Museum Bees

by Mayer, Trace

Museum Bees is based in Louisville KY. This book covers the range of work, materials, thought process, and creations, including custom pieces and client installations.

333 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 2021

Reviews

[Jim Razinha · Rating 4 out of 5]

My wife found Mr. Mayer’s work and this book in an antique gallery in Chattanooga (the book is autographed, too!). Mr. Mayer is a talented artist whose talent includes writing. His artworks are amazing and I think it equally amazing that every piece is priced the same regardless of complexity or components. He says that clients “were able to turn off that part of the brain that does math, and just think about what they like.” Most of the art in our house - okay, pretty much all of the art - has been selected/collected for what we like, not for future value (although, value in what it brings to us can’t be discounted.)

The symbols, colors, traditions and language covered in earlier sections all converge here in additional layers.
Read into them if you wish, or just appreciate them for the beauty you see on the surface. All answers are correct. I appreciate the artists who refuse to title or speak about their art. These artists understand that speaking about their art will color your thoughts on a piece.
Naming can limit your experience, and guide you in a way that might not be as fulfilling.

I did think it odd that he said “Da Vinci would talk bout how the sculpture was already complete within the stone. He would just have to get rid of the excess material.” It was Michelangelo who said in a letter to Benedetto Varchi, "The sculptor arrives at his end by taking away what is superfluous."

[Shalyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this book as a gift along with one of the author's "Museum Bees" art pieces. The book itself is artistically produced, including beautifully detailed, color images of "bees" the author has created over the years. He talks about how he came to make this particular style of art, his inspiration, the materials he chooses, and the symbolism evoked, and at the end expresses his appreciation for designers who have included his work in theirs. He works with 19th century framing materials and wood reclaimed from used bourbon barrels, among other things. He tells a story of finding some materials (i.e., some old, carved, wooden framing), and mistakenly thinking it depicted waves, and from that he was inspired to create a some aquatic "museum bees," but on closer inspection, he realized that what he perceived as waves were actually plant leaves, but that he loved how the pieces came out anyway. Then he says, "artists don't tell you what to think, they just give you their perspective, and sometimes that perspective benefits from needing reading glasses." I thought that was both funny and clever. He describes his tendency to display his "bees" in large circular collections with nothing at the center of the circle, like a mandala. He then also recounts having read in a math journal that "when you look at zero you see nothing, but if you look through it you see everything." That's something I'll ponder for a while.