Matt Willey’s ‘The Good of the Hive’ has Laguna Beach buzzing
In the spirit of collaboration, people often say it takes a village to make good works happen.
Artist Matt Willey, currently engaged in a project to paint 50,000 bees around the world, remembers the spirit of camaraderie he felt in bringing his artwork to Laguna Beach.
The Laguna Beach Garden Club had brought him out for a speaking engagement shortly after the coronavirus pandemic, and after that they decided to pursue a mural in town.
A new mural transformed a blank white wall into a pollinator’s paradise in front of the Laguna Beach County Water District in March.
Willey, who is currently working on his latest piece in Salt Lake City, said he is up to 52 murals and more than 11,000 bees painted for his global project, “The Good of the Hive.”
The scope and longevity of the project is intentional. Willey explained the symbolism, saying it takes 50,000 bees working together to form a healthy hive. He expects it to take 21 years to achieve the target of hand-painted bees, representative of humanity’s hesitation to embrace change. Additionally, Willey said the timeline would afford him a chance to participate in conversations surrounding the artwork.
“It’s about the idea of human connection and going into every type of neighborhood in the world,” Willey said of the expansive project. “The bee isn’t bound by race, nationality, gender, political [or] religious affiliation, none of these things that separate us.”
The multifaceted work not only fosters connection but has helped start a conversation around conservation, particularly as it relates to bees contributing to food systems, he said.
While the artist grew up in New England, what could be classified as significant rainfall locally from the atmospheric rivers earlier this year had an impact on the working conditions for Willey at the water district’s wall in Laguna Beach.
“That little, tiny wall gets no direct sun, except for maybe 30 minutes right before the sun goes down,” Willey recalled. “So it was cold, and there was something about that wall that we couldn’t get it dry. It didn’t even occur to me that in California, in that location, that I would have a problem with the dampness.”
Eventually, the work was carried out under a tent.
Parallels could be drawn between Willey’s bee murals and Wyland’s artwork celebrating whales. Willey said his grandmother took him to see a Wyland Whaling Wall in Portsmouth, N.H., before he started art school. Though he did not have the chance to meet Wyland, Willey said he enjoyed interacting with locals during his time in Laguna Beach.
“Laguna is a really special place,” Willey said. “The people there have such a love of their community. I was overwhelmed by the enthusiasm for the project. It was more than I was used to, especially for something that was relatively small, but they didn’t see it that way. I didn’t, either. … I was kind of amazed at how everybody rallied around it and really worked to have the speaking engagements well attended.”
The community engagement included an event at the Rivian Theater, as well as a quirky ribbon-cutting ceremony for the mural upon its completion. In a video posted on the water district’s website, several community members can be seen dressed up in bee costumes, singing, “Love the bees, let ’em be,” to the melody of “Let it Be” by the Beatles.
The Laguna Beach City Council adopted a proclamation recognizing the first Saturday in May as “Bee Day.”
“I’m delighted to accept this proclamation on behalf of the Laguna Beach Garden Club, the Laguna Beach County Water District, all the honeybees and native bees, and all the residents of our Laguna Beach hive,” Jane Leary, the club’s president, said at the council’s April 23 meeting. “I invite you all to visit ‘The Good of the Hive’ mural at the water district.
“This mural is a beautiful metaphor for seeing the connectedness of all things and reminding us that we need to think collectively, like the bees, as we work towards solutions for the good of our Laguna Beach hive.”
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