolor monotypes
Bombus dahlbomii Il 30” X 44” watercolor monotypes
Gorilla Art - native Wild flower bomb
Earlier in the year I sent the below letter to my City council representative. She is very supportive and agreed to review the Cities landscape ordinance and bring it up to date to reflect our current environmental situation as it pertains to native bees. The bees that are endangered, the honey bee is not endangered. I anticipate that with the health scare our city is facing our bees have been put on the back burner. Since the bees can’t wait for the c virus to die down, I decided I need to act. . Below is my letter. If you agree with me we need to all become gorilla artist and install texas wildflower seeds in every vacant spot we can. See my below post for how to be a gorilla artist and save the Native bees. If you want something done do it yourself. I still have hopes our city will reimagine our urban landscape and save the bees. #bees #houston #cindeeklementart #gorillaart Scientists predict that without pollinators, human life can only continue for four years. In 2017, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed the Rusty Patch Bumble Bee on the endangered species list. The campaign to list a species as endangered is lengthy and complicated. With this system it is difficult to gauge how many species are actually endangered. Bees are responsible for pollinating 75% of the world's flowering plants; they are crucial for the production of most fruits, nuts, and berries – that our agriculture depends on pollination by bees. Rural areas are highly impacted by the unanticipated consequences of our industrial agriculture’s dependence on chemicals that weaken bee’s immune systems. Urban bee populations can be more diverse than in rural areas. Researchers are finding in cities such as Chicago, Berlin, Berkley, and Melbourne that have reimagined their parks, neighborhoods, city centers, vacant lots, street medians, and rooftops planted with native flowers, grasses, and fruit, and vegetables support healthy, vibrant wild native bee populations. There are four thousand native bee species. They pollinate over three hundred times more effectively than honey bees. For example, A single female Leafcutter Bee visits 100,000 plus blossoms per day whereas a honey
Mix native wild flower or grasses seeds with soil. I am using a handful of compost from my bin.
Wrap it up so you can carry it and not get your hand muddy.
Find a place to throw it that will not be mowed. I picked behind this chain link fence, in the parking lot of my art studio.
Here she lays.
A closer look at - native wild flower seed bomb.
Three weeks later.
There are so many weeds sprouting up it is hard to see my seed bomb. But I see it. It does not have any blooms yet but my fingers are closed it will.
Since we are in quarantine I decided at this time to not make a bunch of bombs to share with others. I would love to share but I am erroring in the side of caution. i put the rest of my wild flower seeds in my flower beds that I needed more plants.
COVID 19
The last almost three weeks have been emotionally challenging for everyone. That said I am very fortunate that no one close to us is sick and for that I am very grateful. I do have friends who have very sick people in their family. It is hard to hear their pain. I tear up just thinking about how many people this second are worried about next breath. I am trying not to think of it- it is too painful.
I am trying to keep myself busy and stitching is very therapeutic. I am free stitching bee habitats onto a stained jean jacket and getting a lot of dog walks in. We lost our oldest male labrador Goose to kidney failure last week. He is missed. The timing was bad as he brought us a lot of joy.
The jean jacket
My sweet Goose watching me work in the yard a few years back.
Azalea Trail and wild native bees
This summer it came to my attention that the River oaks Garden Club was having a luncheon with a bee theme. I quickly reached out to their luncheon Chair and she connected me to their environmental chairman. They came to my studio and we talked about the 4,000 wild bees species and how most people only know about honey bees.
Long story short I was invited to talk about the bees at their annual Azalea trail fundraiser. They were Slammed with people. I spoke none stop on Sunday from 11-5.
In addition the environmental chairs decided to work the native bee (the endangered bees) story into their both at their garden show this spring. It is organizations and ladies like these that can save the wild bees.
Image courtesy of Janna Webber
Bee fossils- inspiration
Studying our past is an incredible learning tool. With that in mind, I found the below article about the oldest bee fossil.
https://www.livescience.com/amp/4255-oldest-bee-fossil-creates-buzz.html
https://tmm.utexas.edu/sites/default/files/Amber%20Activity%202019.pdf
Coincidentally I just made a mold of a fossil for personal reasons. Reading this article is inspiring some new ideas that will involve the fossil mold and bees.
Osmia Texana - the berry bee
Osmia Texana - The Berry Bee This frantic bee is about as big as a housefly. If you look at one with a macro lens you can see they are a beautiful metallic blue. The underside of their abdomen is a fuzzy pollen mop. These pollen magnets are the perfect shape to collect pollen from blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, melons, and veggies, to name a few. They are not picky pollinators.
A single Texana Bee frantically visits 20,000+ blossoms per day, whereas a honey bee visits 50-1000. They are not- aggressive and non-colonizing, solitary bees.
They emerge in the spring and have an average pollinating season of 6-8 weeks, after which they die. Their offspring will hibernate over the winter and emerge the following spring.
They are found on both the central and North American continent.
Watercolor monotype 44” X 30.”
The ghost
Let it Bee
30” X 44” Lenticular in In the words of Paul Mc Cartney and the Beatles in “Let it Be” I think of Mother Mary as mother nature. Some day I would like to have a children’s choir sing “Let it Be” with my shadow piece,” World of Hum.”. But for now it is Spotify and a lenticular in my studio.
Copy of SITE Gallery- Sculpture Month Houston - Installing the work#2
Things are now going smoothly maybe too smoothly. All the work I did this summer is paying off.
SITE Gallery- Sculpture Month Houston - Installing the work - my pregame plan
With lots of time spent preparing to install my work, installing it went by quickly.
During the days prior to the installation, I imagined trying multiple compositions of the pre-assembled sections, spending lots of time looking at it, adjusting it, and tweaking it and then adding smaller elements to tie the work together... and repeating the same process over and over until I was satisfied it was finished. That was my pre-game mental plan.
Once the support structure was in place, secure, and painted, it was time to install the work. First, I hung the two pieces I knew would be part of this work. I then looked at the way the shadows were falling on the concave surface of the wall and hung the two end pieces. It was then late in the day, and I decided to call it a day and decide what the next step was with fresh eyes in the morning.
The next day I showed up early in the day ready to sit, look and make changes that would be best for the work on the concave wall of a silo. I was excited to see the curator, Volker Eisele, in the parking lot when I arrived. I invited him to come take a look at my progress.
Smiling he said, "You are done, it is finished." I was really happy that he was pleased, really happy. I was also surprised. Finishing this early was not my game plan. Yikes! It isn’t easy for me to mentally change my game plan. I think Volker could see this in my face, and as he walked away, he said, "You know my name is on this too, it is good." I completely understood and reminded myself how lucky I was that he liked it.
A good problem.🙂
ps. I now have the equivalent of another silo full of work in my studio………. bursting at the seems. Anyone need a keystone animal environmental installation?
SITE Gallery- Sculpture Month Houston - Installing the work
This summer, I made 7 sections of kinetic sculptures, approximately 6’-10’ long X 36” in diameter, anticipating that I would not use all of them. Now that I am in the space and see what the light does on the convex wall, I think I will use 4 of my favorite sections and add 4 extra lines dropped for smaller pieces that will help integrate the 4 sections into one piece.
Experimenting with the placement of the light.
Experimenting with the shadows with the light in a convex wall.
The walls are not "museum pristine", they show their age, I am not bothered, it is a grain silo and I ❤️ It.
Packing the hanging pieces for transporting to the silos.
Last week I spent everyday packing and boxing the pieces I made this summer. I needed boxes they could hang in. Regular wardrobe boxes are not wide enough, so I made my own wardrobe style boxes to transport the sculpture pieces. I took two 30” X 30” X 30” boxes, stacked them and taped them to make them 78” tall.
Then I wrapped each element of each piece in thin plastic dry cleaning bags and kitchen zip lock bags. I don’t want any thing getting tangled. Each little section is in its own plastic cocoon.
Each small element bagged separately making bouquet of bee cocoons
Making my own wardrobe style boxes.
My pieces hang from the top of the boxes. I needed something to support the top of the box. Southland hardware yard sticks were the cheapest thing I could find. I think they will work.
My sculpture wardrobe boxes have doors.
The pieces in bags make awesome amnion shadows
7 boxes ready to go.
SITE Gallery Houston
Behind and attached to the Silos at Sawyer Yards
The lobby of the SITE Gallery Houston with the mechanicals of the grain silo in place. Just the coolest
Green marks the spot
Sculpture Month Houston
In May I started seeking a space to exhibit new environmental, 4D kinetic sculptures. I hoped to use this new work as a start to an art installation inspiring conversations about topics I am very passionate about; the unexpected consequences of forcing natural processes into an industrial model and the complex relationships between humans, plants, and animals.
The stars aligned in July when Sculpture Month Houston’s founder and curator, Volker Eisele, invited me to be one of the 19 artists asked to create a site-specific sculpture in the historic Success Rice Grain Silos behind the Sawyer yard’s artist studios. In the 50th anniversary year of man landing on the moon, this year’s exhibit title is Outta Space from the 2012 Van Halen album A Different Kind of Truth. Outta Space will combine two curatorial themes: one features work focused on environmental degradation issues and the other focuses on interpretations and explorations of Alternative Worlds as envisioned in the fantasies of the artists.
I have passionately committed myself to this installation every day since July. My passion comes from spending my early years on a farm in west Texas, from my concerns regarding industrialized food and its effect on our health, from my love for historic buildings and, most importantly, from my desire to make an impact on the return of our most important keystone species.
As a site specific installation artist my aspiration is to create a piece that is unique to the silo’s space and true to my work. My silo is a circular space constructed from cinder blocks, 18’ in diameter and spans 20’ in height. It has, in the center of the space a 10’ tall funnel suspended from the ceiling. There are a few old, large light fixtures, conduit runs vertical and perpendicular on the walls and there are three entrances to the space. I have three weeks to install the work that I have assembled to date. My mantra as an artist is “if I am not nervous to take on a new project then I am not stretching myself”. I am slightly anxious, yet happy to embrace the butterflies and honored to have my name listed among this year’s SMH artists.
In celebration of the opening there will be food trucks, a bar and music provided by Chapel In The Sky with projections by Michael Walrond - SHDWSOFDUST.
OUTTA SPACE
Public Opening for the Exhibition
SITE Gallery Houston,
1502 Sawyer St. Houston, TX 77007,
(The multi-story building behind the artist studios facility).
https://glasstire.com/2016/11/04/the-problems-and-rewards-of-houstons-silos/
https://glasstire.com/2017/10/30/a-conversation-about-art-and-the-silos-on-sawyer/
Watermelons cucumbers and bees
Without bees we would not have cucumbers or watermelons
Today harvest at the farmers market.
7 days left
7 days left to rip and wrangle rusted wire cloth, then delicately stitch the wire fragments into biospheres of frail and vulnerable abstract wild bees and organic shapes. Then coat hydro stone and cast shadows, to kinetically unveil the unintended consequences of forcing natural processes into an industrial model. Then pack, transport, unpack, install for 21 days, and open........ find more locations to install......... rinse and repeat.
