Beautiful results can come from the collaboration of humans and our animal friends. This beauty can come from something as simple as learning how to living peacefully with one another, but it can also result in the collaboration of art. This is something that Ava Roth has mastered.
This Toronto-based artist works in all sorts of mediums, including paint, embroidery, and mixed-media. Some of her most unique work, however, comes from working with local bees. Yes, you read that correctly. Ava makes art with the help of bees.
“It took several years to be able to make something together that looked intentional and coordinated,” Ava said. “The early pieces were experiments, and although they were fascinating and informative, they were not necessarily beautiful to look at.”
As an encaustic artist, someone who uses hot wax mixed with pigments, incorporating bees was a surprisingly natural progression of her work. Their collaboration starts with Ava creating encaustic collages. She suspends them in embroidery hoops that are then placed inside honeybee hives.
From here, it’s the bees’ time to shine. They build their combs into the piece of art and, in doing so, add their own flair. Although there are certain spaces that Ava makes in her pieces in hopes that the bees will fill them in, it’s not uncommon for them to take some creative liberties.
“Sometimes the bees build comb solely in the designated areas I’ve allocated for them, but my favorite pieces are the ones where the bees build outside the boundaries I’ve left for them,” she said. “I love when they do something unexpected with their comb, and finding this adds an element of wildness to a piece that I could not have imagined.”
Ava has garnered quite a following for her impressive work. She has pieces available to buy on her website, but you can also follow along her art journey on Instagram. Either way, Ava is happy to be doing what she loves and does best.
“This project, like all my work, explores the boundaries of where humans collide with the natural environment and imagine a more beautiful outcome of our encounter,” Ava said.
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