Upcoming show at the Napa College Gallery: Beebonibroom

Upcoming show at the Napa College Gallery

Rob Keller
Napa Valley College Gallery

BEEBONIBROOM: DISTURBANCES IN THE FIELD
Three artists exhibit bee-related work
Napa, California, January 2008-- Bees are the buzz at an exhibition opening
January 31 and closing on March 9 at the Napa Valley College Art Gallery.
Beebonibroom (Disturbance in the Field) features the work of three Bay Area
artists expressing in distinct ways their connection to the world of bees.
The show opens on January 31. The public is welcome to attend the opening
reception, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m.; the Gallery is located at 1360 Menlo
Avenue, Napa CA 94558). January 31-March 9. The Gallery is open 2-6
Thursday, Friday, Saturday. The reception will include music by Sean Garvey
and refreshments.

The show is curated by Napa artist Rob Keller, and features Keller's own
work, along with that of John Bonick and Joy Broom. Rob Keller, an
instructor at both Diablo Valley College and Napa Valley College, is a bee
keeper, in addition to being an artist. "The name of the exhibition plays
off the names of the three artists and our subject--- Bees, 'boni' for
Bonick and 'broom' for Broom," he explains. 'Disturbance in the Field'
refers to the crisis today in bee populations around the world and the
importance of sustainable beekeeping," he adds. "Man has had a relationship
with bees since Palaeolithic times," he says, "hunting for honey and
enjoying its mysterious qualities. Honey has been considered the nectar of
the gods and the sticky substance of the underworld. Keller will install a
system pumping honey in clear tubes around the gallery with wall texts and
maps explaining how bees travel; he will purchase 5 gallons of honey from
Napa, Sonoma and Vallejo beekeepers for the installation, and there will be
his local honey available for sale at the Gallery during the exhibition.

Keller teaches beekeeping at Napa Valley Adult School, The Regenerative
Design Institute in Bolinas, The Solar Living Institute in Hopland and at
Nimbus Arts in St. Helena. He is currently teaching a class on 3D design at
Napa Valley College and his work was featured this fall in "Beeing", an
exhibition at The Sonoma County Museum in Santa Rosa. He is an active
apiarist and artist whose work has been exhibited in New York City, southern
California and throughout the Bay Area. In June 2007 he received a grant
from The Walter & Elise Haas Fund for a project to address the plight of the
honeybee population and the ways humans can change agricultural practices
to protect honeybees; the grant will support Keller's development of what he
calls the EmoViTo (Enormous Mobile Vintage Trailer Observatory), the worlds
largest mobile observation beehive. Keller and his collaborators are
retrofitting a classic 22 foot 1963 aluminum Airstream travel trailer with
interior Plexiglas hive bodies and equipping it with multi-media educational
materials.

Broom, an art instructor at Diablo Valley College, has been working in the
fields of natural history and "terrible biology" for many years. Her work
explores images of seeds, vines, cells, hives, life cycles and, recently,
the destruction of bees by the Varroa mite. She has exhibited work at the
SFMOMA Artists Gallery, Off the Preserve Gallery in Napa, and the Sonoma
Museum of Visual Arts and currently has a show entitled Patterns and
portraits at the K Gallery in Alameda. "I've made numerous images of bees
and their hives, fascinated by their beauty, processes, honeycombs and
intricate society, and how they seem uniquely intertwined with the lives
of humans," says Broom. "I cover all of my drawings with beeswax, sealing,
binding, protecting, beautifying; referring back to my own history," she
explains. Broom's work in this exhibition will
consist of a mural detailing the life cycle of the Varroa mite--- literally
how bees are dying from '1,000 cuts,' in layman's
terms. "Bees and their societies can teach us so much about ourselves,"
says Broom. "They remind us that we're all entwined and bound by our human
relationships as well as aspects of a greater
natural universe."

Bonick's work, like Broom's, deals with interconnectedness and vibration. In
his recent paintings, he has developed a vocabulary of images centered on
ribbony forms he calls channels. They are metaphoric for the continuous
flow and connectedness of life, a flow that could be liquid, light, energy
or thought. "I'm also fascinated by the way, at the very deepest level, all
life is built around vibrations," Bonick explains. "In the world of bees,
this is especially apparent. The bees' vibratory effect is vital within its
own world through sound and motion, but throughout our world as well. We are
seeing this plainly with the agricultural bee crisis we currently face."
Bonick's work in this exhibition will be mural- size installations
highlighting the bee 'waggle dance' and its meaning.

More information about the crisis in the world of bees:
http://randyoliver.com
http://www.beesource.com

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