Beehive Design Collective

The Beehive Design Collective
Founded2000
Focusresistance to corporate globalization
Location
Area served
World
Methodgraphical media
Websitebeehivecollective.org
the Beehive Collective's 6 ft. tall Plan Colombia poster

The Beehive Design Collective is a volunteer-driven non-profit art collective that uses graphical media as educational tools to communicate stories of resistance to corporate globalization.[1][2] The purpose of the Machias, Maine-based group is to "cross-pollinate the grassroots"[3][2] by creating collaborative, anti-copyright images that can be used as educational and organizing tools. The most recognizable of these images are large format pen and ink posters, which seek to provide a visual alternative to deconstruction of complicated social and political issues ranging from globalization,[2][4] free trade, militarism,[4] resource extraction, and biotechnology.[2]

Their work has been included in curated exhibitions internationally, including at the Station Museum of Contemporary Art and Manifesta.[5][6] One of their most well-known works, Mesoamérica Resiste, was a nine-year research project working directly with communities in Central America regarding effects of the Mesoamerica Project, and is typical of their community-engaged style of production.[7][8]

  1. ^ "Drawing Common Ground: An Interview with Lara Bee of the Beehive Design Collective". Upping the Anti. 12: 55–71. 2011.
  2. ^ a b c d "Cross-Pollinating the Grassroots: TEN YEARS OF DISMANTLING MONOCULTURE with the Beehive Design Collective". Earth First!. 31 (1). Daily Planet Publishing: 60–63. Winter 2010 – via ProQuest Central.
  3. ^ Libraries, Duke University (2014-10-01). "Pollinating the Grassroots: The Beehive Design Collective". Duke University Libraries Blogs. Retrieved 2020-03-14.
  4. ^ a b "On the Line". Progressive. 68 (6): 20–23. June 2004 – via MasterFILE Complete.
  5. ^ Glentzer, Molly (2016-01-29). "Exhibit of works by activist artists is subversive, thoughtful, hilarious". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 2023-01-18.
  6. ^ Rawsthorn, Alice (2012-09-09). "In the Shifting World of Product Design, the User Now Has a Voice". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-01-18.
  7. ^ "Beehive collective to discuss 'Mesoamérica Resiste!' at Bates College Thursday". Press Herald. 2014-03-20. Retrieved 2023-01-18.
  8. ^ Polinizaciones. "Photo Essay: The Beehive Collective's First Tour in Colombia of the New Graphic Campaign 'Mesoamérica Resiste' – Upside Down World". Retrieved 2023-01-18.