Woodhorn Museum
Artist Bethan Maddocks has transformed the Woodhorn Colliery Cage Shop into a giant temple to the worker bee in this art installation ‘Bees, Bees, Hark to your Bees!’.
The artwork is inspired by the mining communities who, much like honeybees, worked collectively to look after one another, and the traditional beekeepers' custom of ‘telling the bees’. In this custom, beekeepers would rap on the hive with a key and tell their bees important family news such as births, marriages, deaths, or departures and returns in the household. The custom is based on the belief that if a beekeeper neglects to tell the bees their news, then the bees might leave the hive or stop producing honey.
You are invited to ‘tell the bees’ your own news by writing it down in the special book in the centre of the installation.
#NorthumberlandMenagerie is a stunning series of exhibitions across all four Museums Northumberland sites. Discover stories of Northumberland's animals - past and present, real, and imagined - through Bethan’s magical, paper-cut installations.
#VisitWoodhorn #BeesBeesHarktoYourBees #bethanmaddocks
Colin Davison rosellastudios.com
Supported by Arts Council England and Northumberland Council
