ava roth collaborates with bees in embroidery artworks contained by honeycombs

usually, artist collaborate with other artists or brands throughout their career. and even if this is the case for many, toronto-based artist ava roth has partnered with some of the hardest working animals present in nature — bees. before enlisting the four-winged animal, roth worked as an encaustic painter where she used heated beeswax and added colored pigments to it. ‘the urge to collaborate with bees originated with my reverence for the beautiful material I was using,’ roth comments. ‘along with an increasing awareness of colony collapse disorder and the plight of the honeybee.’

images courtesy of ava roth

ava roth’s honeycomb collection brings together two seemingly irreconcilable mediums — encaustic painting and embroidery. on the artworks, viewers can appreciate layers of wax, tissue paper and photography that are laminated and bisected, then joined and connected by thread and wire. The paintings explore the tensions between permanent and temporary, solid and delicate, transparent and opaque.

overall, roth’s collection of encaustic embroidery is an homage to the canadian landscape, the decorative arts, and to the world of craft. through the use of organic materials, the artist references the natural environment while hand stitching, bead work and embroidery recall traditional crafts. inside the traditional embroidery hoops, the artist creates landscapes using horse hair or even spines from porcupines which are contained in the honeycomb where bees do their work. the result is a new imaginary of a traditional craft in the artist’s unique and contemporary language.

‘this project is a collaboration in the truest sense. it involves careful listening, respecting the bees, and cooperating with them entirely, from the choice of materials, size, timing, and scope of design,’ ava roth concludes.

go to her instagram page where you can see more of roth’s work.