Worker Bees

  • The completed project spans 180 feet on both sides of a traffic   barrier. One side is painted, and the other side is decorated with   mosaic tiles.
  • The mural team present their design ideas, focused on images of   bees, flowers, and pollination.
  • The mural team learned about the difficult process of attaching   mosaic tile designs onto an upright surface.
  • At the dedication ceremony, the mural team and Groundswell   Executive Director Amy Sanaman celebrate with sparkling cider.
  • The mosaic side of the traffic barrier features images of bees   pollinating colorful flowers.

Project Description

"Worker Bees" was created in partnership with the New York City Department of Transportation. It spans 180 feet and is located in Downtown Brooklyn at Cadman Plaza, a major traffic crossroads of people going to and from work. One side features mosaic glass tile while the other side is painted with acrylic paint. The mosaic illustrates the process of pollination and the similarities between human workers and worker bees. The mosaic side portrays humans as worker bees by showing the progression of a bee slowly morphing into a human who is carrying a briefcase on his way to work. The painted side of the barrier focuses on natural design and patterns in the environment; as the process of germination unfolds, the painting gets progressively more abstract and displays patterns from nature, such as hexagons, which are found in beehives. Through this project, the students beautified a traffic barrier in Brooklyn while simultaneously learning about pollination, germination, and using different mediums such as glass tile and paint.

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Project Info

Fun Facts

Question about the Mural
Do you know how many types of bees live in a colony? There are three types: The Worker Bee, the Queen Bee, and the Drone Bee. Each bee category has its own duties in order for their colony to survive and flourish.
Suggested Activity
Think about the worker bee and how many ways bee colonies are similar to humans, then gather imagery from magazines and make your own collage to show the similarities.
Fun Fact
There are roughly 20,000 different species of bees in the world.