A conversation with the bees

SHARON — One thing is certain about the art and science of beekeeping. Successful beekeepers know a lot about bees. A local artist has gone a step further, finding an intersection between his artistic drive and the natural instincts and behaviors of the resident insects in his hives.

The result has been what local resident artist Randy Orzano terms “bee art.”

“I began artistic collaboration with bees in 2004,” Orzano recalled, having produced his first piece that year.

His commitment to beekeeping began in 2000, quite accidentally.

“I found bee equipment at the transfer station and stacked it up in my garage, intending to pass it along to a beekeeper friend,” Orzano said. But, within a month, a swarm of bees had found the equipment and moved in. His beekeeper friend helped him to set up a hive with that equipment and the resident bees.

During an interview with Orano on Tuesday, April 11, and a visit to his fenced hives, now more than one, Orzano pointed out the hive entrances that were active with bees on a seasonably warm spring day. Entrances face the south for the sun, with openings at the top and the bottom to promote air circulation, Orzano said.

“Bees generate body heat for warmth,” Orzano noted, adding that if the air did not circulate, harmful condensation would form inside the hive.

Asked where the bees are in their cycle during the month of April, Orzano explained that on cold April days or nights, the bees cluster into a ball to keep warm. The warmest part of the cluster is in the center where the queen would be. The worker bees take turns going from the center to the outer edges of the cluster.

On warmer days, the queen is laying eggs near full strength, and her brood is being reared by the worker bees with pollen and nectar, if available. There is a risk of starvation since pollen and nectar sources are still limited and there are not as many foraging flights as during warmer months, Orzano said.

Red maples bloom early and provide pollen. Nearby sugar maples haven’t bloomed yet.

“I have seen skunk cabbage, witch hazel and lots of Siberian Squill with blue pollen,” Orzano said.

As to how the hives fared over the winter, Orzano said, “One hive seems very healthy and one hive was dead by February. I usually lose one hive every year either from starvation, cold, disease, weakened state from parasites or pesticides or a combination of these factors.”

“Nature is very violent,” Orzano observed. “You don’t see it. A whole world goes on, struggling to survive and thrive.”

Orzano’s art focuses on wax moths and bees. Wax moths are a parasite that will destroy a hive as their larvae chew through a brood of bees.  Both insects produce useful wax in their abdomens.

“I’m interested in the bees’ intuition and the marks they make,” Orzano said. “I think we are all animals and capable of making art. I wondered how paper or canvas depicting bees or other animals and plants could be transformed by the actual organism of a colony of bees.”

“I’m interested in their marks and their work in chewing the art paper using their mandibles to remove small bits of paper and add their wax deposits. They are depositing “propolis”, a mixture of wax, sap and enzymes to make a golden resinous glue.

“It’s a conversation. I can strive to see what happens if I place a single sheet of folded paper (usually watercolor paper) or folded canvas and see how they have done their work,” Orzano said.

“Working on plastic is relatively new for me,” Orzano said. He is working with layering using mylar, having placed the mylar in the hive.

“I take what the bees and moths have done and bring it into public view,” Orzano explained in response to a question about why he does it, why he sought a connection between bees and visual art.

“I’m interested in nature. My challenge is to work without thinking; bees work off of intuition and instinct,” he said.

While Orzano has no public exhibits coming up, he said he usually participates in the Open Your Eyes Studio Tour organized by the Northwest Connecticut Arts Council. He maintains a studio and invites appointments that can be arranged by phoning 860-364-0592.