These unique mixed media artworks explore the importance of healthy pollinator populations to maintain healthy ecosystems, and our interdependence upon these species to produce the fruits and vegetables we need to thrive.
Feeding the Bees
Feeding the Bees
Imagine sitting quietly in your organic garden watching bees visit nasturtium after nasturtium, and an idea takes hold that feels both playful and sacred. Can you imagine picking garlands of flowers? Feel the soft, cool, delicate petals against your skin as you drape a garland of orange, pink, and yellow nasturtium flowers around your neck? Picture yourself becoming perfectly still and patient, waiting for a bee to trust you enough to feed from the flowers you wear, as birds sing and wind rustles through leaves. You realize in this moment that feeding the bees means more than just planting nectar flowers. It means that creating a pesticide-free habitat where pollinators can thrive safely is something you can do to protect bee populations. The vibrant orange, pink, and yellow nasturtiums glow against the warm golden metallic pigment applied uniformly across the aluminum surface, creating a luminous interaction as light shifts throughout the day. The bee arriving to feed from flowers becomes a powerful symbol of the reciprocal relationship between gardener and pollinator. This unique artwork expresses the sacred ceremony of becoming part of the ecosystem yourself and the profound fulfillment of nurturing the creatures who sustain our food system.
Envision this meaningful artwork in your kitchen, dining room, or study, where it celebrates your commitment to organic gardening and pollinator protection. Guests immediately ask about the unusual composition and share their own concerns about bee decline or their efforts to create pesticide-free gardens. The piece connects to that universal desire to be part of the solution rather than part of the problem and the recognition that our gardening choices have life-or-death consequences for pollinators. This artwork celebrates the sacred exchange between humans who provide safe habitat and the bees who pollinate our future meals.
“fertilizers! I grow an organic garden to protect the pollinators and to avoid pesticide exposure myself. One day when I was relaxing in my garden I noticed how many bees were feeding on the Nasturtium flowers and felt inspired to see if I could drape a garland of them around my neck to make this photograph. With patience I captured this image of a bee coming to feed from the flower draped around my neck. I applied a warm golden pigment to an aluminum panel and applied this photograph to it to create “Feeding the Bees””
This one of a kind artwork combines hand-applied golden metallic pigments on aluminum with photographic transfers created during an artist residency at Art Center South Florida. The panel is coated with acrylic paint mixed with cream and gold pigment, then the Epson archival pigment ink print was transferred to the surface and it was top coated with archival UV protective varnish to preserve the metallic shimmer and colorful imagery for generations. Only this single artwork exists, making it an exclusive opportunity to own a substantial statement piece that honors both artistic innovation and interspecies relationships. The golden pigments create shifting visual experiences depending on viewing angle and lighting conditions throughout the day. The watermark visible online does not appear on the actual artwork. If you need help envisioning how it will look, a free digital mockup is available so you can see exactly how it will appear in your space before adding it to your collection. Contact Ivana for this service.
The artwork has a subtlegolden sparkle due to the pigments applied to the aluminum plate, under the photo transfer. This is a one of a kind handmade 16" x 20" (plus frame) artwork on an aluminum panel with mixed media and digital image transfer using archival pigment inks.Artwork is finished with a UV light protective coating so that they can be displayed without glass, and it is signed in verso. It comes with the frame shown.
