Nancy Macko: The Fragile Bee
Nancy Macko’s exhibition includes the installation Honey Teachings: In the Mother Tongue of the Bees,
2014. This wall installation is composed of 104 hexagonal wooden panels displaying bee
imagery. Sometimes statements about the bees are included: “Worker bees are born to serve the
greater good.” Installed on the wall, the individual panels look very much like a hive,
completing the implicit metaphor of the project. Her botanicals are remarkable visions of the
hidden intimacies of nature, while her bee imagery is both beautiful and indicative of a larger
purpose. In addition, also included is an earlier multi-paneled work, The Honeycomb Wall,
1994, comprised of 92 hexagonal panels that include mixed media, printmaking,digital images
and vinyl phrases. Macko’s works also include fine art prints and her photographs are clearly
related to the 2007 suite of etchings entitled In the Garden of the Bee Priestess. These prints combine abstract,
decorative imagery with specific depictions of bees and flora, thus bridging some of the interests of 1980s
Pattern art with a more contemporary view. In Nirvana for the Future: The Divine Reading Lesson
Series (2011), Macko employs hive imagery and combines it with a regularly appearing image, an
arrow-like shape which stands in for an ancient matriarchal goddess. These prints are highly
skilled, eclectic gatherings of images taken across time, across cultures and across geographies.
2014. This wall installation is composed of 104 hexagonal wooden panels displaying bee
imagery. Sometimes statements about the bees are included: “Worker bees are born to serve the
greater good.” Installed on the wall, the individual panels look very much like a hive,
completing the implicit metaphor of the project. Her botanicals are remarkable visions of the
hidden intimacies of nature, while her bee imagery is both beautiful and indicative of a larger
purpose. In addition, also included is an earlier multi-paneled work, The Honeycomb Wall,
1994, comprised of 92 hexagonal panels that include mixed media, printmaking,digital images
and vinyl phrases. Macko’s works also include fine art prints and her photographs are clearly
related to the 2007 suite of etchings entitled In the Garden of the Bee Priestess. These prints combine abstract,
decorative imagery with specific depictions of bees and flora, thus bridging some of the interests of 1980s
Pattern art with a more contemporary view. In Nirvana for the Future: The Divine Reading Lesson
Series (2011), Macko employs hive imagery and combines it with a regularly appearing image, an
arrow-like shape which stands in for an ancient matriarchal goddess. These prints are highly
skilled, eclectic gatherings of images taken across time, across cultures and across geographies.