ARTIST MATT WILLEY, working with nationally recognized body painter Trina Merry, hosted a community art event Thursday, October 23, as part of Auburn’s Good of the Hive mural project. The event invited participants to paint themselves and one another under the artists’ direction inspired by pollinators, blending performance and public art. “It was a slow start,” said Logan Merz. “Once it got moving, it was fun.” Fellow participant Derek Hemmingsen agreed. “Same boat. I don’t feel like the most artistic person, so it definitely started a little slow. But once we got into it and got going, it just kind of started coming together.” Participants from left to right include: Matt Willey, Lyndsay Schmitt, Jaevyn Hoyt (UNL Bee Lab), Leslie Clark, Logan Merz, Crystal Dunekacke, Derek Hemmingsen, Christina Hatcher
Matt Willey Shares The Good of the Hive Journey at Auburn Library
By David Swanson
Connection is the essence of honeybees, Matt Willey told an Auburn Memorial Library audience Tuesday night, Oct. 21.
Honeybees symbolize two things every human craves: a sense of purpose about our existence and the hive, the connectiveness to each other, he continued.
“I believe that sense of purpose and connection is where all healing begins,” Willey stated.
“Sometimes when I’m painting, I imagine conservation with bees,” noted the artist who has been working since the first of October at 1100 J St. He related the Auburn project is his second mural in Nebraska. Willey previously painted four bees on the roof of a barn in Lyons, in northeast Nebraska.
“Nebraska is so American. I love Nebraska. It’s an amazing state. I like the small towns,” said the artist, who lives in a small town in upstate New York.
Willey recalled The Good of the Hive began when a bee flew into an apartment in New York City in 2008. He noted he hung out two-and-one half hours until she passed so the bee would not be alone.
“I connected with the beauty of this little creature that I’d never noticed before,” the artist stated.
It led Willey to start researching honeybees online as well as their behavior. The artist termed it “fascinating.” He discovered millions of bees were dying off internationally and no one knew why.
“I had painted murals about 20 years. I thought I might paint a mural of bees to raise awareness. It took seven years to get a response. I learned from beekeepers and how to interact with (bees). People can come up when I paint and I’m not intimidated by them,” the artist remembered.
His initial mural was at the Harold P. Curtis Honey Company in LaBelle, Fla., a city of about 5,000 population. Willey recalled that was 68 murals and more than 11,000 bees ago. The artist has worked on five continents and after painting internationally he decided to do an American tour.
“I chose to depict the behavior of the bees--a swarm--the healthy expression of a hive. Bees are the only creatures we keep, yet it remains wild. They are not bound by race, gender, nationality, religion or political affiliation,” he continued.
Willey’s mission is to get people curious about the planet they live on through the lens of art, bees and storytelling. His vision is a world filled with people that see and experience the connectedness of things.
The artist remembered he has spoken to hundreds of thousands in person and more through social and traditional media. He proclaimed his work is about saving species and biodiversity, a sense of what is important to a community.
“Kids are understanding pollination where they didn’t 10 years ago,” Willey said.
“Everything about The Good of the Hive is an echo of that moment on the floor with that bee. Something I thought I understood, changed before my eyes,” he related.
“My work is about inspiring others to see and experience the world differently. It is about looking at something you have seen a million times before and discovering something new,” the artist concluded.
