Princesshay Honey Flow Light Box unveiled
Princesshay has unveiled a new art installation in celebration of its work in urban bee conservation. The Princesshay Honey Flow Light Box has been created by Exeter-based artist Amy Shelton and features pressed samples of flowering plants and trees favoured by bees. The illuminated artwork has been installed below the Princesshay Rooftop Garden and Apiary in Bampfylde Lane, opposite Princesshay’s customer service office.
Local artist Amy Shelton, said: "The Princesshay Honey Flow light box was made especially to illuminate the flowering plants and trees that sustain the cities honeybees across the seasons, and to celebrate how mutually beneficial it is for humans and pollinators to have a biodiverse habitat in which to live. The pressed samples are arranged chronologically, and become a story map capturing the fleeting and subtle choreography of the plant-pollinator relationship month by month. I hope that this piece of work will encourage us all to plant more bee-friendly flowers in the parks, gardens, balconies, window boxes and allotments across the city to enrich the city with colours and scents and provide essential forage for the precious pollinating workforce with whom we co-exist.”
The weekend of celebrations to mark the occasion started on Friday afternoon with a talk from author Hattie Ellis with her book ‘Spoonfuls of Honey’ with honey tasting, book signings, and a Q&A with Orlando Murrin. Guests were also invited to explore the rooftop garden, home of the Princesshay City Bee Project, and given the chance to purchase the 2016 honey, available from Chandos Deli which was harvested earlier in September
Hannah Overton, Marketing Manager at Princesshay, said; ‘We’re delighted with the new art installation in Princesshay. The Honeyscribe Hive project has captured the Princesshay City Bees in a beautiful way, and we hope Amy’s artwork will be enjoyed by the public and visitors to Exeter for many years to come.’
Across the weekend, a number of events took place to enable the public to gain a perspective of the city through a bees-eye view. Princesshay welcomed Professor Queen Bee and her Punch & Judy show, ‘It’s Bee-hind you’! Alongside this, Amy Shelton led a botanical art workshop in Café Rouge and a visit to Princesshay Roof Garden, where attendees created their own miniature herbarium artwork using real pressed flowers.
Further events will take place throughout Autumn to coincide with the new Princesshay artwork, including ‘Bee prints from scratch’ with artist Catherine Cartwright on Sunday 16th October. The morning session has now sold out, however spaces are available in the afternoon. The final event includes an artist’s talk and rare books handling session looking at Hooke’s Micrographia & Nehemiah Grew’s Anatomy of Plants with artist Stephen Park & Dr. Felicity Henderson on Sunday 19th November. The remaining workshops have limited amount of places available, visit www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/princesshay-exeter for more information.
