The Maker
Beca BeebyMaker in Focus
25 February - 06 April 2014
Beca Beeby is based in South Wales and in 2009 began working with honeybees, which enabled her to experiment and discover ways to coerce these incredible creatures to build to her needs. Beekeeping is highly seasonal; it has taken time and patience allowing work at times to literally grow organically before Beca can continue with her part. This enabled her to produce work which portrays the intricate beauty of the comb inside a honeybee hive; the natural beauty resulting from organic growth and a need for economy and strength.
Beca’s work tends to sit precariously on that faint, wobbly line between ‘Art’ and ‘Craft’. Her inspiration stems from many places: livestock and plant life found in her natural environment, particularly the tiny details and the curl of a new shoot, the structure of a seedpod and the hipbones of a dairy cow. Beca’s concerns over intensive farming and human impact on the environment also influence what she does. The work is not a direct interpretation of what she sees, more of an impression, a result of her own interpretation; it can imply a force, a pushing.
Having worked predominantly in cast iron and forged steel for the past sixteen years, more recent work has developed from considering a smaller scale, resulting in more delicate pieces built up in copper; graphite; porcelain.
