PLAN BEE

Paying homage to Glasgow’s historical flower market this lively workshop engaged the public and encouraged participants to help sustain Scotland’s bee population.

Honey bees are responsible for pollinating around 50% of all crops, produce, flowers, fruits, shrubs and trees in Scotland but numbers are in rapid decline. One of the best and easiest ways we can help is by simply growing a pot of wildflowers where we live, even simply on a window sill.

Inspired by wildflowers, participants produced colourful artworks to make collaborative, sculptural ‘hive’ ledgers.

Each participant also left with a teabag filled with wildflower seeds to plant at home.

In preparation for the Project, a kind farmer in Fife allowed me to use fallow land to plant one acre of ‘bee friendly’ wildflowers using the old fashioned ‘finger & thumb’ sowing technique. A small selection of these flowers were used during the workshop, but the field was planted mainly to support our struggling bee population, in keeping with Glasgow’s Year of Green.