Tame Your Bees
2020
14″ W x 11″ H
Acrylic on wood
I gather stories of people who suffer from neurological, cognitive, or mental health issues and create art in response as a way to advocate and encourage.
This painting represents the experience of a friend living with Huntington’s Disease which has caused mood changes, social aggression, scattered thoughts and progressive memory loss. The bee hive symbolizes his emotional experience, yet uniquely displays neuron-like qualities. The center represents the cell body of a neuron as much as the hive’s core, and the branches look similar to axoms and dendrites reaching out. The blue and yellow rectangles reference memory coding and the visual patterns of memory neurons firing; however, they are painted scattered and overlapping rather than straightforward due to the confusion and difficulty recalling information.
Noting how his thoughts and emotions are often unpredictable and hard to control, I connected that with how bees can seem to come out of nowhere, aggressive and stinging. Particularly when under stress, all of us can relate to mood swings, social aggression and the challenge to control our bees daily with the realization that we can’t do it on our own. This is a visual encouragement to control our thoughts and try to make honey not war with them.
Tame Your Bees – Detail
Tame Your Bees – Detail
Tame Your Bees – Detail
Tame Your Bees
About the Neuron Series
My expressive paintings on neuron-centric subject matter advocate for communities in the realms of rare disease, neuroscience, and mental health. The content originated with my daughter’s rare genetic disorder. I became intrigued by the complexity and beauty of the human brain, inspired by the hope of its ability to re-circuit around inflicted damage.
I bring expressionistic, experiential fine art to the scientific community, yet incorporate scientific research and structure into the world of artistic expression. While the genre of digital neuro imaging is emerging, my unique approach weaves this ground-breaking content with human experience, creativity and painterly tradition - supporting fine art’s foothold amidst the growing influence of technology. My imagery intentionally blurs the lines of the abstract and physiological - recognizable as neurons to those with a trained eye but inclusive to all who are curious.
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