Bees as artists!

by Thamir Selman, Iraq

I started beekeeping in Baghdad as hobby in 1970. Since then, because of my full admiration for the bees, persistent question comes to my mind: whether it is possible to add new function to bees in addition to their honey and wax production?

I asked myself, “Would it be possible to train bees to be artists by making sculptures of natural wax in the hive?”

Method of work In the beginning bought strong colony with huge number of young worker bees. I put in wax foundation designed like the sculpture wished to create. started work by making daily visits to the hive to check the development of the wax shaping, and by using large knife and light brush, I carried out the necessary work of adding and removing in order to get the required shape.

After months of hard labour on the part of myself and the worker bees, the sculpture was ready to be taken out of the hive. To date I have produced forty very fine and most attractive sculptures such as human heads and vases.

The question which now arises concerns the ability of the worker bees to find new art school for wax carving, and whether wax carvers will appear in the future!