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A new sculpture celebrating the role of bees – and warning about a precarious future if numbers decline – has been unveiled at Winterbourne House and Garden.
Last weekend (Saturday 7 – Sunday 8 September 2024) saw the return of the hotly anticipated Birmingham Honey Show. Just over 3,200 visitors flocked to us to see bees at work in demonstration hives and sample delicious produce from local businesses. They enjoyed free entry as part of Birmingham Heritage Week.
The honey wasn’t the only treat we had in store this year. One of the event’s highlights was the official unveiling of a brand-new sculpture, especially commissioned and designed for Winterbourne and Birmingham Honey Show.
Revealed to eager crowds by University of Birmingham Vice-Chancellor Professor Adam Tickell, ‘A Fine Balance’ is the work of Norfolk-based stone carver and letter cutter, Dan Meek. A specialist in bespoke 3D sculpture, Dan was inspired by Einstein’s quotation ‘if the bee disappeared off the face of the Earth, man would only have four years left to live’, as well as Winterbourne’s affinity with the nation’s favourite pollinators.
Carved by hand from aptly named St Bees sandstone, ‘A Fine Balance’ showcases the fragility that exists between mankind and bees. One stone balances on the edge of the other, invoking the tender contact between bee and flower during pollination. It’s also a powerful representation of how the future of bees hangs in the balance.
This, coupled with a quotation around the base from 20th century horticulture writer Elizabeth Lawrence – ‘the hum of the bee is the voice of the garden’ – conveys a poignant and compelling narrative: without bees, we not only lose our gardens, but ourselves.
As Head of Winterbourne, Lee Hale, puts it: ‘There’s more to the sculpture than stone. Not only does it highlight the plight of bees and the dangers they face from habitat loss and pesticide use, but it also celebrates the relationship between them and us. This not just a sculpture. It’s a physical representation of connections, interactions and networks.’
Commissioned by the Lettering Arts Trust, a charity which promotes the heritage craft of stone letter carving, ‘A Fine Balance’ brings together both Winterbourne’s heritage and passion for keeping traditional art forms alive, as well as beekeeping – a skill that thrives here thanks to our partnership with Birmingham and District Beekeepers’ Association.
We have 20 hives on site, and budding beekeepers can develop new skills thanks to the Association’s popular ‘Introduction to Beekeeping’ course, which is delivered at Winterbourne.
‘A Fine Balance’ was also created to integrate seamlessly with our seven-acre garden. Boasting organic shapes and natural materials, the sculpture has helped breathe new life into a once under-used area of the garden.
Over the coming months, benches will be placed around the new installation, as well as pollinator-friendly plants, creating a peaceful haven for contemplation and reflection. Lee hopes that people who sit in this space will feel connected to nature and have a chance to appreciate it in all its glory.
Professor Tickell praised the sculpture for fitting ‘perfectly into the landscape of Winterbourne’, which he described as ‘one of the UK’s most beautiful and varied gardens’.
He said: ‘Green spaces like Winterbourne are integral to boosting biodiversity and helping to combat the effects of climate change. They’re also essential to our health and wellbeing.
‘I feel so proud that we have such an asset at the University where biodiversity can flourish and people from all walks of life can find sanctuary. I hope the new sculpture will entice even more people to visit this special place and help the plight of bees and pollinators everywhere’.
You can see ‘A Fine Balance’, as well as other Lettering Arts Trust sculptures in the garden, every day from 10.30am – 5pm. Make sure you visit our current exhibition, ‘Grown from Stone’, which also features thought-provoking works from Lettering Arts Trust artists. Sculptures are integrated throughout the ground and first floor of the house, bringing the beauty of the outdoors indoors.
