a field student of the Folkwang Konzept

I fear the eyes of Odin and Freyja may be upon me, for no one told me, once in Valhalla (and Folkvangr) always in Valhalla.  However this field student has gone to some extraordinary lengths to liberate himself from these warrior heavens and return to the mortal and more peaceable fields of E17 and thereabouts. Having expressed a desire to leave, I was incarcerated in a tiny cave somewhere in the region of the fjords of Walthamstow. I occupied myself for what seemed like an eternity with the task of decrypting the Field Study National Art Library catalogue numbers. They are in a perpetual state of transfiguration, meaning something only to not mean something; such is the nature of flux(us). The Fluxus moment was one of an epiphany visited and refreshed by the gentle breeze of a certain white European male past and female present. I believe I was visited by a Susan Hiller. I have some doubts about the veracity of this recognition because the head of my visitor was surrounded or enveloped by the aureole of Marcel Duchamp. In fact I cannot be sure who the aureole was, for I suspect I was in the midst (mist - ha ha) of some potent transmogrification. My visitor(s) delivered a bundle of genuine Tate Britain Susan Hiller leaflets and I was charged with the task of finding and revealing the poetic essence of all the leaflets - exhuming the hidden, the overlooked unmessages within. I set about this task using the deconstructive ‘humament’ technique of Tom Philips. How many epiphanies can a mortal being tolerate or bear? In a state of classical boredom with the inanity of my ‘artlessismoreness’ I found, Karl Ernst Osthaus’, ‘Folkwang-Konzept’ which guided me to an ongoing reconciliation of art and life. In an instant I was away from the gaze of O and F out in the mortal fields working the earth, tending the bees and fishing the lakes - the joys of husbandry and hunting

The exceptionally dry and warm Spring weather here in the UK has accelerated the blossoming of plants and lead (I believe) to a nectar flow, or as some say, a honey flow. The bees in our apiary have a broad range of environments in which to forage - including gardens, allotments, forest and forest edge, orchards, marsh and waterside (reservoir grassland). The bees have been collecting copious quantities of pollen - returning with bulbous sacs of red, yellow, orange and violet pollen. I'm unsure what it is currently the most substantial source of nectar. In the last two weeks this hive/colony of bees has managed to fill with honey, by over two thirds, one of the hive supers - the boxes containing the honeycomb frames shown above. Full to capacity, a super can weigh up to or just over 30Ib / 13Kg. All ready this hive/colony has 4 supers nearly 75% full.

Having attended a London Beekeepers Association bee health day today I should point out I really should not be using leather gloves as they are likely to collect, accumulate and spread many bee diseases and pathogens. It is time to bring out the (rubber) marigolds or take the plunge and go in bare handed.

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