1993–1996
self-published
hand-cut and pasted photocopied zine
art zine curated by Allyson Shaw and Laura Splan
7 W × 8.5 H in (17.75 W × 21.5 H cm)˜
“Beehive” is a zine about the intersection of ideas, about ambivalence, power and desire.
—from “Beehive” Issue No. 1
“Beehive” was a hand-cut and pasted photocopied zine created by Allyson Shaw and Laura Splan. The zine featured visual art and creative writing with a sensibility informed by feminism, Riot Grrrl, punk, identity politics, and a shared fascination with the sociopolitical history of women’s bodies. Contributors included Tammy Rae Carland, Bridget Cooks, Hillary Mushkin, Lisa Kirk, Aren Rogal, Ken Gonzales Day, Felix Endara, Kelly Marie Martin, De Kwok, Garrick Ramirez, Phil Hay, Danzy Senna, Stepan Chapman, and others. Issue themes included “…in a temper”, “Bodily Transformation”, “Pornography for Angels”, “Swallow”, and “Brushes With Greatness”. The first three issues had covers that were each hand-painted by Allyson Shaw. The collaborative zine project began in 1993 while Allyson and Laura were both art students at the University of California, Irvine, where they also collaborated on experimental poetry videos made in the trailer park they lived in on the UCI campus. “Beehive” was produced on a black and white photocopy machine in the office of a parking garage at UCI where they worked as parking attendants. Splan and Shaw featured the zine in “Honey is My Gift”, an exhibition of their zines at the Mesa Arts Building Gallery in the UCI Art Department.
“Beehive” is a zine about the intersection of ideas, about ambivalence, power and desire.
—from “Beehive” Issue No. 1
“Beehive” was a hand-cut and pasted photocopied zine created by Allyson Shaw and Laura Splan. The zine featured visual art and creative writing with a sensibility informed by feminism, Riot Grrrl, punk, identity politics, and a shared fascination with the sociopolitical history of women’s bodies. Contributors included Tammy Rae Carland, Bridget Cooks, Hillary Mushkin, Lisa Kirk, Aren Rogal, Ken Gonzales Day, Felix Endara, Kelly Marie Martin, De Kwok, Garrick Ramirez, Phil Hay, Danzy Senna, Stepan Chapman, and others. Issue themes included “…in a temper”, “Bodily Transformation”, “Pornography for Angels”, “Swallow”, and “Brushes With Greatness”. The first three issues had covers that were each hand-painted by Allyson Shaw. The collaborative zine project began in 1993 while Allyson and Laura were both art students at the University of California, Irvine, where they also collaborated on experimental poetry videos made in the trailer park they lived in on the UCI campus. “Beehive” was produced on a black and white photocopy machine in the office of a parking garage at UCI where they worked as parking attendants. Splan and Shaw featured the zine in “Honey is My Gift”, an exhibition of their zines at the Mesa Arts Building Gallery in the UCI Art Department.
“Beehive” and other zines by Laura Splan are included in the NYU Fales Library Riot Grrrl Collection.
“The Riot Grrrl Collection documents the evolution of the Riot Grrrl movement, particularly in the years between 1989 and 1996. Because Riot Grrrl was (and is) both a political and a cultural movement, its output was diverse, including writing, music, performance, film, activism, photography, video, and original art, as well as documentation of activism and performance. This research collection provides primary resources for scholars and others who are interested in feminism, punk activism, queer theory, gender theory, DIY culture, print history, and music history.”—NYU Fales Library Riot Grrrl Collection
" . . . Splan noted that in many ways, Beehive and her work with Shaw was a “through line” to her art practice today, which has expanded to 3D animation installations about biomedical politics, molecular models, and the boundaries of artificial intelligence . . . "
Collections include NYU Fales Library Riot Grrrl Collection
All copyrights for the artworks included in Beehive are retained by the individual contributing artists.
