Photograph
courtesy Judi Harvest
Murano
– Linea Arianna: A Honeybee Garden –
Judi Harvest. In the garden of the glass works, Linea Arianna in Sacca
Serenella on the island of Murano, American artist, and environmental beekeeper
Judi Harvest, has established a Honeybee
Garden as part of her permanent site-specific installation, Denatured:
Honeybees + Murano. She is
committed to raising awareness of both the global
environmental threat to honeybees and the local threat to the artistic heritage
that is represented by the closing of glass factories in Murano.
Above. The Honeybee Garden,
planted two years ago, took six boatloads of soil, one hundred carpets of sod,
five hundred flowering plants, thirty fruit trees and a one hundred year
old Pomegranate tree, now in full bloom,
the flowers, birds, butterflies and honeybees have all settled in to this
former abandoned field. This is a very good sign, as the honeybee colonies not
only doubled in size but also the morale and the business of the factory
improved.
Photograph
courtesy Judi Harvest
A Honeybee Garden –
Judi Harvest. The colors of the
four beehives were inspired by the colors of the houses on the nearby island of
Burano. Honeybees recognize their home by color (and by the scent of
their queen). On the lawn using an elegant Murano hand-blown
plate, Judi has created a water pool for the bees. "Widely regarded as one
of the most intelligent insects on the planet, bees can use their mathematical
prowess to communicate the exact location of nearby food to their hivemates via
a technique called
the Waggle Dance, discovered by Karl Von Frisch in 1943. The honeybee is the only insect that
communicates by dancing.
Judi Harvest: Denatured: Honeybees + Murano. Next to the Honeybee Garden an exhibition room with Judi Harvest’s honeybee artworks, which are hand-blown on site in the Linea Arianna glass factory. Below classic Murano chandeliers on the shelf some of the one hundred Honeybee Vessels.
Judi Harvest: Denatured: Honeybees + Murano. Judi in front of her painting called Swarm,
2008, oil paint, resin and copper dust on linen. The New York-based artist has
worked and exhibited in Venice since 1987. She studied painting at the New York
Studio School and began working with master glassmaker Giorgio Giuman at the
Linea Arianna glass factory in Murano since 1988. Along with exhibitions of her
paintings and glass sculptures in Venice, she has created three glass-based
public artworks in the city. One of which, Venetian Satellite, 2006, is currently
on view in New York in the lobby of the West Chelsea Arts Building.
Judi Harvest: Denatured: Honeybees + Murano. Hand blown sculptures: Alveare d’Oro – Fico Scuro – Gigante –
Alveare Scuro
Judi Harvest: Denatured: Honeybees + Murano. “Artist” Miele Di Murano, honey made in the
Honeybee Garden, numbered and signed by the artist sits besides a hand-blown
glass sculpture of a bee.
Honey Vessels – 2013 - Murano glass and wire
Photograph
courtesy Judi Harvest
Linea Arianna Glass Factory. In
the furnace of the Linea Arianna glass factory owner, Giorgio Giuman and his
sons, master glass blowers Marco and Michele with Judi Harvest.
Photograph
courtesy Judi Harvest
