Beecoming home aims to provide a space where art, community, and nature can sit and talk a while. So much of our daily lives have become disconnected from nature — from our commute to work in individual cars, to our sterile and uniform lawns, to the way we speak about ourselves as separate from the animal kingdom. We aim to unite culture and ecology in a thought- provoking, inter-species collaboration and facilitate an open and curious dialogue that invites everyone to the table.
Through this exercise, we want to connect to people through their personal stories, highlight the unifying threads between humans and nature, and inspire people to connect with their surroundings in new ways. We work with artists to amplify their voices and encourage them to rethink what it means to co-create and co-habitate with nature. We invite artists on a journey of trust and discovery and facilitate the transformation of their artwork into something entirely different with input from honey bees. Much like the relationship between a gardener and their garden, we aim to guide artists to harness the unique beauty, wisdom, and gifts nature has to offer in collaboration.
The formula is this: Selected artists from around North America create a sculpture that is placed inside an active honeybee colony, turning the creative process over to the bees, encouraging them to contribute to the vision and build their intricate honeycomb directly onto the artwork. The stunning, one-of-a-kind pieces of art represent a blending of nature and art in a physical representation of what it could look like to live harmoniously with nature, rather than disconnected from it. We never know how the bees will choose to interact with the pieces, the materials they are made from, or the shapes and spaces they provide. Through this process, we are learning and growing with the bees, responding to their preferences, all while carefully monitoring the impact on the colonies' overall health.
This is the fourth year of this project- what started as a dream and a lot of determination by the team Luke Howard and Sarah Scott, has evolved into a successful gallery event that has welcomed artists from 3 countries and 12 states to be a part of the experiment. The beecoming home project was initiated in 2022 to raise awareness about pollinator decline, elevate artist's voices, and to raise funding to support the establishment of pollinator habitat in urban environments.
Luke Howard is the founder of the bee collective, an organization dedicated to supporting pollinators through outreach, education, habitat establishment, and art. He has been a beekeeper and artist for 9 years, and has continued to push the boundaries and conversations on pollinators, community, and what it means to be part of your environment. He has dedicated his life to connecting with the natural world, his local and global community, and serving as a conduit between the two. His vision for the beecoming home project was supported and helped brought to life by Dr. Sarah Scott, a bee research scientist and entomologist. Sarah has dedicated her life towards understanding the drivers of bee decline, improving wild bee welfare, learning how we can improve the quality of urban habitat to support bees, and connecting with the community to make long lasting, positive impacts for the environment.
The theme of the 2025 event is "The Light and Dark", nested under the broader theme of "Home". The feeling and definition of home is unique to each individual, and is shaped by lived and learned experiences. Beecoming home year 4 will build on previous years' exploration of home to expand into the light and dark aspects of this feeling. The balance of light and dark can signify many things — good and evil, happiness and sadness, renewal and stagnation. Both light and dark play important roles within each of our stories. Acknowledging both in our journey brings balance and harmony to our stories and an enriching tale to tell. This year, we encouraged artists to reflect on their definition of home, and how light and dark have influenced their stories. This year's gallery aims to see stories of triumph, strength, determination, sadness, loss, joy — all through the lens of what means home to you.
On the concept of home
— Wes JacksonWe must give standing to the new pioneers, the homecomers bent on the most important work for the next century — a massive salvage operation to save the vulnerable but necessary pieces of nature and culture and to keep the good and artful examples before us. It is time for a new breed of artists to enter front and center, for the point of art, after all, is to connect. This is the homecomer I have in mind: the scientist, the accountant who converses with nature, a true artist devoted to the building of agriculture and culture to match the scenery presented to those first European eyes.
On the concept of light and dark
— Bob RossPut light against light - you have nothing. Put dark against dark - you have nothing. It's the contrast of light and dark that each give the other one meaning.
The bee collective
The bee collective is a grassroots organization working to make urban spaces more bee- and human- friendly through habitat creation, community education, and art. Our three core projects are:
1. Urban pollinator habitat
We’ve transformed 1.25 acres of vacant lots in Columbus, OH into pollinator friendly habitat and partnered with 9 community gardens to establish pollinator habitat. With your support, we plan to expand this work with two new habitat plantings in 2025.
2. Becoming home — Art meets ecology
This project invited global artists to collaborate with bees by placing sculptures inside of active honeybee hives. The bees contribute by building honeycomb onto the artwork, creating living organic sculptures that highlight pollinator diversity and the beauty of interspecies collaboration. This project aims to provide an immersive experience that raises awareness about pollinators, their habitats, and the incredible diversity of bee species beyond honeybees.
3. Living sculptures in prairie spaces
We’re developing larger, more permanent sculptures designed to provide habitat while telling a story of conservation and restoration. These sculptures will inhabit our prairie spaces, deepening the connection between ecological function and artistic expression as a metamorphosis of the beecoming home project.
