A swarm is coming! The Beehive Design Collective visits Wells College on Friday, February 16, 2024. Hosted by the Wells Book Arts Center and the Center for Sustainability and the Environment, the Collective will set up a pop-up exhibit in Sommer Hall from 1:30 – 4:30 PM, with a talk and exhibit walk-through at 2:45 PM.

The Beehive is an all-volunteer swarm of educators, artists, and activists using images to communicate and educate about the complex realities of our times. The dizzyingly detailed, hand-drawn, large-format posters and banners they tour with are portable murals that come alive through storytelling, illuminating how single issues are interconnected and part of bigger systems. Join in as the Bees deconstruct often overwhelming global issues in an engaging and interactive presentation, using metaphors from the natural world to connect social and environmental struggles. They will be sharing their projects Mesoamérica Resiste, the final installment in a trilogy of graphics about corporate globalization and militarization in the Americas, and The True Cost of Coal, an elaborative narrative illustration that explores the complex story of mountaintop removal coal mining and the broader impacts of coal.

The event is free and open to the public. Posters and patches of graphics will be available for purchase by sliding scale donation. For more information about the group, visit www.beehivecollective.org.