Entrance Reducer

I was excited when I first purchased the antique frame used in this piece. I soon realized that the frame was very fragile and would easily break apart. Parts kept falling off and I felt bad that I couldn't  preserve its integrity. My first job came to mind. As a four year old I worked with my father in his apiary. One of my jobs was to scrape the propolis, a strong glue-like substance that bees use, off of old hives. While I didn't have  propolis on hand, I did have some industrial grade bees wax, with which I decided to encase the frame. The result was a more stable, leathery looking surface with a rich, earthy aroma. I started to associate my actions on the painting and within the frame with the industry of worker bees. Just as the bees would venture into the world to collect nectar and vomit it into comb cells to create honey, I would venture out in the world, engaging in the activities of life, and deposit my experience into a wax cell to create an image. I envision the center of the image as hot and active, buzzing with life. The white border is the hive wall and the green area is the space outside the hive.  The white area acts like a gateway leading to interior warmth. It reduces the natural entrance to the painting, the frame, to a smaller passage. The action of this gate-like structure conjured memories of a beekeeper's device known as an entrance reducer. Entrance reducers restrict the size of the hive entrance thereby affording bees with a more strategic space to defend.

References:

• Propolis is generally known as the “bee glue”, which is a generic name that refers to the resinous substance accumulated by the bees from different types of plants. The word “propolis” is derived from Greek to mean defense for “pro” and city or community for “polis”, or the beehive, in other words [6]. Propolis functions in sealing holes and cracks and for the reconstruction of the beehive. It is also used for smoothing the inner surface of the beehive, retaining the hive's internal temperature (35°C), preventing weathering and invasion by predators. Furthermore, propolis hardens the cell wall and contributes to an aseptic internal environment. Propolis generally becomes soft and sticky upon heating [7].  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5549483/
• An entrance reducer is simply a barrier placed at the entrance to a beehive that reduces the size of the opening. They are usually made of wood, but can also be made from metal or plastic
  Entrance reducers may be used to protect a weak hive from invasion by robbing honey bees or yellow jackets. A hive with insufficient numbers of bees may find it difficult to defend a large opening. A smaller opening gives them a fighting chance. https://www.honeybeesuite.com/entrance-reducers-can-annoy-your-honey-bees/#:~:text=An%20entrance%20reducer%20is,made%20from%20metal%20or%20plastic.​

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