"Wintering: Into the Hive," by Melissa Hronkin, to open Jan. 9 at Vertin Gallery

"Wintering: Into the Hive" post card announces Melissa Hronkin's new encaustics and beeswax collage installation opening Jan. 9 at the Vertin Gallery. The title is taken from a poem, "Wintering," by Sylvia Plath. (Photo © 2009 Melissa Hronkin. Reprinted with permission.)

CALUMET -- "Wintering: Into the Hive," an encaustics and beeswax collage installation by Melissa Hronkin and her Bees, will open with a reception from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 9, at the Vertin Gallery in Calumet. The public is invited and refreshments will be served.

"We secretly adore winter," Hronkin writes in her artist's statement for the show. "With all of our complaining and dreading, a certain joy fills my being when the first snow falls, or the first blizzard has us snowed in. It is a time of repose and solitude that our souls need after such a frantic summer. So much light! Now, we sit in front of our full-spectrum lights in the dark of morning and much bee pollen and vitamin D tablets to fill the nutritional void. During this time, anything is possible. This is my most productive art-making time."

Her exhibit represents this time in winter -- a time of repose and solitude.

"So what do the bees DO all winter?" Hronkin asks. "Well, mostly, they sit around and try to keep warm. The queen stays in the middle of the colony, and the worker bees take turns at being on the outside of the winter cluster. The drones are ostracized in the autumn and forbidden to enter the hive at all, and hence die from cold and starvation. Clustering around their queen to retain the heat is [the worker bees'] means of climate control. Deep in the hive, the cluster expands and contracts with the temperature; the colder it gets, the tighter the huddle. I have created 'the guardians of the hive' to represent a hope and a prayer for the bees to make it through winter."

This piece is called "Vintage Woman in Jar with Honey." (Photo © 2009 Melissa Hronkin. Reprinted with permission.)

On her Web site, next to the above photo, Hronkin writes, "Winter is for women." She follows that statement with the poem "Wintering," by Sylvia Plath, her inspiration for the title of the show. Here is an excerpt:

"...The bees are all women,
Maids and the long royal lady.
They have got rid of the men,

The blunt, clumsy stumblers, the boors.
Winter is for women ----
The woman, still at her knitting,
At the cradle of Spanish walnut,
Her body a bulb in the cold and too dumb to think.

Will the hive survive, will the gladiolas
Succeed in banking their fires
To enter another year?
What will they taste of, the Christmas roses?
The bees are flying. They taste the spring."

Hronkin says she hopes her project will bring awareness to the plight of the honey bee, whose disappearance, according to some scientists, may be a more urgent issue than global warming, because one third our food supply is pollinated by honeybees.

"Hopefully this installation and artwork create a sense of sweetness and light that honey and the honeybees bring to our daily lives," Hronkin concludes. "In the 'deep winter days' we could all use a little sweetness and light."

This exhibit continues through Feb. 4, 2009. The Vertin Gallery is located at 220 Sixth St. in Calumet. Winter hours for the Gallery are Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m. - 5 p.m.; Friday, 11 a.m. - 9 p.m. Closed Sundays. Visit the Vertin Gallery Web site for more information.