Laney Birkhead, printmaker

Laney Birkhead is a printmaker and gave a talk about her recent work.
She described how, as a beekeeper, she became interested in the problems facing bees and decided to create an artwork to highlight their plight. After finding references to the 50,000 bees needed for a thriving hive and the 50,000 miles flying to create a pound of honey she decided to aim for an artwork of 50,000 bee images.

P1000461

The project involved more work than was first thought. Many groups were involved, both adult and children. Images taken from film by Paul Harris.

P1000464 P1000465

The bees were printed onto hexagonal sections for sewing together by volunteers. The project inspired local interest in the community and involvement of children and schools.

P1000478

The results displayed in the format of honey frames and exhibited at St Roberts School and Sunny Bank Mills, Farsley, a section shown below.

St Roberts Catholic School Installation with artist, Laney Birkhead

A short film by Paul Harris was shown of the inspiration and process of the project. This can be viewed at http://laneybirkhead.com/Swarm-A-Film-by-Paul-Harris

Printmaking
Laney showed us her printing plates and described the different print processes she uses, including collagraph & carborundum printing, etching onto metal plates, and monoprinting.

Various Printing Plates

P1000470 P1000472 P1000473

The plates are used to produce prints.

P1000448 P1000476

Laney runs print workshops, see details  > Printmaking Workshops