Upon entering the Nemeth Art Center, I had a hard time finding anything that spoke to me in an artistic way. The first piece of art that really caught my eye was a chunk of honeycomb from a beehive that had been painted. Each different cell of the comb was a different color than all adjacent cells and there seemed to be no particular pattern to the order. At first, it kind of took me by surprise that something so simple and meaningless would be included in an art museum like this. I always thought it took a talent of painting or sculpting to be an artist, but this piece seemed to take only a child’s artistic ability to create. It resembled an art project I remember doing at daycare as a five year old, except my work of art was not worth a ridiculous amount of money like this one. At this point, I had not fully received the message of the piece. Its name is “In a house of healing.” The hive was part of a collection called “Transmitter” put together by David Ruhlman, who specializes in painting and crafting on things that most artists would not bother with. Since I have no knowledge of this artist, it is impossible to know what his intended meaning behind the piece is.

I looked closer at the paint and the colors and tried to get a real feel for what exactly was going on. In order to really understand the piece, I couldn’t just look at it, I needed to feel it. Unfortunately, the museum does not allow for people to touch so I was fairly limited. I bet the inside of the hive feels softer than the cold hard walls of a normal hive. I imagined that it was not art at all, but rather a little bit of nature that had been brought to the museum for being so peculiar. You see, this was no ordinary beehive. I hear the buzz of a friendly, happy hive where every bee is at peace. There is no queen. In this beehive, every bee has a role and every bee is important. Along with the equality shared in the hive, each bee is free to do as they please. They have the freedom to roam around and do whatever their little bee heart desires. Each of them gets to decorate their home cell to their liking without judgement. To these fortunate bees, the nectar from their flowers tastes just a tad sweeter than from before. The hive resembles the expression of the bees and being able to be open about their personalities. In our world, not everyone can express themselves fully due to countless factors.

Next to this honeycomb, is another that is almost identical in shape and size. The difference falls in the coloring and decoration of the cells. This standard, eggshell colored beehive was just like all the other beehives in the world.Nothing special to see at all. The bees are forced to work for the queen and are not allowed to live their own lives. The bees in this hive are not as creative as those in the colored hive and they don’t even realize that. All they know how to do is work and do what they are told, regardless of their feelings.

I think of the bees as people in this analogy. Everyone has their own thoughts and sometimes they don’t even realize the potential of their own creativity. Obviously, the bees in this reference are not capable of actually feeling neglected just because they don’t get to paint their hive. Bees don’t have cognitive thought like we do but I’ll let it slide for the sake of the point I’m trying to make.  In our country, we are blessed with the freedom of speech and expression. Even though these go far beyond painting our bedrooms, the concept remains the same. People every day are restricted by their surroundings and not able to be creative to their full potential. If we lived in a world where every thought were taken seriously and no thought was kept inside, we would be more advanced and more happy than ever.

Art is really a lot more than just painting and sculpting or playing music. It’s not about the artist releasing their problems throughout this process of creating masterpieces. It is really about the effect that it has on the people that see the art and are changed due to it. Everyone has the ability to admire art and interpret their own message from the pieces that artist contribute to museums all over the world.