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Hive 3# had two covers, one by myself (pictured) & one by Nina Gronw-Lewis

The Summer Solstice on Monday 20^th June saw the publication of Hive3# visual arts zine; editied and collated by myself and Nina Gronw-Lewis. ‘Hive’, now in its 3^rd outing since the project idea was first conceived by Frank Edmunds and Stuart Rosamond in 2014, continues to grow; this edition of the zine featuring the work of 14 artists. They are; Rico Ajao, Frank Edmunds, Jon England, Nina Gronw-Lewis, Kevin Hawker, James Marsden, Tim Martin, Natalie Parsley, Eileen Rosamond, Stuart Rosamond, Ruby Rowswell, Chris Taylor, Rob Watts and Deborah Westmancoat. 

 

Here’s a reminder of how it all works:

 

“With the ambition of publishing twice throughout the year each issue of ‘Hive’ is guest edited by (a) different artist(s) who sets the theme (previous themes include; ‘Track 6’ and ‘The Wrong Side of 15 Minutes’) for the issue. Every Hive has a different theme set to provide new sources of inspiration and possible outcomes for each individual issue as well as giving artists the opportunity to 'do something different' outside their normal practice if they desire. The editor will also collate the work, bind it and produce the cover plus any supporting content (no mean feat, I can tell you). Each participating artist produces a response to the theme on an A3 sheet of paper/surface in any medium of their choosing, making as many copies as artists taking part + 1 or originals of their work and send to said editor. As a result each participating artist receives a completed copy of ‘Hive’ featuring their page and that of the other artists. Part of the appeal is their limited edition and variation in style created by different editors for each issue. To date Hive has been Spiral bound, encased in its own bespoke box and in Hive 3# it is book bolted with two opposing covers." 

 

Our theme for this latest issue was ‘Out of Line’ and true to its nature the artists were invited to collect their copy in person with Hive 3# being revealed, for the first time, publically (to an audience of semi-bemused on lookers) during the opening evening Private View of ‘The Remarkable Everyday’ exhibition at The Old Brick Workshop in Wellington. Remarkable it was too to have the pleasure of being able to hand so many of them out in person, and made for a very un-everyday special occasion.

 

“We cross an unploughed field (a plane traversed by lines), then thick woods. One of us loses his way, explores, and on one occasion even goes through the motions of a hound following scent.

Lines of the most various kinds, spots, dabs, smooth planes, dotted planes, lined planes, wavy lines, obstructed and articulated movement, counter-movement, plaitings, weavings, bricklike elements, scale-like elements, simple and polyphonic motifs, lines that fade and lines that gain strength (dynamism).” -Klee

Hive 3# 'Out of Line'

 

Hive 2# 'The Wrong Side of 15 Minutes'

 

Hive 1# 'Track 6'

 

Hive will return.... In a fabulous Fourth Issue!

 

 

Previous info of Hive 1# & 2# can be found on the following posts:

http://spannerintheworkz.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/nonsense-is-better-than-no-sense.html  

http://spannerintheworkz.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/here-are-my-bees.html

Here are my Bees,

brazen blurs on paper,

besotted; buzzwords, dancing

their flawless, airy maps.

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.......

  

Making tracks: words, footsteps, mark-making, mapping, tracing, beats, rhythm, stitching and time. Somewhere in deepest darkest Devon during the twilight hours in which, I am reliably told, any ideas generally worth having are formed, it was conceived by Frank Edmonds and Stuart Rosamond that twelve artists shall be invited to participate in creating an independently edited, inventive art zine to be published in time with the Spring Equinox, March 20th 2015 at 12.57pm and perhaps more consequently of all, this was remembered the following day from which it was written and said twelve artists were invited to participate in what was to be the inaugural issue of ‘Hive’!

 With the ambition of publishing biannually throughout the year each edition of the ‘Hive’ is guest edited by a different artist who collates the work, binds it and produces the cover plus any supporting content (is that all?!). The editor also sets the theme for each issue of which the first has been chosen by Hive’s co-creator, Stuart Rosamond who has set the seemingly cryptic theme of ‘Track 6’. The brief, that each artist produces a response to the theme, in this case ‘track 6’, on an A3 sheet of paper/surface in any medium of their choosing making either  thirteen copies or originals of their work  and sent to said editor. Each artist as a result receives a completed copy of ‘Hive’ featuring their page and that of the eleven other artists. Consequently by being an independently created form of ‘bedroom lit’ it bypasses the editorial rigmarole and red tape allowing for a more uninhibited set of responses from the artists and the creative freedom such set-ups bring. On an individual level it presents an opportunity to produce new work to the challenge/motivation of a deadline/theme and also a way of both owning and discovering the work of other artists. With plans for the artist contributors to increase each time a new issue is printed and develop a digital archive of ‘Hive’ publications it is something that could hopefully grow wings...

 Those who were ‘deliriously wishing to engage’ in the project replied to an emailed invitation and in doing so the Hive’s first  worker bees (a.k.a artists) are as follows; Nina Gronw-Lewis, Jon England, Anna Newland-Hooper, Malcolm Plastow, Frank Edmonds, Eileen Rosamond, Megan Calver,  Kevin Hawker, Stuart Rosamond, Tim Martin, Ruby Petts and me (Natalie Parsley)!

Personally I have wanted to make a publication of art work or a zine for a long time as it feels a natural progression of combining both my love of books (as a bookseller) and commitment/obsession to continue making art. It also presented an incentive to make work and has already opened up a dialogue with other artists and in turn is beginning to quietly influence the work I make for my ‘drawing a week’ project*. That and it is exciting to work on something that feels collaborative but a surprise at the same time, the reward of course seeing how each of the other artists interpreted the theme.

and honey is art.

At present all the pages have been sent off to be bound and be sent to each artist on March  20th. I’ll keep you posted and reveal exactly how I interpreted the theme of ‘track 6’ (there’s a clue in the picture above) plus an insight into the other artists’ work and any links to an online digitised version of ‘Hive’ here on the blog as it unfolds.  

You have bee-n told!

Buzzing throughout this post in italic are lines from the poem ‘The Bees’ by Carol Ann Duffy
* http://spannerintheworkz.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/unimportant-somethings-drawing-day-2014.html