Tea Hive

12’ x 14’ x 16’

Wood, steel, bee boxes

2017

2017 H.M. Rechelbacher FDN Fellowship, in Partnership with the UMN Bee

Artist Statement

Tea Hive is an open-air gathering space specifically designed for the HMR +UMN Bee Squad Pollinator Project Sanctuary. It combines the form and function of a chashitsu (architectural space designed for tea ceremonies) with the aesthetics of a honeycomb beehive. It is a space that can be used for gathering and socializing or for quiet, contemplative practices.

Creating this conceptually and aesthetically hybrid space emerges from a familiar place of investigation in my creative practice. My work explores the intersection of place and identity, emerging from my own experience of growing up geographically, culturally, and ethnically mixed. Raised between a reserved Midwestern household in Minnesota and a close-knit Latino family in New Mexico, the diversity of family traditions, visual heritage, and vernacular landscapes of these two environments is undeniable. I am interested in the spot of convergence, the in between place where my own identity has been crafted from dissimilar places of origin.

Carissa Samaniego

http://www.carissasamaniego.com/

Born: Trinidad, CO, USA

Resides: Denver, CO, USA

Education

MFA, University of Colorado Boulder, 2017

BA, St. Catherine University, 2009